Sports
Mangrove Snapper Make Encouraging Appearance
Capt Ray Markham gives a fishing forecast for Tampa Bay anglers, including a report that mangrove snapper fishing is picking up after a slow season last summer
Mangrove snapper are starting to show up in the local bays, said Capt. Ray Markham of Backwater Promotions, and that's a good sign after last summer.
“It was horrible last year,” Markham said. “Normally I could go out and target mangrove snapper in the summertime and get at least half of my limit, or my limit, without too much problem.”
Markham hopes the early showing of mangrove snapper over the rock piles and bridges in the bays is a sign of another such summer. He said the rocks in the center span of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge has recently been good for mangrove snapper.
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“You can get them on a slow-moving tide,” Markham said. “It's like grouper fishing where they hold close to the rocks.”
Anglers can keep five tasty mangrove snapper, per angler, of at least 10 inches in length daily.
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He added the morning top-water bite -- from 6 a.m. to about 9:30 a.m. -- has been excellent for trout. Markham has been catching them on MirrOlure Top Dogs.
Also, some big black seabass have moved into Tampa Bay, primarily around the hard-bottom areas at the south end of Tampa Bay in 6-to-16 feet of water. Markham has been catching them on CAL jigs with shad tails and D.O.A. shrimp.
Finally, the redfish bite is starting to pickup for Markham.
“There's no major schools though,” Markham said.
This next week will have ultra-high tides topping out at about 2.8 feet and dropping to low tides of -0.4 feet during the new moon. The fast water movement is ideal for snook fishing, which are beginning to heads to the points, passes, and to a small degree, off the beaches.
Capt. Ray Markham can be reached at 941-723-2655