Friday, November 11, 2011
Look for nearshore pelagics to scatter bait fish, and an array of flats fish to make for easy targets as bait becomes plentiful
SALTWATER SCENE The flats should be alive with action this month. “Schools of reds will spread out on shallow flats where you may find them in potholes or along the edges of sand bars when the tide is low or along mangrove shorelines when the tide is high,” Capt. Rick Grassett said. “Look for trout, blues, Spanish mackerel and pompano on deep grass flats and catch and release snook around lighted docks and bridges in the ICW.” He added action will be equally good in the coastal gulf where anglers should find Spanish and king mackerel, little tunny, cobia and tarpon following bait schools. “With the opening of stone crab season this month, you may also find tripletail around some of the many crab trap floats in the coastal gulf,” he said. …
Friday, September 23, 2011
The Florida Sportsman Magazine fishing show will be held at the Florida State Fairgrounds Saturday and Sunday, but Capt. Bill Miller also tells anglers what's biting in the area
SALTWATER SCENE Capt. Bill Miller, host of the TV Show “Hooked on Fishing,” reported that bait is plentiful on the flats and big schools of redfish have moved in all along the coast. “Trout fishing is very good and it seems like more snook and bigger snook have reappeared,” Miller said. Snook season is closed until, possibly, Sept. of 2012. Gag grouper season opened Sept. 16 and, along with red grouper, are available to keep. But the best tips will be at the Florida Sportsman Fishing and Boating Show Saturday and Sunday at The Florida State Fairgrounds. Fishing professionals from all over the state will host free seminars. Admission is $8. “Capt. Billy Miller and I will be there giving seminars both days,” Miller said. “We will be at the …
Friday, September 9, 2011
With rains having stirred Tampa-area waters and dropped water temperatures about 10 degrees in the past couple weeks, Capt. Jason Prieto of Steady Action Fishing Charters has adjusted for nice catches of trout, redfish and even a few snook
SALTWATER SCENE Capt. Jason Prieto of Steady Action Fishing Charters in Tampa fished Thursday and found good action on redfish and trout tight to mangroves as well as on lower, outgoing tides. He said the most productive areas have been Joe Island, Cockroach Bay, the Simmons Park flat and Bishop Harbor. The trout, which Prieto caught with heavy chum and white bait under a cork, have been low in numbers but have run between 20-25 inches in length. With heavy rains, the surface water temperature in Upper Tampa Bay has dropped to a high of 82 degrees. Prieto said grouper are in the bay and snook are beginning to move from the passes to the flats. He thinks the best snook fishing will be in two weeks when more snook head to backcountry area en…
Friday, August 19, 2011
Capt. Jason Prieto of Steady Action Fishing Charters said white bait is back on the flats and tells the spots where trout should be the best bet for anglers this weekend
Capt. Jason Prieto of Steady Action Fishing Charters said trout has been the best target around Bishop's Harbor, Joe Island and flats off Pinellas Point. Redfish should be mixed in with the trout. He said white bait from 1 to 3 inches has finally showed up on the flats, and anglers can simply chum the small shiners and free line the bigger ones over a grass flat with a salt-and-pepper bottom in 3-to-6 feet of water. "We've been catching a ton of small trout," Prieto said. He said mangrove snapper still are around various rock piles and artificials and tarpon have shown every now and then in various rivers. For trout, Prieto recommends hitting a 2.5- or 3-foot outgoing high tide and fishing from 8am to noon. "After that, it's just too hot…
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Capt. Jazz said the big, breeder redfish offshore are fizing to move in close, and anglers can look for them by spotting a sure sign -- diving frigatebirds.
Capt. “Jazz” of www.fishintampabay.com said redfish are beginning to stage up in preparation for their for their late-August and September new and full moon spawns. He said any day, some of the big offshore schools will come in close. Look for birds, particularly frigatebirds, which flock around the shores where pods of baitfish are schooling. “When you get two or three of those birds around, you know that those offshore schools of breeder reds are hanging close,” Jazz said. “It’s been said the reds drive the bait up. And the frigatebirds are easy to see.” Frigatebirds are quite large with their long wings, tails and bills. The males have a red gular pouch that inflates during their breeding seasons. “When they start swooping down toward …
Saturday, July 23, 2011
The summertime beach tarpon follow glass minnows in the bays, where anglers can take advantage of some great silver king action through August
As glass minnows begin to swarm inside Tampa Bay, many tarpon have begun their summertime move from the passes to the bays. The Howard Frankland Bridge, Courtney Campbell Causeway and Gandy Bridge and on the east side of the bay by downtown Tampa and the Hillsborough River, in 7 to 15 feet of water, typically hold these summertime silver kings. Looks for the popping on the surface of hatch bait and sneak into the area with your favorite topwater lure, such as the MirrOlure Top Dog, among many -- casting a few feet ahead of the rolling tarpon. There are still scattered tarpon off the beaches, and silver kings have been known to stay around the Sunshine Skyway fishing piers until Christmas. For inshore species, anglers can use this small “…
Friday, June 24, 2011
Vance Tice of Tampa Fishing Outfitters gives a fishing forecast for Westchase and the Tampa area
Vance Tice of Tampa Fishing Outfitters said tarpon are biting off the Pinellas beaches, on Egmont Key and off Bean Point, among many silver kings spots. Some cobia and permit have been showing up among the as well, he said. During the full and new moons, the big tides flush crabs around and anglers have a chance at catching a smorgasbord of fish, such as monster snook, redfish and permit. Look for tarpon to spawn into next month. After their spawn, more tarpon will head to the Howard Frankland Bridge, Courtney Campbell Causeway and Gandy Bridge and on the east side of the bay by downtown Tampa and the Hillsborough River. “They’ll hang out there during the summer,” Tice said. Tice said the range markers are holding mangrove snapper, gag …
Friday, June 10, 2011
Capt. Bill Miller of Hooked on Fishing with Bill Miller recommends targeting trout, redfish, tarpon or red snapper among many other species this week
Bill Miller of Hooked on Fishing with Capt. Bill Miller reported that trout fishing is good all along the west coast and in Tampa Bay over the grass flats in 3-to-6 feet of water. He recommended for ladyfish, jack crevalle, snapper and many other species, try drifting a live shrimp, white bait with a circle hook under a cork. Also, he said to get a high tide with quickly-moving water on an outgoing tide for redfish. He said a fresh-cut pinfish or dead thread herring, fished on the bottom, has been working well for the reds. "Spanish mackerel will be around all summer long," Miller reported. "Silver spoons, live white bait or shrimp will do the job on hungry macs." Tarpon, of course, are covered around the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and off …
Friday, June 3, 2011
Vince Scanio from Southeastern Fishing Tackle Liquidators said anglers are reporting pompano have invaded the area -- a typical early-summer happening
Vince Scanio from Southeastern Fishing Tackle Liquidators on 2907 Florida Ave. said pompano have begun to show around many of the area bridges, including the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and Howard Frankland Bridge. “This is their time of year,” Scanio said. “People are using Silly Willys and mainly pmpano jigs. Some people who are using bait are using sand fleas or fiddler crabs.” There is usually an abundance of sand fleas on the beaches, and quarter and half-ounce jigs work for pompano. Schools of pompano typically “skip” from the water in the wake of a boat, a typical means of locating them. A good way of fishing the bridges is to use a hoe to scrape the barnacles off the pilings to form a chum line to attract pompano. This also is a …
Friday, May 27, 2011
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. “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, …
