Fishing Clearwater

We had heard that there is good fishing on low tide near the Clearwater
Bridge. We decided to head out and test the waters. We got to the site
after maneuvering through the traffic to get there and parked at the
little parking area just on the west side of the bridge on the south
side of the road. It worked out to be a good spot to park and launch the
kayaks. It was a little muddy and we had to drag them a little farther
than normal but all in all a good place to launch. The first thing to
note is all the boat traffic that hits this channel. We headed straight
across and to the island area right across from where we launched. The
tide was low and we could see the drop off and the grass near the island
was exposed. But we were able to troll back and forth along the drop off
and cast some top waters and jigs going from deep to shallow.  Initially
I tried a few different style gulps and had a few nice strikes but
nothing aggressive enough to hook up. Then I noticed that there was
quite a bit of commotion on the top with schools of bait and fish
swimming through them feeding. I switched over to top water and that
seemed to do the trick. The fish started biting and after a few hook ups
my buddy landed a Trout, Redfish and Snook. The trout and redfish were
keeper size and the Snook, of course we let go.
        We will be heading back here in the near future and trying it
out again. It may be a little better to try this spot during the week
when there isn't as much boat traffic.

Fishing Report from Website

Joshua Taylor from "SaltyScales.com" www.saltyscales.com sent this fishing report.
"The fishing has been epic in the Tampa Bay with the big linesider reds and snook cooperating on all levels of the tide. The best action has been on the flood tides around the new and full moon, fishing the Southshore with artificial, live and cut baits. Early am try live bait or top water, as the sun rises switch to cut bait. The water heats up in the middle of the day and the fish become lethargic. Look for deep cuts in the mangroves and try and find areas with minimal boat traffic. Lord knows that the fish are extremely pressured. We have been doing really well with the Zara puppy early. For my complete report please be sure to visit www.saltyscales.com."
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Thanks Joshua I know what your talking about the past two weekends have been great we have been hitting the flats in the kayak and finding many Reds and Lots of Snook wanting to be caught. Early in the morning has been key and we have been out before sunup and off the water before 10am.

Fishing Report from Capt. Chris Haught of Inshore Charters

Captain Chris Haught of http://www.inshorecharters.com submitted this report to the web site.

 "Fishing in and around Tampa Bay has been unbelievable lately. We’ve been fishing mullet schools with live and cut bait for redfish in lower Tampa Bay having good success on the higher tides.

Snook have been on the flats near the structures and potholes eating scaled sardines, large threadfins, and pinfish. King mackerel have been on the beaches when the wind is cooperative out of the east and the water clarity is good. Anchoring up over hard bottom areas and putting out a spread of live baits on the surface and some live and dead bait on knocker rigs has produced kings, Spanish, bonito, key west grunt, red grouper, gag grouper, flounder, mangrove snapper, and more. Speaking of beach fishing, the flounder bite this year off the beaches has been stellar. Many of the flounder have been really nice sized compared to the usual size we see here.

 My Spanish mackerel fishing has mostly been inside the bay so far because of the number of fish hanging near the schools of threadfins. I’m pretty much using live bait on the good tides and cut strips of bait on the slower tides. We’ve been hitting the plus sized seatrout in the real skinny water on live bait, cut bait, and artificials and the smaller fish have been more plentiful in the 3-6 ft. grass flat areas eating the same things.

 Those deeper grass areas are also holding nice bluefish, ladyfish, jacks and more to bend the rod. We’ve been catching plenty of cobia so far but most have been on the small side with not many bigger ones yet. The tarpon are in their normal hangouts and have little traffic compared to May/June so now is the perfect time to target the silver king.

  The sharks are also making an appearance inside the bay on the flats, the edge of the shipping channel and near the passes which make for an exciting battle on light tackle."


Captain Chris Haught
Tampa Bay Florida Fishing Guide
http://www.inshorecharters.com
chris@inshorecharters.com
727-420-4429

Barracudaville Sportfishing Charters (New Charter Captain in Local Resources)

 

http://www.barracudaville.com

Join Capt. Mark Maloney of Barracudaville Charters for an unforgettable day of fishing in the Tampa Area.
Fishing locally for the past 15+ years in the beautiful, semi-tropical Gulf of Mexico and in its bays and bayous, we have consistently caught everything from giant amberjack, the fish snatching barracuda, hard fighting grouper, drag screaming smoker kingfish, the beautifully acrobatic tarpon, down to the tasty and colorful yellow TAIL snapper.

With a background as a marine science teacher, after a full day charter on BARRACUDAVILLE you are guaranteed to return to the dock with homework. Don't worry, it's only a taste test. We will catch our targeted species or your charter is on Captain Mark.

Whether you are an experienced fisherman hoping to win a big money tournament, a family of five on vacation, or a local fisherman who would like some help finding fish or dialing in your own boat's electronics. Capt. Mark Maloney's BARRACUDAVILLE Sportsfishing Charters will go to every possible effort to provide you with great service and a memorable day of sport fishing.

Captain Mark Maloney
727-776-REEL (7335)
http://www.barracudaville.com
email: CaptainMarkMaloney@yahoo.com

TampaBayFish.com Weekend Fishing report

TampaBayFish.com  Weekend Fishing Report. Looks like another typical early spring weekend with a little chance of rain and some winds but the fishing should be good.

Weather UPDATE: Looks like another FRONT is coming through, we can't seem to get away from them lately on the weekends. However it is suppose to bring only scattered showers around the area. The wind may be one of the biggest factors for fishing this weekend.

RADAR LINK

FORECAST LINK




SATURDAY:
high 64-66 20% chance of Rain
low 54-56
WINDS 10-15mph
SUNDAY:
high 71-74 30% chance of Rain
low 63-65
WINDS 5-15mph 

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Fishing Report: Look for both days to be good fishing this weekend the winds may keep a lot of people off the water but if the wind is  .

• REDFISH when the flats heat up towards the middle of the day it may be just right for the fish to be out and about. Look for the schools of mullet and the reds may be under them.
• TROUT will be hanging in the grass flats like always and should come after some live baits.
• SNOOK with the slow change in the weather they might still be hunting the shallows in the upper creeks.
• OTHER SPECIES most other fish will follow similar patterns look for the early morning and evening to be your best bets things are only going to get better from this time forward.

Any Florida Fishing Reports or Tampa Area Specific Fishing Reports are welcome please submit comments or other information here and maybe we can help others catch fish too.

WEEKEND FISHING REPORT

TampaBayFish.com  Weekend Fishing Report. It looks like the clouds have moved in and we have a heavy overcast with the threat of rain. Of course Fishing in Florida is always good we can all use a little help finding the fish and knowing what is biting.

Weather UPDATE: Looks like another FRONT is coming through however it is suppose to bring showers Today and Sunday with only scattered around the area. Prepare to get wet if fishing those days but look for the fishing to pretty hot on Saturday and perhaps today.

RADAR LINK

FORECAST LINK




SATURDAY:
high 78
low 66
SUNDAY:
high 69
low 48

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Fishing Report: Saturday looks to be the best day this weekend depending on how fast the front moves in it shouldn't slow the fish down that much since it is just a drop in the temp overnight BUT with the barometer dropping you should see good activity FRIDAY and possibly later Saturday. .

• REDFISH Early morning Saturday and the magic hour before dark are going to be the best bets but even the middle of the day may show a few fish feeding before the change on Sunday.
• TROUT will be hanging in the grass flats like always and should come after some live baits.
• SNOOK might still be hunting the shallows in the upper creeks.
• OTHER SPECIES most other fish will follow similar patterns look for the early morning and evening to be your best bets things are only going to get better from this time forward.

Any Florida Fishing Reports or Tampa Area Specific Fishing Reports are welcome please submit comments or other information here and maybe we can help others catch fish too.

Annonymous Fishing Report From the Web Site

I received this Tampa Area Fishing Report from the Web Site. Thanks for the report. (Jan 31, 2012)
"My father and I decided to go flats fishing around 7 o'clock at night. Nothing was biting on the flats so we moved to the TECO power plant. At this time it is about 9 o'clock. First we free lined it with some shrimp at the bottom of the hook and cast after cast we were getting some fun fights. We caught Catfish, Ladyfish, and large Jack. Then we put a bobber on the line and casted it into the center. Then we started to catch trout. One after another."

NEW Charter Captain Added to "LOCAL RESOURCES"

I wanted to let everyone know that I have another Charter Captain that is listed in the LOCAL RESOURCES section of my site. Capt. Rob Salimbene of MangroveMan.com he specializes in light tackle and fly fishing covering the entire Tampa Bay area for Snook, Redfish, Seatrout, Tarpon, Cobia, Tripletail, Shark and more! He fishes out of a fully rigged 20' Maverick Flats boat and is ready to go get 'em when you are. 1-3 fisherman is ideal and he has special rates for Fly Fishing. Contact him at 863-899-0984 or visit his web site for more info. Thanks Capt. and Tight Lines.

Tampa Redfish

Hit the water both days over the weekend and found the redfish up on the flats around 10:30am. Funny thing we saw lots of fish and caught quite a few Trout but the Redfish seemed to be sleeping in. They showed up about the time we were ready to leave the water. Literally on my last cast I landed an 18" Redfish and my buddy caught his about 15 minutes before that both were caught around 10:45am near Indian Key by Ft. Desoto. My hotspots map will have the exact location later today. The Trout however were everywhere from sun up until we left and we landed a few up to 20" and one at 22".

Easter Morning was more of the same but this time I headed towards the north west side of the Dunedin causeway. Made the morning sunrise and headed towards the small spoils just to the east of Honeymoon. However NOTHING seemed to be biting on the flats and everything was happening along the Drop off that had the markers indicating NO MOTORS. This went from about 8-10ft to 1.5ft in a hurry and all along this drop off was fish, Trout, Sharks and one 18" Black Drum that I was going to keep but decided to release him.

Fishing Report from http://www.hardcorfishingcharter.com

Date: 22 April, 2011
Whats Biting: Capt. JP, reports. "The bait has shown up on most of the flats between the St.pete Pier and the Howard Franklin bridge. They have a been a little spooky so try and stand where the bait cant see you. Redfish and Snook have been on fire around the St.Pete airport. Throwing out some chummers has helped getting the bite turned on. Grouper has also been on fire fishing pinfish in the channel around the Skyway bridge. You will probably catch quite a few shorts but the big ones are down there!!! If you have any questions feel free to visit my website at http://www.hardcorefishingcharters.com/ and send me an email.

Tight Lines,

Captain JP"

Saturday and Sunday

Hit the water both days before sunrise. The water was perfect and the fishing was excellent. Dunedin/Caladesi Saturday was alive with fish. Redfish were everywhere except on my hook. Still working on finding that perfect bait for redfish. Caught plenty of trout though and many keepers but I'm not the biggest fan of Trout so I released em all. Sunday same thing except I headed down towards Ft. Desoto and Turtle Key area, even hooked a few redfish but I don't think I set my hook good enough so had them on long enough to see them and have them spit the hook. Gonna try again next weekend and see if my luck improves. The fishing is great this time of year and we should see only better fishing as this nice spring weather really kicks in. I did talk to a few guys that said they were catching Redfish from the shore on cut bait though so I may have to give that a try.

Fishing this weekend

The weather is moving into that perfect day pattern where the winds are low and the sun is shinning and the fish seem to be hungrier than ever. Trout are hitting all of the grass flats, Spanish macks have moved into the bay and are also all throughout the intercoastal. Even some reports of Tailing Reds near desoto and some of the other flats. Snook are still in their winter haunts for now but will slowly move towards the beaches as things warm up. Offshore the Grouper season is closed for a few more days but I talked with a few divers and they say that there are a lot of them out there and Mangos too good sized since many people were off the grouper the mangos benefitted as well. Kings should be showing on some of the closer wrecks as they follow the bait that has started showing up. All in all if your hitting the water to fish or just enjoy this wonderful weekend it should be great either way. Be safe and tight lines.

Fishing for the Everyday Guy.

My fishing day normally begins very early. It actually starts the day before, normally because I wake up before the sun comes up to hit the water when the light is just busting pink on the horizon. Something about the sun just peeking up when your already on the water and hearing the slurping of fish on the calm surface and the popping of a Snook in the mangroves or the splash of the Mullet catching some morning air. It is my church where I worship the greatness of the outdoors and the natural beauty that someone has put in front of us but is rarely admired for just existing. I'm not trying to be a professional writer but I do think that many of us feel the same way about the outdoors and we sometimes can't explain it to our friends or family what the outdoors means to us.
       The Night Before I head out I normally get my rods out and make sure that they are well lubricated and that I don't have any kind of issues with them that went unnoticed the last time I was out. I also check the leaders on them and I look over about the first 10-15ft of line to see if there is much wear and tear on the braided line. If there is I cut it off and tie a new leader on. 
My typical line and leader setup is a 20lb braided Power Pro main line with 15-20lb monofilament leader tied line-to-line using a Surgeons Knot. It's pretty simple and I haven't had it be the weak link in my rig yet. Next I think about the type of fish I am targeting and I choose the appropriate two lures OR Hook/weight combos to tie on. I normally use two Poles for ease of switching out baits fast and have two options to choose from while fishing. I then tie the lure or hook on using a Rapala Knot. This knot allows the lure or hook to swing freely on the line for more action. This is also a very simple and quick knot that can be used to change lures rapidly while on the water.
     The Day of fishing begins like I said before the sun comes up. IF I'm taking the Kayak I typically load it the night before also if not I head to my boat in plenty of time to get it in the water before first light. I normally load my tackle, a small cooler or just a quick bottle of water and a few ziplock Baggies and my fillet knife. normally I am the only one at my fishing spots, alone in the dark and nothing but the salt air and the soft winds to keep me company. It is great to fish and to be that one person in your own little piece of the ocean a truly relaxing time and a lot of fun when you start catching fish. Speaking of catching fish sometimes I switch between multiple lures so when I am done with one I try to keep it in one pocket of my tackle box so I can wash them out later when I get home and it doesn't get saltwater all over my other lures and corrode later.
     When I'm done it normally is just a matter of loading up and heading home unless of course I have caught fish. If I caught fix I try to fillet them at the shoreline so that I can feed the pelicans or other birds the remains rather than trying to throw the remains in my trash and waiting for two days before the trash runs. Once home I take all my used tackle, including my rods, reels and lures and wash it off with freshwater to make sure that I don't have any salt on them. Because if you have fished here for very long reels and lures don't seem to last as long as they do when used in just fresh water. Washing your kayak out and/or your boat is also a good idea. Flushing the motor on your boat is must but I don't think I need to even say that.

That's my fishing routine and I know everyone has their own habits and things that they like to do and maybe my routine will help you to think about some things that you might not have before. Like I continuously say. I am a regular guy, I like to fish and I have a full time job that supports my fishing habit. So the next time your out on the water and you aren't sure what your going to target or where your going to go think about my web site and hopefully when you come back you will check it out and learn something that you can share.

Beach Snook

The Snook have moved to the beaches. This 33incher was just hangin about 15ft from shore in strong moving outgoing tide. A Chartruese 1/2oz DOA Jig head and a White Gulp Shrimp brought him in. Just before sunrise off the north beach on Anclote Island. The offshore we did was good but no keeper grouper. However friends that went out hit the Kings about 10 miles out and Grouper on some of the deeper reefs.