NEW REDFISH and SPOTTED SEA TROUT regulations GO INTO EFFECT TOMORROW

Starting 1 February NEW Regulations for RED DRUM (REDFISH) and Spotted Sea Trout go into effect for Florida. In the Northern Regions People can KEEP 2 REDFISH per day in the Southern Regions we are still limited to 1 per day.  Spotted Sea Trout will no longer have a closed season. Starting 1 February Sea Trout will be open year round. The map shows which counties are in the north and south. And for more detailed Information make sure you go directly to the Florida Wildlife Commission Web Site.  To see specific information on these changes go to the Saltwater Fishing Regulations Handbook. To find out all of Florida Fishing's Regulations visit the myfwc.org website and get the real information.

Early New Years Eve Eve Redfishing

We got out on the water about 0815 it was calm and we immediately started catching fish. Tim landed a nice Slot Red, then we stayed in the same area and really slayed them.

We kept two nice ones and threw about 10 back. Trout were biting hard too but we were really looking for Redfish and most of the trout were undersized. Here is a Video of one of the Redfish.

you couldn't have asked for a nicer morning and day on the water, I think the pictures sum it up. Tampa Redfish, are one of the most fun fish to catch.

Hot Fishing in the upper bay, Creek Channels and warmer water areas

It seems the fish are cold too...many of the places that are holding the best fish seem to be areas that have water temperatures warmer than the surrounding areas. some of these would be the upper bay areas that are shallower than normal allowing the water temperature to absorb the sun throughout the say. Many of the upper bay creeks are teaming with bait and fish. An unusually warm fall and beginning of winter has extended a very hot TROUT bite throughout the flats. I'm no weather expert BUT just seeing what is happening on the water makes me believe the Fish want to be warm too. SO if you can get out this weekend....New Years and ALL or if your on vacation from work this week. FISHING might not be a bad stress reliever and a treat for you and any of your out of town guests. If I had to choose some best bets I would say the upper Tampa bay park, Channel A, Double Branch Creek and the flats over on the Dunedin side to be some of your more productive areas. HOWEVER south near the Ft. Desoto Flats and Treasure Island area should be doing just as well.

After the Storms Redfishing

We hit the water at about 7am, finally the rain stopped and the storms in the afternoon were of no concern. We headed to some of the local flats off Dunedin. First we found pods of bait just hitting the surface and BIG trout hangin underneath the bait just feeding. We hooked about 10 a little undersized then found 2 that were well over the 20" and then decided to look for Redfish..I know "Never Leave Fish to Find Fish" But we needed to get a Redfish as we moved towards the nice grass flats we tossed into a few bait schools and had ONE Huge hit that hooked up and then got off. However we saw the school we were looking for Bad thing is it was a BIG SCHOOL of Redfish and the reason thats BAD is because they WERE too Big. Which could be a good thing, the fight was tremendous and after two landed and released and another broke off we decided to call it a Day The Reds were just TOO BIG to keep. An Excellent day of fishing and we actually never had the bite let up.

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.

NEW Fishing Report from Capt. Rob Salimbene Mangrove Man Charters www.mangroveman.com

Capt. Rob, reports.
Date: 23-24 April 2011 from http://www.mangroveman.com/

What is Biting: Redfish have really turned on this past week and should begin schooling up in large numbers within the next few weeks. I have been targeting reds around oyster bars and deep mangrove shorelines during the higher tide stages. The last two hours of the incoming tide and the first two hours of the outgoing tide have been producing very well. Most of the fish have come on cutbait, with fresh cut threadfin hearing being the best by far, however live shrimp or greenbacks have also been catching their fare share.

Snook have also continued to improve this past week. I have been fishing the south shore of Tampa Bay, basically from Miguel Bay (MAP LINK) to the Little Manatee River working the outside grass flats and passes. Find moving water with a deeper mangrove edge and some baitfish and Snook are bound to be in the surrounding area. The best bait has been live greenbacks, but live shrimp or the Mirrolure Mirrodine in the greenback color will also trigger strikes.

Lastly, Spanish Mackeral are swarming the entire bay area. This past weekend while Tarpon fishing, we were having difficulty keeping baits in the water due to the Spanish Mackeral that were tearing our baits and leaders to shreds. I like to target Mackeral with a live greenback rigged on a No.1 long shank hook connected to 40lb. fluorocarbon leader. Although you will get some bite-offs, I think you definitely get more bites and catch more fish with heavy flourocarbon leader rather than wire. The fish we have been catching are averaging 18 to 20 inches and we have been catching 20 to 30 per trip.

Source: Captain Rob Salimbene Mangrove Man Charters http://www.mangroveman.com/

Tampa Area Fishing Report

I've gotten a lot of comments on what is biting and where so I thought I would put them all down in a report.

The flats all along Tarpon Springs are alive with action. Reds are cruising the flats, Trout are hanging on the grass and Spanish Mackerel are any place there is bait to be had.

The Bay is full of Spanish Macks and the area near Weedon Island is really producing some nice Reds. Christmas Pass is full of Snook Trout and Reds and are typically found on an incoming tide. All the bridges are holding fish and the Lady Fish are thick like mosquitos.

The area all around Ft. Desoto is holding nice reds and trout and taking sinking baits during the day and top waters in the afternoon. Last weeks slow tides will be replaced with faster tides and more aggressive fish this week and weekend.

Grouper in State Waters have been bitting pretty good if you can get your bait down past the small red grouper and the KINGFISH bite has finally turned on and around the wrecks and in Egmont Channel you should find them hanging around.

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.

Cold weather Report

With the water being pretty chilly the fish are slow but not scarce. Best bet is to go later in the day when the sun has had a chance to warm the water a little Soon warmer weather is on its way it won't be long until we have some great spring fishing action. In the meantime. Here are a few places that may produce. One is the beach areas along phillippe park in Safety Harbor, the water is shallow and the sandy bottom heats up rather quickly. If you hit the area before evening rolls around you may find some reds cruising along the mangroves when the tide is up.
          Near the Dunedin Causeway and the flats north towards Anclote are holding Trout but they seem to be in the 5-7ft range and are hitting slower moving jerked softbaits. Try this area when the sun is high in the sky so between 11-3pm is your best bet.
          Hopefully everyone has had enough winter and are ready to get back to some fishing weather. I will update my hotspots if I hear of anything good biting. The local paper is reporting large Sheepshead moving around in the Bay BUT I have never had much luck finding or catching them so for those of you that have the skills to do it that may be an option.
-- Tghtlines

TampaBayFish - Who are you.

(Tim<-------->Trevor)

     This is my reintroduction. My name is Trevor. I am a normal everyday working individual and not a Professional Fishing Guide or Professional Fisherman. I started this web site to satisfy my need for Weather Links, Tracking where I caught Fish, posting pictures for my friends to find easily and other helpful information. It has kinda grown from there and I have added a few things.

      I wanted to post this so that people understand that this may not be the best fishing site out there but it is by far one of the most genuine. I don't exagerate my catches and if I don't catch anything well, thats just how it goes sometimes. Oh and I do catch Ladyfish and Catfish just like everyone else. I do own a boat, a 21 foot Trophy Pro,

(Up on the Trailer)

 so I am lucky in that regards because I can get to more fishing locations, I do have a lot of info on shore fishing so hopefully if other people have favorite locations from shore that can help to just drop me a line or a comment to my posts. One other thing is me and my buddy have Kayaks, 16'

(The Yaks)

with motors, which get us to the other places we fish. If you haven't looked into a Kayak for fishing here in Florida I highly recommend it. I saw a great fishing kayak setup yesterday at West Marine for $399 thats a pretty good deal. (No I'm not affiliated with West Marine) Also I am not a Florida Native BUT I did grow up fishing and have fished since I could put a worm on a hook.

      The one thing I did right was meet a great Florida Native Friend (Tim) who has shown me the ropes. He isn't the most computer Savvy But he can fish and regularly outfishes me. We try to fish once a week mostly weekends and evenings. We tend to target whatever hits our baits. We are big fans of Top water and light jig heads with a swim body. We love to catch Redfish and we typically catch a lot of Snook. We do go offshore out of Hubbards Marina on their 36hr trips and we take my boat out about 30-40 miles. (Single Engine so, yes I have an EPIRB).

(The Trop and TampaBayFish.com)

      I am a local to Tampa so maybe you'll see me around and I am a Sports team Homer so, GO BUCS!, RAYS!, LIGHTNING!, STORM!, ROWDIES! and any other local team. I especially love the Rays and have since I moved here. I Made it to the ONLY World Series Game We won SO FAR game #2. This year I will make it to more World Series Games.

      A few things that I can mention is that this web site only generates money from the Google ads on the side and I do not get paid any advertising fees for any of the other links on here. I would like to, but I'm not really into working that hard to sell my site as having the top google ranked site for Tampa. Since I do have just about every #1 position when searching for anything fishing related in Tampa. Here's my only plug for the site. Test it out! Search for "Tampa Fishing" or "Gandy Fishing" or "Tampa fishing information" and I am #1 and for just about any other search for fishing in the Tampa Bay are I am number one also.

     Anyway, I am always listening to the locals, and at the boat ramps and getting info that I think is good and passing it on through my site.

(Offshore with a Keeper Red)

     So the next time you come to my web site and think "This guy doesn't know what he's talking about" you may be right. BUT the way I see it its just like fishing Sometimes you get good info sometimes you don't. If you always caught fish they would have called it "Catching" instead of "Fishing".

     Thanks for visiting my web site and I hope at least someone catches a fish and if you learned where to catch it or how to catch it from my site well at least I promoted the sport and hopefully you had fun thats all any of us can ask for.

 -------

Tight Lines!

Trevor.

Early Sunday Kayak fishing

Hit the water by 5:50am Sunday morning and heade out of our favorite Anclote spot. Early morning and calm water combined to make a great day of fishing. Caught and released 3 Snook all undersized between 15-18 inches but very healthy. Hooked a Black Drum about 5 lbs got him to the kayak and he released himself. Also had a swipe at my top water by one of the largest Red fish I think I have ever seen inshore. Looked like a man in a fish suit he was so big. Heard reports that the reds weren't out on the flats and that people were having a hard time finding them. They are very tricky to find and when you catch one the rest will scatter. Keep an eye out for Mullet and you should find Trout and Reds hanging around with the. Try a Gulp Shrimp rigged with NO WEIGHT and drop it to the bottom and jerk it through the grass or off the top of the grass. You'll probably cactch a lot of Trout but A few Reds will be there too.

Kayaks, Snook and some Redfish

Hit the water around 5pm up near anclote river and attempted to target some Redfish. But they weren't cooperating. We ended up catching a couple small Snook. This was actually a good thing being this far north we figured we would see a bad effect from the cold earlier in the year. The Snook were about 18-20 inches and they were strong and healthy. This is a good sign that the Snook population is still doing well and should come back strong. We did see a lot of Reds swimming the shallows even one that was swimming in such shallow water about 10 inches along his back was exposed and he just kept swimming along.

Redfish Action is HOT in the Tampa Area

Just about every flat is holding Redfish right now. If you think you are going fishing this weekend at all. LOOK AT THE TIDES and hit the water at High Tide and find a Nice Flat to Drift accross.....My Favorite, GULP SHRIMP "New Penny" or "White" are excellent choices for Redfish this weekend. you can't go wrong if you are out there the fish are there too....Check out my Map for more places and exact locations.

Hunting for Reds and only get Trout

We hit the water late morning but with the wind and the previous cold weather, really we were just relieved to be back on the water. A beautiful day 71 degrees and one small cloud. The wind was a little strong but behind the mangroves we found calm water and a few trout that seemed to be slow but hungry. The good news is we found a few Reds, Large but not very hungry or happy to be chasing our baits.  SO all in all it was a good day to be a fish. BUT the weather was excellent and just getting out there made it a fantastic day Sometimes just going out and looking at new locations is what fishing is all about.

Warmer Weather means Warmer Fish

Well if we can read into anything about the weather and the fishing situation this weekend it should tell us that the Fishing should improve over this past week. The Fish should be a little more active and they should be feeding, SO the bite should be good. Look for Redfish to be active as soon as the morning CHILL is knocked off and look for the regular Trout bite to be happening on your favorite Grass Flat. From the shore off Dunedin causeway should be great fishing this weekend. Also fish around Desoto area and other causeway haunts should be pretty active.

REDFISH - IN abundance

It seems the Redfish are making an appearance. The warm weather got them feeding and it seems in Cockroach Bay they have been schooling and hitting anything thrown at them. Also around Ft. Desoto reports have been good of schools and biting redfish. This is great news and hopefully it continues. BUT with the cool front moving through we may see a slight slow down BUT hold onto your hats cause it seems with the Warm Weather on its way fishing could be Heating up....LOL literally. look for early morning reds and early evening reds to be some of your best bets Although with the water getting to it's max in the middle of the day the Bite even in the heat of the day should continue to be good for a while.

OCTOBER Fishing should Be Fantastic

October, the weather starts to cool the fish start feeding heavily there is a change of season adn movement in all the fishing areas. It looks like the beaches should be gettign prowled by some large Snook and Spanish Macks and the shorelines of Tampa Bay, South Shore, Phillipe Park and the like should see an increase in Redfish and Snook action with live and cut bait. Don't forget the fish are hungry and the change in the seasons is making them move from their summer hideouts transitioning to their winter haunts. This whole month should be fantastic.

Tampa Fishing Inshore

Looks like a couple of friends made a few trips into the flats down near Desoto and the skyway area. They told me that it looked like a lot of fish were moving around in the shallows and near shell island the Mullet were swimming on top of large schools of RedFish. The trout were also biting pretty heavily on shrimp and gulps. Looks like I am going to have to make my way to the flats this weekend to see whats biting for myself. I also heard reports of Kings moving in on the closer artificial reefs.