Tarpon Fishing Report by Capt. Rick Reddick

Fishing Report provided by: Tampa Fishing Charters www.captainrickreddick.com info@captainrickreddick.com 813-787-0249
"The Tampa Bay tarpon bite is still good. Fish are being caught around the Skyway Bridge in the 50 to 100lb class, with an occasional 150lber in the mix. The bait of choice has been pass crabs on the full moon tides. This type of fishing is very exciting. It is a great challenge to chase this fish in between the bumper. The common tactic is to anchor on the slower tides and then drift on the stronger ones. On the out going tides the eddies on the west side of the bridge have been the ticket.
Out on the beaches and in the passes the fish are bigger and the bait of choices has been live or cut thread fins. Drifting or anchoring can both produce fish.In these places it is very exciting to see these fish breach right before they bite your baits. Tarpon fishing is my favorite time of year and the bite is strong right now. It brings me no great pleasure to put my clients on these fish."
www.captainrickreddick.com

Thanks Capt. Rick Hopefully a couple of my web visitors can take advantage of your experience and you can put them onto some of these big fish.

My Buddy Tim gets picked for SUNCOAST TARPON TOURNAMENT

(<--TIM --- ME -->)

Well what a deal, they needed volunteers to observer during the SUNCOAST TARPON TOURNAMENT and if picked you get to fish with one of the anglers that are in the tournament. http://suncoasttarponroundup.org/
And what a lucky draw Tim got picked to fish with Capt. Bill Miller. What an honor it is to be able to fish with such a local celebrity in the fishing world. Many people may not think much of just going along for the ride in such a large tournment But for those of us that understand the amount of knowledge that just observing a great fisherman can impart makes that ride well worth it and the chance to watch someone with so much local knowledge fish in our own backyard. Good Luck Capt. Miller and Tim keep your eyes open and hopefully we can get some pictures.

FULL Moon Weekend - Tarpon Trout and Pompano

Depending on what your fishing for you are in luck this weekend since it is a full moon weekend there will be a lot of fish wanting to eat. Tarpon on all the Bay Bridges, and on the outside beaches from Egmont to Anclote. Trout on the Flats, Redfish up in the mangroves on High Tide, Snook on the Beaches, Snapper in the Shipping channels and deeper bridge cuts, Pompano along Howard Franklin and Gandy bridges. IF thats not enough then the Shark Fishing should be good as well. I myself will be trying along the Anclote Key beaches and the Honeymoon beaches for Tarpon. Hopefully I can find em and cast to em and we should be able to hook up. Remember the Early mornings and evenings are going to be your best bites BUT the fishing has been outstanding lately and even the heat is keeping the fish from biting.

TARPON ROLLING

Sunday Morning was a good day to be on the water. The Sun had just come up and put the Kayaks in off the Howard Park causewau around 7am. Started off by drifting accross the flats and getting multiple strikes and hookups on topwater plugs. About 6 good sized keeper trout and 2 nice sized Spanish Mackerel.  The excitement of the day was the Tarpon Rolling in pods all around me. It seemed they were small pods of about 5-8 fish BUT once I was able to get close enough I found that the 5-8 I saw were part of about a 50+ fish POD. and it wasn't the only pod seen. At the same time all across the flats and some of the 4-7 ft water. Watched a rental pontoon boat fishign for trout Hook up with about a 120lber he showed them his head and shook it to throw the hook. Of cours they were pretty excited especially the girls on the boat. Hoepfully it will be the same this coming Friday since I will be able to get back out there right before the weekend to try and hook up with them.

Early Tarpon Reports, Redfish Hangin out.

I have heard from a few captains that the Tarpon are already here, and with the weather warming up like it has and the water following suit I believe it shouldn't be much longer before the bridges are a good place to find em rolling. Redfish seem to be hanging out on the flats and the early morning and evening should be your best bets. If your wanting to stay out after the heat hits by midday find the beaches and look for tarpon. Remember those lady fish can be good bait so bag one or two and freeze em up for the next trip out.

Sharks and More

Hit the water last nightjust to see if anything was really biting on the hill tide last night. We anchored up just under some lights and a few live baits later and we had our first Shark after that it seemed there just wasn't the warm enough water for the Tarpon to be up near the bridges just yet. we'll try again later in the month when that water hits about 86-88 we should be rollin in em.

Redfish and Snook Action Maybe even Tarpon

If the weather holds off a little this weekend the Redfish, Snook and Tarpon should be good bets this weekend. Target the Redfish near the flats and mangroves. If the tide is high the Redfish will be up in the mangroves and with an outgoing tide look for them to be flushed out onto the flats. Mangroves on the backside of Honeymoon island will be holding a lot of fish. The snook will be prowling the edges of the grass and Mangroves and in the early morning they will be moving along the beaches. Tarpon should be all along the beaches throughout the day. Look for them to move by you if your on the beaches but if you in a boat target the passes and watch for them as they head along the beaches to the passes. Nothing will beat a nice crab laying on the wide open sandy bottom as they pass by. Be Safe this weekend and Tight Lines.

Gandy Tarpon

Tampa Fishing Report: On the water by about 5:45pm headed out of gandy ramp looking for bait we found the bait on a marker near the bridge and filled the livewell with about 30+ Threadfin. Got in place and Anchored under a light and started fishing with the Threadfin. Had a few strong hits nothing exciting and caught a few monster sail cats. Couldn't get a lady fish to hit until the sun hit the horizon then we couldn't get them to stop. We saw a few tarpon rolling and figured it would be on any minute. The Tide and New Moon were at prefect points. BUT we had no luck hooking up. we pulled anchor around 10:00pm and decided to call it since it was Thursday we still had to go to work in the morning.