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.

Howard Park - Trout and some Tarpon

Hit the water by 7am the tide was outgoing and it seemed like a good morning. However we weren't able to see any Tarpon rolling early. So we threw some topwater plugs and had a few nice strikes but they were random and nothing consistent. We did spot a few small pods of tarpon but they weren't that active and throughout the day we saw only about 3 pods that were too far away and by the time we moved in their direction they were gone. The Trout bite was hot though and is the goto fish in the early morning and throughout the day on jigs and underwater plugs in the 5-8ft water. anything shallower and the bite shuts down. Yesterday's favorite color was a light natural gulp swim bait. We left the water by about 11am and headed back.

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.

Kingfish Just offshore - few tarpon showing

The kingfish are still out there and they seem to be hitting good starting in about 12-20ft of water. Trolling the beaches just outside of Clearwater all the way to johns pass should produce look for bait schools and for birds and you should find them. Also I have heard reports that Tarpon have been seen just outside of Ft. Desoto rolling off the beaches. Hoepfully the warmer water will keep them here and we should see them move into the bridges soon. Trout are a steady bite on the grass flats on outgoing tides and the Red fish seem to be hanging out as well on some of the flats off Dunedin and down near Desoto. Snook are there too but they are off limits best to just leave em alone and target the Reds and Trout, there are enough of them around to satisfy the bite.

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.