Inner Coastal Fishing

I've been out of the country on a vacation to Germany and Italy and finally made it out fishing. It truly is nice to have such a great place right in our back yard.
Went out on last Sunday, Memorial Day Weekend and thought it might not be too bad with the storm staying well North. The trout were biting and so were all the other fish, even a small 18 inch Grouper decided to bite my jig with a live shrimp on it. Also we never got pictures but we caught a Ladyfish that was the "Ladyfish that ate Tokyo" it had to be about 10 punds and 30 inches long. We at first thought it was a Big Bluefish, then maybe a small Tarpon but sure enough when we got it beside the boat it was a HUGE Lady fish. However the excitement of the day was the Grouper. IN about 12 foot of water and on a 1/8thoz jighead with a live shrimp.

$13,000 Fishing Tournament Next Weekend

21st Annual Saltwater Fishing Tournament
May 5, 2012

There is a very large fishing tournament happening on May 5th, That is next weekend. Here is the Article I found talking about it
 http://www.examiner.com/article/13-000-inshore-fishing-tournament

and here is the website for the Tournament.

http://www.optimistclubperryfl.com/

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

TampaBayFish.com - Weekend Fishing Report

TampaBayFish.com  Weekend Fishing Report. Saturday and Sunday are not suppose to be the best weather days. If your going fishing there may be some good chances on Sunday, watch for heavy rains and winds to possibly shut the fish down.

Weather UPDATE: Thunderstorms Saturday with the chance of rain going way down Sunday. It seems like a dip in the temperatures on Sunday but only to 79 so it should be excellent fishing all weekend long.

RADAR LINK

FORECAST LINK
SATURDAY:
high 80-83 70% chance of Rain
low 59-62
NE WINDS 10-15mph
SUNDAY:
high 73-78 60% isolated chance of Rain
low 64-66
N WINDS 10-15mph 

Fishing Report: Look for Fishing to be good if you can get to protected waters and watch for the rain and winds. 

• FISH Redfish are hitting topwaters and trout are hitting popping corks with live or plastic shrimp.
• Spanish Mackerel and Kingfish are making strong appearances. The Kings seem to be running strong out over the close wrecks and off the beaches and the Spanish Macks should be all over the Bay.

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.

Spoons that I have caught Redfish and Snook on

This is another part of my favorite Lures section these are some of the Gold Spoons that have produced well for me over the years I have caught Trout, Redfish and Snook on every one of these Lures. The gold spoon with the small red spinner in the back seems to outproduce the plain gold spoon for some reason.

Redfish Lures

Tampa Fishing Report from Capt. Rick Reddick of Tampa Fishing Charters

Capt. Rick Reddick submitted this report. Visit Tampa Fishing Charters for More info:
April 11, 2012 - Tampa Fishing Charters

Wow what an awesome spring mackerel run we are having. While slow trolling over artificial reefs and other live bottom areas we have barely been able to keep our baits in the water. We have had at least three Kingfish each day and around ten Spanish mackerel. Not to mention all “the ones that got away”.

Obviously we did not catch these two kings in front of this dock, but it was time to take pictures for my happy clients and they did not mind the location. Catching bait has been pretty easy and quick. I am very thankful for the bait we have around and the kings and Spanish love them. While slow trolling it is not uncommon to get double knock downs and we have had at least one on each trip.

When the fishing is this hot, it does not take long to get a large catch like these two professional junior anglers achieved. We should have another month of this awesome mackerel run. Many other species of fish are biting very well this spring:

It has been a pleasure to live and fish in Florida for my whole life, but the months of March and April definitely exemplifies why Florida is the fishing capital of the world. Snook, red fish, trout and grouper have all been caught on recent trips.

In contrast to the previous two springs, bait is easy to find and catch. This mild winter has allowed our fishery the chance to recover a bit, and God knows we need it. While fishing out of Tarpon Springs the past week, we caught this black grouper by free lining a scaled sardine in an edge.

An edge is place were two current flows meet to form a water barrier, that is, two rips moving in different directions. Add a whirlpool effect and you have an Eddie. On the next day’s trip, we caught this snook immediately after leaving the dock:

This happy client had never caught a fish before in his 85 years:

He caught many fish that date.

Here is a picture of a gag we caught while slow trolling for kings:

Fishing for the next few months will be superb, so get out on the water and catch them up!

Captain Rick Reddick
Tampa Fishing Charters |Tampa Fishing Guides
http://www.captainrickreddick.com/
info@captainrickreddick.com
813-787-0249
Tampa Fishing Charters | Tampa Fishing Guides

FREE FISHING Days for 2012

The FWC has two Saltwater Free Fishing days scheduled this year there are Freshwater fishing days as well listed. This is the myfwc.org website that has the announcement. myfwc website announcement.

• June 2 (saltwater) This is the First Day of Red Snapper Season in the Gulf.
• Sept. 1 (saltwater) Labor Day weekend is always a busy fishing time and vacation time in Florida so free fishing fits right in.

for Freshwater the dates are

• April 7 (freshwater) This is past sorry I was looking for the info and it just happens I found it just after the dates.
• June 9 (freshwater) This is the opposite weekend of the saltwater free fishing day.

TampaBayFish.com  Weekend Fishing Report. The wind on Saturday may be a little high but Sunday will be very nice even if the temp drops a little. Flats are working up a lot of action, and the beaches will be heating up shortly. BAIT is everywhere and the schools of mullet are holding some Redfish.

Weather UPDATE: Scattered Thunderstorms Saturday with the chance of rain going way down Sunday. It seems like a dip in the temperatures on Sunday but only to 79 so it should be excellent fishing all weekend long.

RADAR LINK

FORECAST LINK

SATURDAY:
high 80-83 30% chance of Rain
low 59-62
NE WINDS 15-20mph
SUNDAY:
high 79-82 30% isolated chance of Rain
low 64-66
N WINDS 5-10mph 

Fishing Report: The fishing should be excellent in a lot of places around Tampa and the waters North and South. 

• FISH Typical patterns for spring are expected for Redfish, Snook and Trout. Redfish seem to be very active on the flats. Trout are hitting a lot of baits on all the deeper grass flats.
• Spanish Mackerel and Kingfish are making strong appearances. The Kings seem to be running strong out over the close wrecks and off the beaches and the Spanish Macks should be all over the Bay.

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.

Tampa Bay Fishing Report from Web Site

I received this report from the web site. Thanks for submitting this report and I hope your info can help someone else catch fish. The fishing date was 3/25/2012

"I went wading off of Bayshore Blvd in Tampa, FL. We were out about 300yds off the shore during high tide and we caught three speckled trout ranging from the smallest 17", the middle was 22" and the largest one was 27 1/2" inches. They were all caught on live shrimp. We had to weed through some of the smaller ones before the bigger ones started to hit."

Capt. Rick Reddick of Tampa Fishing Charters posted this on his site

TAMPA FISHING CHARTERS
The Mackerel are everywhere and the bite is Spectacular. The wrecks just off shore and the live bottom areas are his spots to target the fish. read more about it here at his website.
http://www.captainrickreddick.com/2012/03/28/tampa-bay-mackerel-bite-spectacular/

Saturday Fishiing Philippe Park

It was a windy afternoon (4:30pm), there was a minor front moving in and it was suppose to bring rain Sunday so the winds were up a little over 15knts. They were out of the southwest and we thought that Philippe Park (Map Link) might be a good protected area. As you can see from the picture the waves were a little large for Kayaks, But they weren't bad enough to keep us off the water and the water was very warm.

It looked a little nicer from shore than it actually was. We launched right from one of the pull overs towards the south end of the park. and fished from creek mouth south about 200-300 yards. The mangroves were nicely covered with water.

Tim caught the first fish of the day a nice 18" Redfish. The water was pushed way up and we hit the place right at high tide and the mangroves were in the water and the treeline was flooded. With the murky water conditions we though that it might be best to use White Soft Jigs. I used a New Penny color and Tim was using solid white.

We caught a few more fish a couple of trout and some Ladyfish and as you can see Tim's catches of Redfish were right up in the Mangrove shallows. the water was about 2ft deep here and is normally less than 6 inches.
The wind isn't always your enemy as a matter of fact a nice South wind is a great thing in the upper Tampa Bay area where the water can be pushed into places that it normally isn't and the fish are there too.

TampaBayFish.com Weekend Fishing report

TampaBayFish.com  Weekend Fishing Report. This weekend is suppose to be excellent weather, warmer than usual including the water temperature being at levels near the normal MAY timeframe. This will lead to fish being very active and we should see a definite increase in Spanish Mackerel activity in the bay and along the beaches and the Kingfish run should be going on strong this weekend.

Weather UPDATE: Excellent weather Until Sunday with another little rain storm in scattered areas. It seems like a dip in the temperatures on Sunday but only to 79 so it should be excellent fishing all weekend long.

Submitted Report from the Website: "caught a twenty one inch and 19 inch red off of live bait while tide was going out at 4 o'clock pm." Not sure of the Exact Location but they are out there.

RADAR LINK

FORECAST LINK


SATURDAY:
high 83-85 20% chance of Rain
low 69-71
SW WINDS 10-14mph
SUNDAY:
high 79-81 30% isolated chance of Rain
low 51-53
W WINDS 8-11mph 

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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 from the south like expected look for the upper creeks and shallow areas to hold more fish due to the NEW water being pushed back into those areas.

• FISH Typical patterns for spring are expected for Redfish, Snook and Trout. 
• Spanish Mackerel and Kingfish are making strong appearances. Look for Kings out over the close wrecks and off the beaches and the Spanish Macks should be all over the Bay.

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.

Ozello Shrimper - New Product

Every once in a while I have went shrimping in Tampa Bay and have had Great luck the guy who taught me had a nice shrimp catching tool bought from Ozello Shrimper online. The tool worked amazing and he always caught more shrimp than me. NOW The Ozello Shrimper has redesigned the product and made it even better. Here is the Link to his site. If you truly want to catch some Shrimp in Tampa you should get one of these they are amazing. Also if you haven't read my post on "Finding Shrimp in Tampa bay" here is the Link again.
Also I get nothing out of this other than knowing a great product when I see one and if it helps someone to catch more Shrimp or to Catch more fish than you know that is what my site is all about anyway.

Update to Redfish and Trout Regulation Changes

Image is for reference and accuracy purposes.

My good fishing buddy Tim let me know that the fishing area designated as the Northwest region includes all of the water NORTH of the Howard Park Causeway. This is actually good news for those fishing that area. It means that two Redfish per person or 6 Per vessel can be kept if you are on the North Side of Howard Park Cause way. See the picture which comes straight from the Florida Wildlife Commission Website which shows the demarcation line between North and South regions. To read more see the new release here.

New Charter Captain Listed on TampaBayFish.com

On my Local Links Page I have many Local Charter Captains that are more than willing to help you find fish and provide you with a great fishing experience. Whether your a local wanting to learn more or visiting from out of state be sure to check them out if your in the market for a Florida Fishing Guide.

Capt. Chris Haught is a Florida native, born and raised in the Tampa Bay, Florida area fishing these waters as a boy in search of the same species he now guides others to. Capt. Chris is very knowledgeable of his home waters and knows the surroundings and conditions it takes to make a fantastic Florida charter fishing adventure.
As a licensed and insured guide, safe boating habits are practiced at all times.
For the fishing adventure of a lifetime Capt. Chris will customize the trip to your needs just complete the form below (call or email is fine also) for information regarding Tampa Bay, Florida fishing charters. If you are on a business trip or don't have a fishing partner please contact Capt. Chris for special single angler rates. We'll look forward to hearing from you!!

Capt. Chris Haught
Home: 727-773-0299
Cellular: 727-420-4429
chris@inshorecharters.com

TampaBayFish.com Fishing report

Saturday was a good day to be on the water with the winds out of the South some of the protected areas turned out to be productive. the only problem encountered it wasn't until after the sun had just set that my buddy was able to hook up with four nice sized Redfish one after another. The Winds were pretty helpful being out of the South but the fish seemed a little slow to respond. The fishing seemed a little slow However due to the warm air and mild winter it looks like maybe the fish are already starting to move out of their winter haunts. The water temperatures are near their normal "MAY" temps and this could make a change in the fishing sooner this year and we could see Snook out on the beaches soon and some of the other fish transitioning to thier spring areas sooner than expected. The Hotspot Map has been updated with these 4 catches in the Anclote Salt Lake area.

TampaBayFish.com Weekend Fishing Report

TampaBayFish.com  Weekend Fishing Report. This weekend is suppose to be excellent weather, warmer than usual and this should bring out some fish hunting and prowling for food.

Weather UPDATE: Excellent weather Until Sunday with another cold snap. It seems like the weather can't put two nice days back to back unless it's during the week. Look for a little coldness and potential rain Sunday..

RADAR LINK

FORECAST LINK



SATURDAY:
high 80-83 20% chance of Rain
low 61-64
WINDS 10-20mph
SUNDAY:
high 67-69 40% chance of Rain
low 51-53
WINDS 15-20mph 

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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 from the south like expected look for the upper creeks and shallow areas to hold more fish due to the NEW water being pushed back into those areas.

• REDFISH Sunday might be the slower of the two days with Saturday providing the best bet but 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 Look in the back and upper shallow creek areas which may have more water with the southerly winds.
• OTHER SPECIES Soon we may see some Spanish Macks heading into the bay and along the beaches..

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.

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.

NEW Features Coming to TampaBayFish.com

Along with the new web site, some new features will be added to the site. As you can see a New Logo is going into place and I will go over some of new features below.

• HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - TampaBayFish.com will provide free links to Charter Captains and will create a BLOG Post, Facebook Post and Twitter Post when requested through the online form here. posts will remain on the front page for 5 days and typically will start on Saturday or Monday.

• CLEARER INFORMATION - Information is being worked into the layout to provide a clutter free website BUT all the same information you've come to look for.
• WEEKEND Fishing PREDICTIONS - TampaBayFish.com will provide a general idea of what fish will be biting over the weekend. Predictions will be based on weather, tides, season and time of day.
• MORE PICTURES - More pictures will be incorporated into Posts and the web page. This has been a request for a long time to post more images.
• FEEDBACK - A way for you the visitor to send feedback, recommendations and ask questions.

Thank you to the over 100,000 people who have visted and have provided information, pictures, feedback AND valuable learning experiences. Give a man a Fish and he is happy for a DAY, TEACH him to Fish and he is happy for a LIFETIME. Tightlines and I look forward to another 8+ years of providing fishing information to the "everyday fisherman".