Captain Steven had the pleasure of spending a day on the water with Jan Maizler article and travel editor for CyberAngler. With beautiful weather I wanted to show off Tampa Bay and all she has offer.
The day started targeting spotted sea trout on shallow grass flats. Tossing Berkley Gulp shrimp baits on ¼ oz jig heads resulted in non stop action on spunky 13-16" trout. Next up we headed to a small island loaded with docks. Looking for redfish it only took a few minutes to land a chunky 17" redfish that clobbered a live shrimp.
In the same area flounder and sheepshead joined the fun. Once again live shrimp did the job. 2/0 circle hooks with a small slip sinker on 25 pound fluorocarbon leader bounced on the bottom was the sure fire rig.
Next up were Mackerel and like the other species it did not take long to get the party started. As quickly as the action started it stopped as the tide went slack. Once the tide started going out like magic the action turned on again. Double headers of mackerel to 24" were common. Mixed in we took some very nice Pompano, trout and ladyfish all in the same area.
Another short run and we were targeting sharks, mackerel, trout, flounder again. This time we had a large 100 pound plus Tarpon make an appearance but wouldn't take a bait.
We left the fish biting as is often the case on Tampa Bay. Defiantly a fun day and very different being the one photographed.
Captain Steven Markovich
www.onthemarkcharters.com
