Saturday we changed gears after weeks of chasing Tarpon and ran a snook, redfish trip on Tampa Bay's Weedon Island. Gathering bait on a local bridge before sunrise took less than 30 minutes. Remember when using a cast net in deeper water is to let the net go all the way to the bottom before retrieving. Captain Steven headed 17 miles North and welcomed Jamie, Jesse and GW at the Gandy boat ramp.
A short run and we were fishing deep inside Weedon Island. The mangrove I set up on has a deep cut that holds redfish, snook and trout. Well as luck would have it today it was a flounder spot….not what Captain Steven had in mind. With the incoming tide finally started we made a short move to another Mangrove Island.
GW was telling me he had never caught a snook that soon changed as a big snook inhaled his white bait and started jumping. The powerful snook screamed drag back into the Mangroves. Somehow GW managed to get the 30" beauty out from 5' deep in the mangroves and into the boat. Amazing angling job to say the least. Its nice to see this quality snook after the freeze of 2009.
Another move and GW scored another snook that exploded on a white bait with water flying everywhere. Snook are amazing ambush predators. We added a trout then made a another move. Our last stop on a island Jamie scored a nice redfish that was a great fight on light tackle. My guys were very patient and worked very hard on today's 4 hour charter. The time flew by as these guys were tons of fun and great anglers. The water temperature mid Tampa Bay was a very warm 86 degrees.
Captain Steven Markovich
