Greetings all.
The plan this morning was to target Tarpon but with very little tidal flow we changed gears. First stop for bait proved a challenge again. Bait on the flats in lower Tampa bay has nearly dried up. Chum, cast, chum some more and cast for a handful of white baits. If you have ever tossed a cast net it starts getting very heavy after many tosses. With enough bait onboard to fish we ran to Tampa Bay's eastern shoreline. Focusing on mangroves with deeper edges for snook was our new goal.
An hour of fishing resulted in one snook mid's 20"s and several lost fish. We also had several cutoffs that we never saw what the fish were. Looking for deeper water with movement I decided to run to the beaches. On the way I stopped at the Skyway Bridge looking for bait. Immediately I saw white baits dimpling the surface, one toss of the cast net scored with hundreds of beautiful baits. Once and done I love it.
Sundays I typically stay away from the beaches due to boat traffic and swimmers. Today I make the exception and found areas to slide in without lots of commotion. With 10 minutes we scored a solid beach snook. Snook while on the beaches take on a new color almost silver. Several trout, several cutoffs even Mackerel all within 30' of the sand.
Rigging is very basic, 15 pound Power pro braid followed by 3' of 30 pound fluorocarbon leader finished with a 1/0 hook. Cast the bait up current and let it drift naturally through the first swash channel typically just several feet from the sand. Capt. Steven finds snook hang close while trout cruise the deeper areas with mackerel and other 100' from the sand.
Capt. Steven
