Shark Fishing in Tampa Bay & St Petersburg continues
to be productive. Black Tips & bonnet head sharks
are still being caught around local power plants.
Shrimp on a 1/4-5/8 oz. jig head is getting the job
done. Try dead sticking or a super slow retrieve for
best results. Black tips and bonnet head sharks are
ranging from 2.5-5ft. in length. Anglers can expect
to average over 20 or 30 sharks on a good day! Saturday
we had a young angler land a pregnant 4ft nurse shark
in a deepwater cut on the St Petersburg side of the
Skyway Bridge. Ogie Rice landed his first nurse shark
on ultra light tackle while fishing for spanish mackerel.
The Spanish mackerel are upon us! Tampa's Skyway is holding
large numbers of spanish mackerel. Anglers should have
no problem limiting out in a short period of time.
Spanish mackerel are feeding on white bait, shrimp,
and artificials. The macks varying from 1-4 lbs. Anglers
are allowed to harvest up to 15 spanish mackerel per
angler per day!
The flounder fishing has been nothing short of awesome!
On recent fishing charters with Shamrock clients they
have been averaging 12-15 flounder in under a two
hour period. The flounder are still on the small side,
but we have been managing 4-6 keepers per trip.
The redfish are everywhere. It has been the norm to boat
over 40 or 50 redfish per fishing charter. Unfortunately
most of the redfish fall in the rat red category with a
slot size redfish thrown in if your lucky! The good news
is I have never seen as many juvenile redfish in Tampa
Bay as I have in the last two years. These fish will
soon be adult fish and Tampa Bay red fishing is going to
be out of this world! Look for Big reds on the flats
around Fort De Soto and Weedon Island.
The Big black drum are here! These brutes are ranging
from 30-60lbs and are being taken on the deeper water
flats of Tampa Bay and St Pete. When black drum are in
spawn they can be sighted in big schools. These monster
black drum are hungry and are feeding on crustaceans and
artificials. Try fishing them on light tackle, it's a battle
you won't want to miss!
Sheepshead have been the disappointment of the month. The
sheepshead have not been seen spawning along the flats
deeper water cuts like years past. Perhaps it just didn't
get cold enough for them yet or they are spawning on the
bays artifical reefs. Don't give up hope, one good cold snap
might be all it takes for them to return to their usual spawnig
grounds.
Lastly the Speckled trout fishing has been good. Good numbers
of the larger trout have been taken on the flats down south.
The reports of gator trout in Sarasota as been on the rise this
year. In fact this has been the year for big trout through out
the Bay!
