Wednesday's late afternoon / night trip was abruptly halted by a huge thunderstorm at the mouth of Tampa Bay. Thursday was much improved and allowed us back out. The Skyway Bridge was thick with scaled sardines and needed only 2 tosses of the cast net to fill the live well. Buying shrimp at the bait shop is quick and much easier than tossing a cast net but not this Captains number 1 bait.
Pinellas Point offers a big variety during summer months. It's not unusual to find snook that are working their way back into Tampa Bay from the beach. Redfish near oyster bars, trout in the deeper potholes and small sharks everywhere. Mixed in are Mackerel, Ladyfish, Bluefish, Flounder all make appearances. White baits, pinfish and cut threadfins all make excellent bait choices. This same area holds Tarpon in May & June which we took full advantage of.
Spotted Sea Trout were the first to attack our baits. We soon took our first snook quickly followed by an invasion of Mackerel. I have several locations where I set up in 6' of water, cast one direction and its 3' cast the other direction and its 8'. Mix in an oyster bar and lush turtle grass and you can quickly see why this area is so fishy.
As the stars came out we moved onto the bridges and canals and had a blast chasing snook and trout. In just a couple hours we found Snook and trout on most every stop. I give each location 15 minutes max, if they won't chew move on.
Remember after dark don't aim your spotlight at other boats. It's blinding and very dangerous.
Capt. Steven
