Tampa Bay July 15 Fishing Report
Tarpon fishing remains good. We still have schools large enough to measure in the thousands. It looks like Tarpon fishing should be extended till about the end of the month. It looks as if we didn't lose any fish on this last full moon and possibly even gained fish. It is shaping up to be one heck of a Tarpon season. The evening crab flow made for some tremendous feeding sprees and it seemed at times as if the whole fleet was hooked up. Even on the slower tide throughout the day we where hooking up. Tarpon fishing is still very strong.
I have been running a few more inshore charters lately just because when I plan charters a month in advance it's hard to say if the Tarpon will still be thick like they are now. Inshore fishing has been very good as well. I have been killing the Trout with a lot of perfect keeper sizes from 19 to 20 inches. The Snook fishing has also been good. It's great to see the Snook making such a great comeback and to see the number of Snook comeback to the area the way they have. There are a lot of large 35 to 40 inch fish around as well.
There are some large schools of giant bull Redfish around as well. I have not been seeing a lot of keeper slot fish though. That can change quickly as August approaches and more Reds roll in.
I have not been offshore lately but I have been hearing a lot about good Snapper fishing and a few Grouper as well.
So that's it's for now, Tarpon fishing and inshore is the best thing going right now, I have a few openings this month for anyone interested. I can't see the Tarpon leaving now until the new moon on the 27th or 28th of the month. Any earlier wouldn't make a lot of sense at this point. I suppose they will leave on the next strong moon to spawn and we should get another couple of weeks out of them.
Until next time, enjoy your time on the water.
Capt. Matt Ercoli
941-447-9888
www.CaptainMatt.com
https://twitter.com/CaptMattErcoli
