August 30, 2007
Welcome to fishing PARADISE!!! I am Captain Wayne Johnson a local native of Palmetto, Florida with more than 20 years experience fishing the Tampa Bay area and I have not seen fishing this hot in some time. Don't let the heat get you down and pass on the opportunity to catch your next trophy fish! Come with Captain Wayne and fish our beautiful waters of the Lower Tampa Bay which is one of the most beautiful and productive fishing hot spots in the state of Florida. With its beautiful backwaters, mangrove lines, and grass flats it definitely needs to be at the top of any fisherman's hit list. Don't pass up the opportunity of a life time to fish our beautiful back waters of the Tampa Bay targeting Snook, Redfish, and Tarpon.
Our Tampa Bay Tarpon have been the story this week. We have caught several Tarpon live bait fishing in local residential communities in the Bradenton and Palmetto areas. Most of the fish have been up 30 lbs which is a blast on light tackle and 12 lb test line. These fish make amazing acrobatic jumps and strip line of a reel like you have never seen! This is a must see for any fisherman!
The Tampa Bay Snook fishing has not missed a beat. We have been free lining white bait along Mangrove Lines and passes with lots of success. Most of the Snook that we have caught have been in the 25 to 30 inch range and in good numbers. We have been fishing the Terra Cia Bay, Miguel Bay, down to Anna Maria Island with a lot of success.
September 1st Snook season opens and you don't want to miss out on the heart pounding action of a local Tampa Bay Snook stripping drag and bending your rod!
We have not targeted our Tampa Bay Redfish this week.
Trip of the week
What an incredible day fishing on the Tampa Bay! I picked up my client at sunrise at the local ramp in Palmetto, Florida on this picture perfect morning. We headed out to the Tampa Bay to the ole bait hole. On the way out we were trying to decide what we wanted to target on a beautiful morning like this, we could run anywhere. We thought we should target Snook and Redfish in Terra Cia Bay or Miguel Bay, or even Snapper and Grouper in the Tampa Bay. Once we got to the ole bait hole we loaded up the well with white bait with one throw of the net. Barry looked at me and said are we ready, my reply was no man we need more bait. He looks at me and says how many fish are looking to catch. My reply was a lot! I am going to wear you out today! And he chuckles with a crazy stare. So I convinced him to let me make a couple more throws and we were really loaded up. I told Barry that we where here we may as well fish the Tampa Bay for some Snapper and Grouper. The tide had started to slack and it didn't feel right. Then I mentioned to Barry that I had a little spot that we could go and pick on some Backwater Tarpon down in Bradenton and he was game. So we headed up the Manatee River to my honey hole. We anchored up and on my first white bait casted we hooked up in a matter of minutes on a 40+ pound Tarpon. I handed the rod off to Barry and he had a battle on his hands with 12 lb test line and light tackle. Once Barry got a couple of jumps out the beast he finally thought he had tamed him then he broke off at the side of the boat.
We are sitting there and you see the Tarpon rolling just out of casting distance and I look at Barry and say this is why we have all this white bait. I reached in the well and tossed in handfuls of chumers and the tarpon went nuts!
While little idol time Barry is hooked up again this time on a large fish and run around the boat and gets a couple on nice jumps. After plenty ware and tear on the reel and Barry the fish began to slow. We were able to land this beauty of a 25lb Tarpon. This was the beginning and only 9:00 am and we just began to fish! I was tossing chumers in by the dozens and the Tarpon were everywhere! I looked at Barry and I said that if we had 4 people on the boat everyone would be hooked up at once. After wearing out my client it was finally Captain Wayne's turn and the Tarpon were breaking the surface everywhere chasing all the chumers I have been tossing. The Tarpon were boiling up like schools of Jacks and I put my lonely shiner in the path of destruction, it was fish on! I fought this Tarpon for at least 20 minutes on 12 lb test with a light tackle set up. What a battle I had on my hands. I got you jumps and finally slowed the beast and landed a 20 pound class Tarpon. My First of the day and this was Tarpon number 2 in the boat by 9:30am. Boy we were really wearing them out. Barry was back up to bat with another hook up and this Tarpon was stripping line and made several beautiful jumps. This fish ran Barry around the boat and made a b-line to docks 100 yards away and some how he was to manage to keep that fish out of the pilings and work him back to the boat. This was Barry's second Battle not including all the fish that were jumped that were lost. Barry being the talented fisherman that he was landed his second Backwater Silver King while fishing the Manatee River between Bradenton and Sarasota. We hooked up on one more Tarpon and Barry had nearly lost interest in fishing by then and gained interest in relaxing. I look at him and said that this one is all yours! He battled this Tarpon for more than 20 minutes and after being nearly spooled he landed his prize. After this last battle Barry looks at me and says you can fish if you like but I am Done! It was only 10:45am. All together we jumped 15 Tampa Bay Tarpon and boated 3 beautiful Silver Kings all in the 25 to 40 lb class range with 12 lb test line and a 20 lb leader on light spinning gear. What a day for the record books!
