Category: Fishing Articles and Tactics

Customers have an expectation that each and every Tampa fishing charter will start with a bait well full of pilchards, also known more generically as “whitebait”. These baits are present locally from around March through November, depending on the year.  Therefore, Tampa fishing guides must have the ability to secure this bait every day during the warmer months. Although this bait can be seen and netted around certain structures such as bridge pilings and channel markers, and sometimes right out on an open flat, chumming is usually required to bring this bait within netting distance.

 

Pilchards (latin name – harengula jaguana) frequent shallow grass flats…depths of three to four feet… where there tends to be good water flow so grass flats that are adjacent to passes or

Continue reading “Finding the Precious Whitebait”

 

Tampa Fishing for redfish is best from early March through the end of October, although fish are available year round.  

Continue reading “Catching the Dependable Redfish”

 

As fall approaches, water temperatures begin to cool, however Tampa fishing on the near shore reefs can be red hot. The real beauty of this fishing is that most of it is within five miles of the Major Hotels on Clearwater Beach, so lines are in the water a half hour after leaving the dock. Mangrove snapper are the targeted species at this time of year due to both their abundance and their excellent food value.  It is not uncommon to start chumming over one of these reefs and have 50 snapper rise up behind your boat ready to eat.

Continue reading “Fall Means Near Shore Reef Action”

Each spring, as Tampa Bay waters begin to warm, anticipation builds among inshore anglers. They know that when temperatures hit the 70 degree mark, snook will move to the beaches and the spring bite will be on. Exactly when these fish move out of the backwaters or in from near shore reefs will vary from year to year, but it’s sure to happen somewhere between

Continue reading “Summer Snook Fishing”

From Clearwater north to Tarpon Springs, Florida, the first cold fronts of the year drive a major transition in Tampa Fishing. Redfish that are abundant from March until early November are a little harder to find and snook head to the backwaters or out to the near shore reefs in anticipation of colder water temperatures. Large seatrout however, pour into St Joseph’s Sound and create one of winter’s best fishing opportunities. When the bite is on, it’s possible to catch twenty or thirty fish on a half day Tampa fishing charter with most fish being in the 18 to 23 inch class.  Each winter, several fish approaching thirty inches are landed…huge specimens for this area.

Continue reading “Prime Time for Big Trout”