As we approach the middle of summer, the water, air and fishing are all pretty darn HOT! It's been an incredibly busy year for us, which is a good thing, but unfortunately, we've been dealing with a pesky onshore wind flow that has plagued us as it did in the spring. This brings rounds of morning showers through the area that we've had to dodge and has also inundated us with lots of rain and runoff, making the water dirty. On the flip side, it's helped keep the water and air temps from getting too uncomfortable. Always a trade off, enough weather! As for the fishing, like I said earlier, pretty darn HOT!!
The snook action has been very good with plenty of fun sized fish to be caught. We are using predominately live scaled sardines but a similar looking artificial or clouser has also produced well. The best action has been early before the water heats up too much and the fish move up into the mangroves. There are also a few more redfish around than there has been of the last several months. Most of these are slot fish but there are some groups of well over slot bulls also roaming around. Cut pinfish or ladyfish has been the most effective offering for these highly scent oriented predators.
This also a great time to target tarpon (especially at night) with some big girls around the inshore reefs and bridges as well as some high flying juvenile tarpon that congregate in the deeper basins and river mouths. Deeper grass flats are still holding some nice trout and with a good chum slick on the edges of the shipping channel we are catching a good number of hard fighting, toothy critters as well, with sharks, mackerel and bluefish topping the list. We've also been hitting some rock piles and rip rap targeting the tasty mangrove snapper which has been steady all summer.
The other big story is the spread of the nasty algae bloom and red tide that has been devastating the SW FL coast. As I write this, the beaches from St Pete to the north are clear, as is Tampa Bay. It's a sad sight to see. Hopefully mother nature will get some of the Federal assistance she needs to help make things right. If you haven't already, check out this website www.captainsforcleanwater.org. Until then, we keep our fingers crossed and be thankful for what we've got, which is an incredibly beautiful estuary with an abundance of wildlife from fish, birds and turtles, to dolphins, manatees and rays. I'll be out there enjoying it and I would love to share it with you and your family...no one knows how long it will last. Capt. Chris (813) 908-6222.