Tampa Bay/Boca Ciega Bay

Hello Everyone!

The fishing this fall has been as good as it gets! There has been good bait all over the place and the big predator fish have moved in thick to feed on them. Large snook have been a top target over the past few weeks. It is awesome to have the numbers and quality of fish back in our area after the devastating freeze nearly 4 years ago. For a couple week stretch we were averaging over 20 snook per trip and numerous giants in the 40″+ class have been reeled in on many of my trips. They have been on the flats, potholes and around bridges. While fishing snook on the flats, redfish, big trout and a few flounder have also made a good showing. as the water cools expect the fishing for all of these species to get better and better.

There are also large schools of  big jacks, larger bluefish, and spanish mackerel smashing through bait schools in the channels all over the bay. If you want some steady rod bending action on some hard fighting fish, these guys take the cake, that is after you’ve had your fill of snook fishing of course.

There are also some great opportunities to catch numbers of cobia in the bay right now along with some nice gag grouper. These fish have been eating large live baits fished around deeper structures all over the bay. Some have my grouper spots have been over run with snook this year which has been a great problem to have but there are still plenty of these fish around to mess with.

Look for the water temps to cool down and for things to transition to winter mode here in the next few weeks. That means excellent sight fishing opportunities for big reds and giant speckled trout. Snook will stack into protected warmer areas and become excellent targets as long as things aren’t too chilly. We will also have some of the best flounder fishing of the year over the next month as the doormats move in from offshore. If it stays mild, snook fishing will remain excellent on the outside and there will be great shots at cobia and grouper. Blues and Large ladyfish will pick up the slack in between other more desirable fish all winter long. Tight lines.