Season Targets for Tampa Bay Fishing

Tampa Bay Seasonal Fishing Calendar

Fishing in Tampa Bay is great year-round, but each season brings unique opportunities. Tampa Bay offers such a wide variety of fish species to target through out the year, which makes it great area for any type of fisherman to go out and catch their dream species. Tampa Bay is a large estuary, home to many of fish. This can include, redfish, snook, tarpon, trout, sheepshead, snapper, grouper, mackeral, sharks, stingrays, flounder, ladyfish, jack crevalle, and kingfish just to name a few. Each species can be targeted based off of what season we are in. Typically, for winter fishing trout, redfish, and sheepshead would be the main suspects compared to a warmer season such as summer, snook, sharks, mackeral, black drum, snapper and grouper can be our go to’s on our Tampa Fishing Charters. As a local Tampa Bay fishing guide, I’ve put together a breakdown of what you can expect throughout the year.

Spring Fishing in Tampa Bay

Highlights: Snook, Redfish, Trout, Spanish Mackerel, Kingfish
Why it’s Great: Bait returns to the flats, water temps warm up, and just about every inshore species starts chewing.
Best Time to Go: The ole saying goes the best time to go is when you can. This is so very true with the busy live we all live. If you are fortunate enough to pick a day when ever you want then of course the tides and wind play a big part on being successful on your fishing trip. For Mackeral and Kingfish trolling is a great option right off our beaches such as St. Pete, Clearwater, Pass a grille, and Honeymoon. There is a lot of hard bottom within a few miles of the beaches that will hold bait and where there is bait there are fish to be hard. Another thing you can often look for are the frigates. Frigates are a bird species that stalk the airways looking down at the water look for the same thing the fish are, which is bait schools. The always say you find the birds, you find the bait, if you find the bait, you will find the fish. This tactic is always used and has always been productive. Trolling through these areas with plugs or even with ladyfish, mullet, or blue runner will definitely attract the kingfish and the big mackeral that prowl through the area during migration periods. Another method that can be had is anchoring down on hard bottom within the same area and start a chum line. This can consist of cutting up baits, or even throwing live ones out as they flutter around. This can produce a scene the fish can not resist as they flock to your boat in search of the freebies you are given them. If you chum, they will come.

Summer Fishing in Tampa Bay

Highlights: Tarpon, Snook, Redfish, Trout, Sharks, Mackerel, Black Drum
Why it’s Great: The silver king migration! Tarpon fishing is at its peak, and snook move to the beaches to spawn. Early mornings are the ticket.
Best Time to Go: Early morning as the sun comes up, cruising down the beach stretches looking for the backs of the tarpons rolling in the surf along the swim buoys. As the sun is fully up, normally the tarpon will stick around but when the suns out, it also attracts all the people to the beach swimming and jet skiers. This will either push the fish out a little deeper off the sand bars or if they decide to stick around it will just make fully aware of their surroundings and turn off the bite. So to battle this frustrating moment the earlier you go the better off you are on getting one to the boat.

Fall Fishing in Tampa Bay

Highlights: Redfish, Snook, Trout, Mackerel, Cobia
Why it’s Great: Cooler weather fires the fish up again, and redfish schools get big. It’s one of the most consistent times of year for variety and numbers. As the waters are cooling down the fish to react in the sense of eating everything and anything as they prepare for the colder months when bait is more scarce and the water temperatures drop.
Best Time to Go: Morning and evening tides—plenty of comfortable fishing conditions. Fall is my favorite time of the year to fish. Not just because of the weather changing from hot days to cooler crispier mornings but because of the fishing. Bait starts to pile in the Bay on the flats and around the bridges before it starts to migrate more south for warmer water temps. The fish can sense the change as well and like to attack anything in their site. Using artificial baits like a skidder walk in the morning to a gold spoon in the after can be very rewarding to land trout, snook, and redfish. Targeting the flats with nice turtle grass or even flats that are adjacent to the creek mouth systems we have will be all holding fish since the next spot they start to filtrate in will be the creeks during the very first hard cold snap we experience. So the best time to go during fall, honestly is whenever you can. Just mainly focus on more tide driven days since they produce more water flow on these areas and the higher tide days will allow you fish close to the mangroves still if needed.

Winter Fishing in Tampa Bay

Highlights: Sheepshead, Redfish, Trout, Black Drum
Why it’s Great: Clear, cool water makes for excellent sight-fishing, especially for redfish. Sheepshead are a reliable target around structure.
Best Time to Go: Midday, when the sun warms the shallows and gets the fish active. Prime areas to focus on will be muddy areas or edges that the sun has been shining on throughout the morning areas. This gives this areas that much more of a high degree in temperature which can often satisfy the fish to hang out in when it is surrounded by chilly water. Those few degrees can make a difference between a bad fishing day vs a great one. Once the sun is fully out you can then stalk the flats of Tampa Bay if the tide allows. Doing this on an incoming typically works best because the flat has had time warm up and when this happens with the combination of the water moving in, it sets up a perfect scenario for the fish to warm up in shallowing areas. This will make for some fun sight casting opportunities that can get the blood flowing. Starting from the stalking of the fish to the cast in front of them, to the retrieve , then to the eat, is very rewarding from start to finish. Using swim baits, or plastic baits on jig heads is very productive for the style of fishing. The more avid fisherman normally during this time will fly fish for trout or redfish since it be the perfect time to do since all the right bullet points are checked off giving you the best chance to land one on the fly.

👉 Whether it’s spring snook, summer tarpon, fall redfish schools, or winter sheepshead, Tampa Bay offers year-round action. If you’re ready to plan your next trip, book your Tampa Bay fishing charter with Salty Gillz Charters and experience the season at its best.