Tampa Bay Fishing Locations
Where to locate Tampa Bay Fish
Tampa Bay is an estuary that tons of fish call home. You can catch Redfish, Snook, Trout, Shark, Flounder, Snapper, Grouper, Sheepshead, Cobia, Triple Tail, Tarpon just to name a few. Depending on what species you target will determine the areas that you fish on Tampa Bay. Seasons, weather, and tides all play a huge part on making your trip a successful and memorable one. For starters during the winter time when the water cools down, our favorite species to target on our Tampa Fishing Charters are Trout, Sheepshead, and Redfish. These fish really do not mind when the water temperature falls below 70 degrees and like to congregate in deep channels, creeks, or structure. While other species thrive in the summer time when water temps climb above the 70 degree mark, these species include, Snapper, Tarpon, Grouper, Cobia, Triple tail and Sharks.
Once you establish your game plan and formulate a plan on whichever targeted species you are targeting, the bait of choice will also play a factor on your changes on getting your prized possession. For the Colder and Winter time species, Shrimp, fiddler crabs, mud crabs, and a variety of artificial baits will help you become a better angler. Places such as the Sky Way Bridge, Howard Franklin Bridge, Port Manatee Reef, are all great areas to check for Sheepshead for this time of year. All along the pilings where the oysters and muscles build up make a great fish haven for Sheepshead as they use their teeth to break open the barnacles to get to their meal. We like to use a knocker rig style rig with a small circle hook to help get the bait down the water column in order for the fish to locate your bait. A small split shot with light leader also helps depending on how skittish the fish are that day and also works well along dock pilings inside canals to where there is not to much tidal flow for the bail to carried off the target zone. Areas where there is increase tidal flow a knocker rig will be more successful on keeping your bait down in the targeted area and increases your chances for the fish to find it.
How to catch and find Trout
Sea Trout can be found in the deeper Channels and Creeks such as Rocky Creek, Gandy Bridge Channel, Port Tampa Channel and the pot holes in and around Ft. Desoto. Using artificial baits first to locate the fish is a great tactic to find them and to cover ground. Once located, you then can switch to live bait like shrimp or pilchards to have a slay fest keeping the rods bent all day. Even at times just throwing artificial in the same area once locating the fish can be just as successful and rewarding as your tricking the fish to eat your bait. Lures of choice for this action can include mirrodine lures, D.O.A shrimp on a jig head, or Berkley Gulp shrimp. As the Sun comes up and it not unusual to search sandy areas along mangrove island banks looking for the bigger trout as they like to lurk shallow and bask in the sun in search of their prey. Areas on Honeymoon Island and Caladesi Island, especially around the spoil islands that surround the are are great starting locations for this species.
How to fish for Redfish
In our area we get an abundance of Redfish that like to search the flats and creeks in search of their prey. Even during winter they can be found in areas that would search during the summer months. The difference between the two and locating the fish would be tide driven. For example, during the summer months we get high peak tides up to 3 feet. This give the redfish the opportunity to swim up under the mangrove bushes and hide in the shadow line while they stalk their prey. While fishing for them in the winter months we get more of what we call a negative tide where all the water is sucked out of the bay and the fish can only gather in deeper areas like channels, creeks, or the edges of the flats. During the summer months, you can find us using more of a cut bait technique, throwing the bait up along the shadows of the mangroves while awaiting for a hit. Baits of choice would be cut Ladyfish, Mullet, Threadfin and Pinfish because they provide a unique smell that attracts the redfish to them. Locations that will contribute to this tactic would be like Cockroach Bay, Piney Point, Ft. Desoto, Pinellas Point, E.G. Simmons Park, and Miguel Bay. During the winter months, Channel A, Rocky Creek, Canals of off Weedon Island all can be successful, however baits of choice would have to be switched to using Shrimp or artificial such as a swim bait on a jig head, D.O.A shrimp, or Berkley Gulp shrimp. During the warmer part of the day when the sun is up, just like targeting the big trout and you can find Redfish along the sand and mud of flats banks soaking up the sunshine and often tailing during negative tides but being stealthy is important when approaching them as they are often skittish during the colder periods.
The Silver King
Tarpon are a world class fish that people chase from all the way down in the Florida Keys up to the Nature Coast during the migration. These fish are such a sight to see as they thrash and jump completely out of the water while battling them. Although prime months are typically from mid April until Mid July, residential tarpon that stick around yearly can be found our local bridges, Skyway Bridge being one of them. There are a variety of tactics that can be use to catch these Silver Kings, they include floating a pass crab, chunking bait, using dead baits or even artificial. Typically during the migration period when they travel up our beaches you will often see a lot of boats chasing them up and down the sand bars. Usually starting from Longboat key Pass up to Honeymoon Island are great areas to check for these migrating fish. They will cruise up and down the beaches and often stop at certain passes on certain moon phases so they can fatten up to spawn during late summer. If fishing the beaches once you locate their highway that they are swimming in, deploying cut bait such as Shad, Threadfin, or Mullet can really increase your chances on landing one of these fish. Also throwing a pilchard, pass crab, or threadfin in front of the school and also be rewarding but also frustrating due to the amount of boat pressure that can be on these individualize schools. Egmont key, Pass a Grille, Skyway Bridge, Port Manatee and reefs inside Tampa bay are all great areas to search out your trophy.
Snook Fishing Tampa Bay
Snook are a subtropical species that likes to thrive in warmer waters. While we have a great abundance of them in the Tampa region they can be really hard to catch during the winter times when water temperatures dip into low 60s. Typically the magic number to target these fun fighting fish on our Inshore Tampa Fishing Charters would be 70 degrees or higher for water temperature. They are really fun to catch during the summer months as they spawn along our beaches such as Pass a Grille, St. Pete beach, Ft. Desoto beach, Anna Maria Island, Long Boat Key Pass, Egmont Key, and Honey Moon Island. We like to use pilchards as the bait of choice for these fish but also it is not uncommon to us cut bait on the bottom due to the laziness of the bigger ones not wanting to chase their prey down. When the water falls below the desire temperature they normally like to congregate in the back country creeks and deeper channels for warmth. You will usually find them along muddy edges due to the warmth the mud gives off when the sun has been shinning on it for some time. Also, we find it typically better to fish edges where the sun hits first because that edge will warm up faster than others. When fishing the creeks it is best to target the three P’s, pockets, passes, and points. The reason for this tip is each produce its on ambush point for these predators. The passes produce tidal flow, pockets formulate eddy’s, and points produce a staging area where tidal flow meets and eddy giving the snook the best chance for a tasty meal.
Black Drum Fishing Tampa
While other like to target Tarpon and Snook on the beaches during the summer months, another fun species to catch is the Black Drum. The Black drum is the cousin of the Red drum and can be located around structures like oyster bars and bridges. Although it is not uncommon to find them prowling on the flats like in areas like Pinellas Point during spring time, this fish are known to make an unforgettable experience on our Fishing Charters Tampa. The Black drum we target can range from 20 inches up to a whopping 35 inches or so with weights exceeding 35lbs. Its like playing tug of war with a fish as you try to get them out of their home and can be an exciting experience. As far as bait, these large fish like to prey on shrimp, oysters, green muscles, and crabs. At times if your lucky enough you will see them eat off the pilings they are staging at with their tails in the air. Places like Bayside Bridge, Bayway Bridge, Pinellas Point, and Gandy Bridge are great areas to try in our area, and also its refreshing as your hiding from the summer time heat under the bridge in search of this species.
In conclusion as you can see, we have a wide variety of species to target in Tampa Bay no matter what month of the year we are in. Even if fishing is not your thing it is always breathe taking to just to go out in the boat and embrace mother nature at its finest. You will experience Dolphins, Manatees, Rosetta Spoonbills, Pelicans, and the sounds of the seagulls while your out on the water exploring Old Florida with pristine flats south of Skyway Bridge and Mangrove tunnels North of Courtney Campbell Causeway. If you would to experience an un forgettable day, just gives us a call and we can set something up for a day on the water, rather it is just sight seeing, fishing Tampa Bay flats, or all of the above we got you covered.