June fishing keeps getting better
Capt. Fred Everson
June 24, 2009
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
June continues to be the best month of the year for fishing on Southshore Tampa Bay. I am getting great reports from all over the bay on a variety of species, from tarpon to cobia to kingfish to Spanish mackerel.
Keli Emery called me with a great report last week as she fished with two of her nephews, Kyle and Jim Wade. She told me that they caught four cobia, 10 mangrove snapper, a bunch of short grouper and hooked a couple of kingfish. That's quite a day.
Emery said they saw at least a dozen cobia on different range markers and buoys.
Capt. Chet Jennings reports a good tarpon bite around the mouth of the bay and said that he was also catching plenty of Spanish mackerel.
Capt. Larry Malinoski of Ruskin reports that the offshore snapper bite is hotter than a firecracker.
Capt. Nick Winger of Apollo Beach won the Professional Tarpon Tournament Championship in Boca Grande, with a crew of Laurie Deaton, also of Apollo Beach, Rob Toucher of Tampa, and Mike Copell of Sarasota. The four man team split the grand prize of $50,000. Winger and crew bested 24 other boats that qualified for the championship over the course of the six week tournament schedule.
We are on the new moon starting today, which means strong tides with plenty of water movement. This is a great tide for catch and release snook action at the Port Manatee Spoil Island, if you have the required access permit.
Water temperature is creeping up to 90 degrees, and that means the inshore bite is going to slow down during the heat of the day. Trout fishermen will do best to get on the water around sunrise, and off before noon. Redfish will cling to the mangrove shadowline on high tide in the heat of the day, but backcountry fishing will be a hot proposition on this side of the bay for the next few months. The mangroves block the prevailing west winds this time of year, which makes for a lot of heat. However, the fish don't seem to mind. I have always had good luck on the last hour of a rising tide and the first hour of the fall. I like to use chunks of threadfin herring rigged on jig heads for redfish and snook.
The fish are scattered through the mangrove roots between Sand Key and Joe Island, and where you find one fish there are often many. Backcountry fishing calls for heavier tackle than what you might use on the flats because you have to pull strong fish away from the root structure. I usually beef my leader up to 40 or 60 pounds, as visibility isn't as much of a concern as getting broke off.
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