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Redfish and Snook Coming to Life
Capt. Stewart Ames
May 3, 2017
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Over the last 30 days, summer arrived. In a typical year, as the large seatrout start to thin out, redfish move in and near shore fishing on the artificial reefs heats up with abundant catches of mackerel, snapper, kingfish, bonita and others. This year, the whole near shore fishing experience came and went in a heartbeat, offering up only a few days of mackerel and king fishing. Water temperatures climbed so fast that these fish that normally stop for a while off our coast, just kept heading north.
On the bright side, the large seatrout fishing was exceptional through the middle of April and the redfish have shown up in excellent numbers. Most recent trips have produced easy limits on the redfish with many upper and over slot fish being caught. Fishing the high tide phases with a variety of baits including just about any cut fish baits, live whitebait and pinfish has led to success. Expect this good bite to continue on the next set of strong tides during the second week of May.
Early warmth does have the snook beginning to eat as well, although these fish have not fully committed to the beach areas yet. There are large fish on the outside, but fish remain allong mangrove shorelines inside the intercoastal as well as up in bayous and canals. Expect that the next strong tides will move the bulk of the snook out to the beach. Once this happens, fishing will become very dependable and downright fun. Many groups of fish will be visible but will often not bite. The rewards will come to anglers that are patient, quiet and who effectively and repeatedly present very active baits to these fish. Once again, we have arrived at the time of year that all local inshore fishermen wait for. Good luck and good fishing.
Target Species:
Redfish, Snook
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