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Tampa Bay - Saltwater
Capt. Matt Ercoli
February 15, 2001
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
All right, this is nice weather! I wish the weather stayed like this year around. Man is it ever nice down here now, not too hot and not too cold, perfect. The water temperature is climbing into the mid 70s on the shallow flats in the afternoons and the fishing is hot. This is quite possibly my favorite time of the year to fish. Snook, snook and more snook, that is what it's time for and we are starting to catch lots of them. The last few days we have been averaging 20 or so, but that number will grow fast from day to day, it's that time of year. I had one day around this time last year where we boated 100 plus snook. We were averaging 30 to 60 snook per day. These kind of numbers are literally hours away as our flats fishing down here in Florida is beginning to explode.
Fly fisherman, this is your time too. Break out your fly rod now or chance missing out on some of the fastest action of the year. The water is shallow and clear, you will see nearly every fish chase and strike your fly. We have been catching a few nice keeper snook as well as a bunch just short of keepers, but great fighters.
Snook is not the only fish on the bite right now though. I had a few days this past week when we actually left the redfish biting in search of snook. We had a couple days where we landed 10 or 12 in the 24 to 26 inch class.
It won't be long before we are catching those gator trout, I haven't tried any of my early season holes yet but I'm sure they are ready. I have just really been spending most of my days chasing snook lately.
It won't be long now, with water temps climbing fast, everything is changing and TARPON season is right around the corner. Traditionally March and April are my best months for boating these bruisers. Most of the fish will average 80 to 120 pounds, last year our largest was 170 lbs. caught in March. We were nearly undefeated on hook ups for those two months for tarpon. We where catching tarpon by the first of March consistently last year and I think we will be right on track this year, maybe a week or so later. One of my most popular trips that time of year is tarpon in the morning and snook in the afternoon, it's really a great time to catch them both and hard to choose witch one to chase.
Well I hope you are enjoying this weather and my report, I'll look for you on the water.
*Notice- A SHORT NOTICE RESCHEDULING HAS FREED UP FEB. 19,20,21,22. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN ANY OF THESE DAYS GIVE ME A CALL.
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