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Tampa Bay - Saltwater
Capt. Matt Ercoli
March 21, 2001
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Hello fellow fisherman, how has it been in your neck of the wood? I would have to describe our weather as off and on. It's raining and too windy to fish today so I am taking this opportunity to update the fishing report. Although it has been a bit breezy, snook fishing has been tremendous as far as big snook go. It seems that other fishing guides are having similar results. Lots of snook in the 27 to 30 inch range have been falling to live bait. My largest snook boated this week was a 38 incher, probably weighing around 20 pounds. My partner Capt. Shawn has had similar results, boating one fish last week that was 39 inches, a true trophy. As for numbers, I had one day where we boated around 50 snook on live bait, my best fly day was around a dozen.
The weather has slowed our fly fishing a bit, they just seem to want something natural. I believe we are yet to see our best fly fishing for snook. As soon as our tides start averaging a bit higher, and the afternoons warm a little more, the snook will start chasing the fly more aggressively. One day we had more than 30 snook follow the fly just inches away, only to turn away from it at the last minute. We only managed to boat 3 snook on the fly that day but the anticipation of a strike was really exciting.
I have been catching a few redfish on almost every outing, most of the fish are perfect slot fish between 25 and 27 inches. We haven't had a lot of reds, but chances of taking home filets are quite good.
The tarpon fishing is still quite good. I don't believe we have seen the best of our early season tarpon fishing yet. I had half a dozen hook-ups one morning last week, most of the fish are in the 100lb class and they are hit and miss right now. It seems like we are either killing them or they are just not biting.
There are plenty of fish to catch right now, this is typical spring fishing. If I were to choose one thing to chase right now it would have to be a big snook, conditions couldn't be any better.
I hope you have enjoyed the report. Good luck on the water and save a few for me!
* If interested, I have a couple of openings on March 30 & 31!
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