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Tampa Bay - Saltwater
Capt. Matt Ercoli
May 20, 2002
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
This May has turned out to be one heck of a month for fishing. Inshore and offshore, equally so. It seems that each day as I leave the dock I must fight the same mental battle over and over. Should we head inshore or offshore? Now it?s especially difficult with tarpon season in full swing, what to do, there are almost too many options and they are all good ones. It doesn?t seem to mater which direction we take because the fishing is on.
Here is the run down; our traditional southern run of tarpon is in full swing. So far I have been undefeated in going out and at least jumping a few fish. On my best days we have been hooking up with as many as 10 or 12 in a day. All the fish are in the 75 to 150 pound class. I would rate our tarpon fishing right now as very good and I am hoping for a good June and July as well. So far there seems to be an awful lot of fish.
Inshore fishing remains strong as well, especially for snook. Last week we had a few slow days on snook but it seems that they are back on the bite now and a good day on bait could produce over 50, our best on the fly has been a little over ten. Lots of the snook we catch are very nice fish and it seems that with the season closed and less pressure, the snook over 30 inches are starting to bite much better. We are also catching some nice trout while we are snook fishing, quite a few over 20 inches. As for redfish, they still have been pretty slow, we have been catching just a few slot-size fish mixed in with the snook. I guess part of it is with the snook biting, I really have little reason to gamble on a school of redfish right now.
Can you believe it? King fishing still remains strong, every charter I?ve taken offshore in the last couple of weeks have experienced some great king fishing. We even had a 40 incher taken on the fly last week. There are still bunches of kings in the 8 to 15 pound class, as well as some real nice smokers in the 25 to 35 pound class.
Little tunny have also been really thick over the last couple of weeks. Most of them are in the 8 to 12 pound class. This is especially good news for my fly fisherman because they really love to take a fly and man can they ever pull. We have also been catching a few cobia on our offshore excursions.
Ok now lets talk about the offshore sea monsters, the Goliath grouper and sharks (primarily black tips) have been on the boat. The largest Goliath grouper we have boated for pictures has been nearly 300 pounds. We did have one up to the boat that was no less than 400, although we couldn?t get it up for a good picture, doubt if it would have mattered much because sliding a fish that big onto the boat would have been very difficult.
As for sharks, we have been catching mostly black tips, my personal favorite because of their powerful runs and high-flying leaps. We have also caught quite a few nurse sharks, what they are lacking in power they have been making up in size. I would say that some of them could go 8 or 9 ft. I did have what looked like a good size hammerhead swimming in my chum slick a few days ago but we never got him to bite.
Well I hope you have enjoyed my report, if interested in catching and doing battle with a really large fish you could not pick a better time. I have a few days left in June and July so if you are interested give me a call or email soon. Good luck on the water casting a line!
Capt. Matt Ercoli
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