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Tampa Bay - Saltwater
Capt. Matt Ercoli
May 15, 2003
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
I know its been a while but I’ve been on the water everyday for the past several months, so writing a fishing report becomes the last thing on the list for daily chores. Anyway the fishing has been really great. The water temperature has been cooler than normal this past month, changing things a bit. Up until the past couple of days the gulf has maintained a temp between 73 and 76 degrees, making for one of the best kingfish seasons I have ever seen. I had more days this spring than ever where my fishermen just gave up reeling them in. Most were in the 8 to 15 pound class but we had fish nearly everyday up to the boat over 20 pounds. I spent three days this week fly fishing with Mark Marby and his wife from Michigan. The action was just as hot as it could be. The last two days we boated countless kingfish on the fly, one of which Mark got up to the side of the boat which I could have gaffed, he would have easily gone 30 pounds, what a trophy on the fly. Then in the afternoon we spent our day chasing snook on the flats. Yesterday was the best day, we boated probably 20 kings and at least a dozen snook on the fly. That would pretty much be an average day for one of my bait charters but for a fly fishing charter it doesn’t get much better than that.
Unfortunately I think the kings are about done until this fall, that’s ok because we are just a few days away form prime beach fishing for tarpon. Tarpon are running a little late this year, but hopefully that just means we will fish them later into summer.
Now that snook season is closed, and they have just a fraction of the pressure on them, they too have really turned on. Our largest this week was 35 inches. We also had several over the 26 inch mark. Although you can’t keep them it’s nice to see that so many larger ones have made it though the harvest season.
Goliath grouper have also been prime targets. All but two parties who have ask to catch one have come home successful. My largest two landed, or should I say taken off the hook, were in the 400 to 500 pound class. Hard to believe but they are out there, and other captains like myself say the same thing. Every year since they have been protected they get larger and larger. They are said to get over 800 pounds, we’ll see what the future brings. This year I have gone to 130 pound stand up tuna tackle and it ‘s all you can do just to stay in the boat. One particular spot has a Goliath that I have yet to land. He sits about 15 ft. under the engine after I anchor. I know it’s the same one because he is considerably larger than any I have ever seen. Four or five different parties of mine have done battle with him, but we just can’t seem to get him up. I myself have even taken a couple of turns on him after a client could no longer hold onto the rod. All I can say is he is pure hell to hang onto, and I have yet to even come close to bringing the old sea monster up. He kind of becomes my Moby Dick. The great giant goliath grouper has already snapped the but off my new tuna stick. I know I’m going to get him one day this year, well maybe, he sure has beaten us pretty bad so far.
I have also been catching a few permit offshore, as well as some nice gag grouper.
On the flats it has been mostly snook, an occasional redfish and some nice fat trout.
I ‘m preparing for full tarpon mode, I imagine shortly that will take up the majority of my fishing in the months to come. I still have a few days available in the months of June and July. If you are interested in a charter give me a call, they are prime months for tarpon, permit, tunny, goliath grouper, sharks, snook and sometimes redfish and cobia.
Have fun fishing,
Capt. Matt
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