Birthday Slam plus Tarpon

Capt. Steven Markovich
July 12, 2009
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report

With Saturdays charter rescheduled Captain Steven decided to spend his Birthday on the water. Today my goal was simple hit all my hot spots in search of Tampa Bay Slam. To achieve the grand slam you need to catch a snook, redfish and trout in the same day.
With calm water and no one else onboard to worry about I opened the throttled and ran 17 miles up into Tampa Bay. The water temperature at the Skyway was 82.5 at 6 am with the water at 80 near the mouth of the Little Manatee River.
On the run north I ran over 2 pods of Tarpon, in both cases I did not see the tarpon until they were right up next to the boat. The third time was the charm as I spotted several tarpon rolling towards me. I stopped and tossed out a big Threadfin. After several minutes the water erupted and a tarpon 75-100 pounds skyrocketed. The tarpon screamed 50 yards of line and jumped again only this time I came un buttoned. All in all very exciting!
With the tide still running out I ran to several deeper areas up against the mangroves. First stop I landed several small snook. Chumming did not get the snook fired up so I made a run further north. The water was stained and looked like Tea! I forgot to switch the live well to recirculation and found what looked like 50 gallons of ice tea onboard in the live well. Jacks did not seem to mind as I found them eager to play. I turned around and ran back to Ft. Desoto and immediately got on redfish, frisky 20" bronze beauties.
Next stop was short as the beach was not an option upon arrival as it was packed with beachgoers. Back inside on the flats I got my trout and completed the slam. Sorry no photos, kind of hard by yourself. I did attempt 2 videos with my new camera but the results were not very thrilling.
Capt. Steven

Tampa Bay Fishing Forecast:

As the water clears the bite will improve. Night fishing for snook will remain hot.

Target Species:

Snook Redfish Trout Jacks

More Fishing Reports:

• All Reports by Capt. Steven Markovich
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