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Tampa Bay - Saltwater
Capt. Matt Ercoli
November 8, 2004
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Hello everyone, our fall fishing temperature has yet to settle-in. I’m not complaining though, cool mornings climbing to just warm enough to break a sweat if the wind isn’t blowing is the time to be on the water. Flats fishing is so good I’m spending the majority of my time there. Snook fishing is very good right now, probably just about to peek. Basically if you’re on a school they are biting. The larger fish are starting to come on strong too. I’m starting to see schools of large fish concentrate on the flats and feed heavily. This past week we boated several fish over thirty inches and there are a lot of larger ones out there. If you’re willing to sit and wait on the larger ones to bite now is the time to put that trophy in the boat. Today I found a school where the small ones where 30 inches and went right up to over 40 inches, you can bet that they will be there tomorrow. As for numbers of snook, 30 to 50 a day is the norm. Most are shorts, but there are plenty of nice fish mixed in as well.
Now for redfishing, they have been very strong as well, most of the reds have been mixed in with snook. It’s funny, one day you can go to a spot and can hardly catch a snook for all the redfish that you have biting, and the next day you have to work to catch a half dozen keeper size reds. The nice thing is, if the reds are a little slow the snook are always there to make up the difference. Most of the reds are perfect eating size around 23 to 27 inches, although we are catching a few oversized fish up to 30 inches. Very few of the redfish we have been catching are shorts. That’s nice for people who would like a few nice keepers to take home. In my opinion nothing can hang with redfish as far as table fair. I know a lot will argue that point, but as a fishing guide I put them up against one another on many occasions and redfish are my absolute favorite to eat.
Snook and reds aren’t the only thing biting on the flats now. Larger trout are coming on strong and a few have exceeded the 22inch mark. Another bonus has been flounder. Although we haven’t been targeting them we have been catching them everyday, some over 20 inches, another great eater. There are also a few cobia roaming the flats, we did hook one 40 pounder this week. As the water cools we should see many more come inside to the shallows. Well that pretty-much sums up the flats/shallow water fishing.
Offshore fishing is picking up, the larger grouper are starting to move in shallower. Prime time for bay trolling is right around the corner. The kings are just starting to move in a little thicker. With the next cold-front kings should be in full swing. When that happens I will be heading offshore more often. Last fall at this time we had some days producing 10 to 30 pound kings and you couldn’t keep the bait in the water. I could barely keep up with tying on the leaders, but who could complain. The little tunny and Spanish mackerel are very thick offshore right now and should be out there mixed in with the kings. Also, or should I say as usual, Goliath grouper, or should I say bottomless pits, are out there ready to grab your little tunny, kingfish, mackerel or what ever else you might have on that exceeds 8 or 10 pounds. They are all in the 200 to 500 pound class.
Well that sums up my fishing report. I am heading out scouting this afternoon for some larger snook. Good luck fishing and give me a call if you are interested in a charter.
Capt. Matt Ercoli
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