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Tampa Bay - Saltwater
Capt. Matt Ercoli
June 1, 2005
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
There are Tarpon, Tarpon and more Tarpon. The southern migration has been a little later this year due to cold water temps, but they are thick as thieves out there now. Up until then I was stuck fishing the resident fish out of Tampa Bay. Last week we nailed a two hundred-pound tarpon up in the bay and have had a lot of good success besides that fish. Now the true flood of tarpon has showed on the beach and we are starting to catch the numbers. This is my favorite time of year to sight and stalk tarpon. Schools sometimes exceeding 200 fish, and it’s awesome. On the best days we will hook as many as a dozen tarpon, all ranging from 75 to 175 pounds and even on the slowest days we manage at least 2 or 3 hook ups. If you would like to catch a tarpon now is the time, last week on our best day we hooked nine fish, but things are just starting to heat up and it will only get better from here.
As for other fish, this past month has been the best and most consistent redfishing I have seen in years and snook have also been very good. Most of the reds are averaging 23 to 34 inches while snook are averaging 21 to 28, with a few over 30 inches. There are also plenty of trout over the deep grass as well as some really large Spanish mackerel mixed in.
As for offshore fishing, we have had a tremendous kingfish run which is now slowing down, as well as lots of nice snapper, gag grouper and little tunny. If you want something really big the goliath grouper have been biting really good. The largest we landed this past month would have easily toppled 400 pounds.
Well if you are interested in fishing, give me a call. I still have a few days left for tarpon season. Good luck on the water and have fun fishing.
Capt. Matt
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