Spring Break

Capt. Little Jim Fesperman
March 27, 2012
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report

The pass two weeks have been very busy with charters. This is spring break season with many northerners invading the Sun Coast and wanting to go fishing. The weather was warm although windy many days. With the water temps in the low 70's the entire fishery has been turned on big time which meant that the catching was very good.
We were able to get off shore a couple of miles many days to some hard bottom and a couple of ledges to fish. We were greeted by Mac's and some kingfish and several days we had a hard time keeping the gag grouper off our flat lines as they were eager to attack our big threadfins trailed behind the boat for kings. This past Friday as an example we caught 15 gags while searching for kingfish. We also boated a 30lbs plus cobia, a kingfish over 35 lbs and nice size mac's. The bonus was a couple of flounder each day. Around noon each day we would come inshore for gator trout and redfish. Some days were better than others but all-in-all inshore has been pretty good. The best surprise this spring has been the size of the trout. The trout and I mean the gator trout fishing has been off the hook this year. It has taken the trout fishery in our area seven years to recover from the 2005 red tide and the trout fishing is better than ever, for which I am very thankful. I personally hope that FWC keeps the snook closure in place for another year or two, to allow a couple of breeding cycles to take place.

Tampa Bay Fishing Forecast:

I expect to see the fishing continuing to improve until the summer doldrums of July and August so get out there and go fishing.

Target Species:

Kings Trout and Redfish

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