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Summer Snook, Redfish & Trout Running Strong
Capt. Matt Ercoli
August 24, 2009
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Well hello everyone; hope you're having a good summer. The fishing in these parts remains strong. The snook are thick again on the flats and gorging themselves on small greenback minnows and the action is very fast on lots of smaller fish, but also good for larger snook as well. This is always a good time of year to take a big snook in shallow water. You would be surprised how big a snook you can get chummed up over the shallow grass this time of year. I had quite a few 34 inchers in the last few weeks.
The red fishing has also been quite good as it is always this time of year. Traditionally August, September and October are always are best months for Redfish. It's especially good for larger reds and big schools of bull reds. I have been on some nice schools mixed in with the snook that are almost all eating size in the 18 to 27 inch class, with a few over sized fish up to 34 inches. The nice thing with those fish are you never know if you are going to catch a snook, a redfish or maybe even a big trout on each cast. That's the reason I really like this time of year; we get a lot of variety in one spot quite often. The action is usually fast so it's easy for beginners to have a good day as well as fly fisherman. There are also some large schools of bull reds out there now too. Now almost all of these fish are too big to keep averaging 28 to 34 inches and even a few larger. You can't keep them, but they are fun to catch. On the lower tide trips we have had some good days on the larger fish, 20 to 30 reds per trip all oversize easy to catch on live bait and very good target for my fly fisherman as well.
The trout fishing has really been superb. It's been several years since I have caught so many nice trout. Really I haven't targeted trout that much in the last few years. This year is much different though. I have some spots it seems like it hardly matters what time of day or what the tide is doing we can catch a limit of trout. So these days if I have a charter that wants meat for the boxes I can't help but go hit up some trout. One plus is my best spots are close to my dock so toward the end of the charter if we need meat we just make a quick pit stop. Half the trout we are getting are keepers and real nice ones with lots in the 18 to 24 inch class.
Well as for offshore there are lots of good snapper in the bay and all the way out to 30 plus miles. Lot of nice mangroves within 20 miles and some American reds along with mangroves out farther. There is also lots of good grouper fishing in that 20 to 30 mile area on the Swiss cheese bottom. For really fast action there are lots of lesser amberjacks on the reefs 3 to 15 miles out.
Well that's about the gist of it in these parts. I have been spending most my time inside on the flats. I guess that's my favorite and most of my charters too, but the offshore is good too and really enjoyable on the calmer days. Well I hope you have enjoyed my report, see you on the water. Capt. Matt
www.captainmatt.com cell 941-447-9888
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