Tampa bay fishing getting hot and heavy!
Capt. TJ Stewart
May 6, 2008
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Let me start by saying the bite is on! Just about all of the fishing is going off. It's warming up more and more every day and more fish are coming out of their little hiding spots. We have had a lot of Tarpon start to show up on the beaches and other areas in the bay. Every day we have managed to find some redfish that have wanted to give us a run for our money. If not we always have the Snook and Trout to fall back on, like this is a bad thing to say. Overall the fishing has been great.
I will start with the Tarpon. These fish have started to do some moving around. A few fish are starting to show up off the beaches and in the bay and this is normal for this time of the year. We had some really big fish last week. We managed to hook two fish that were over 150 last week the first one we managed to get up next to the boat was pushing 180. It was one of the biggest that we got that close this year. The second was not far behind it was a fish that was pushing 160. Both of these fish took about 45 minutes to get to the boat they both gave a heck of a fight. One guys cranked on both fish needless to say he sat down the rest of the day. He did an awesome job. The second fish we were trying to get boat side for a picture when out of the dark came a Bull shark to make sure we were not going to do that. It was scary the shark was about 8 feet and it chased the tarpon around for a minute I free lined the tarpon so that he could get away and he did but in all the craziness the shark did manage to break us off. But the good thing is the tarpon did manage to get away with just a few marks. I have only seen this three times in the Tampa Bay area.
The snook well you know how that goes after season closes you catch a number of fish that you could have previously kept. It is a lot of fun to catch and release these fish anyway. We didn't have any really big fish other than the ones that got away but you know how that story goes. We did have a lot of fish that where right on the 28-29 inch mark which is a good fight on the light tackle.
Redfish on the other hand each day was different. Some days all of the fish were too big to keep and then other days most of the fish were slot size. Every day was different but lots of fun. The days that all of the fish were too big to keep the guys were upset that they were catching fish too big. Most of the big fish have been 30-32 but of course you get that great big bruiser that is pushing 35 inches that you have a hard time stopping. Most of the slot fish have been 20-24 inches which is the perfect redfish to keep for eating.
If its a few fish you want to bring home to eat we haven't had much trouble catching a limit of Trout and they are good eating. Book a charter today and come see for yourself!
More Fishing Reports:
