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Tarpon Rolling Into The Bay
Capt. Matt Ercoli
May 3, 2009
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
With the weather warming and the wind laying down tarpon are starting to roll into the bay area. It's my favorite time of year. I look forward everyday to the challenge that awaits me and my fisherman; stalking, hooking, battling and releasing a silver king. The king of all sport fish, even arguably as exciting as the blue marlin, there are few things one can do in the world that could be any more memorable of an accomplishment as doing battle with the magnificent fish. Land them or not it's an unforgettable experience. To me as the captain of the trip there is nothing like that feeling I get the moment after I am done catching the fresh bait for the day and I climb up into my tower and jump the boat onto plane. Like an osprey sitting on his perch cutting though the cool morning air with the sun just cracking the horizon waiting with anticipation to sight its first school of fish. Then baiting the hookups and moving in for the morning's first approach on a large school of rolling fish. I love it.
The tarpon are here in the bay; we fished them a few days around the bridge and had some half dozen hookups per day, landing a pair of 100 pounders one day. Not bad for early season fish. The large schools which we sight fish have not moved in yet, but I am expecting them any day. They are the fish I do the classic sight fishing for, which is my favorite. With 6 to 12 hookups a day on fish are very average days. The best days consist of hooking more than 20. This weekend I plan to put the 6 horse power trolling motors on the boat as I do every last week in April as I transition into my tarpon hunting mode . That will be life pretty much till the end of July, but believe me I not complaining, I love it. Last season my boat went a hundred percent on tarpon; let's see if we can do it again.
What else do we have going on around here? Well the best way to put it is everything. Pretty much you can name it and if it lives in these parts its biting good right now.
On the flats the snook fishing has been very consistent; our largest this past week was 34 inches. The redfish have been good for me every day. I have a few spots that have been producing real nice consistent keeper's everyday in the 24 to 27 inch class, with a few up to 32 inches. The great bonus this spring has been the trout, finally our trout fishing is coming back to what it used to be. We've had lots of nice fish from 16 to 22 inches and larger trophies. It's just really nice to see the numbers of nice size fish back. I think our trout fishing, although has come a long way in the last 3 years, is going to get much better.
Offshore the fishing is equally as hot. The kings are out there in force from the beaches all the way to 20 miles out with lots of numbers and lots of nice size fish in the 20 to 30 pound class. The Spanish are mixed in thick as well. The snapper and grouper are biting as well along with some giant 30 pound permit out there. Though I haven't targeted them myself I hear reports of nice Amber jack 20miles out. If you want a giant goliath grouper in the 300 pound plus no problem as well. Right now we are in that offshore scenario where if you are in the right place you can catch everything without pulling the anchor. It's red hot out there.
Well I hope you have enjoyed my report. I want to take a moment to say thanks to all my loyal customs through this slack economy. The stock market is up again today despite the swine flu, maybe things are turning around. I hear a lot more optimism than I was hearing 6 months ago and it seems the economy topic comes up almost every day in my boat.
Happy fishing!
Target Species:
Tarpon, Snook, Redfish and More
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