Weekly Fishing Report
Capt. Troy Mainzer
May 9, 2014
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Hey guys, fishing in the Tampa Bay area has continued to be very good. Last Sunday I got out with a buddy for a fun trip and got to land myself a personal tarpon which I haven't gotten to do in a while. It was nice being on the other side of things. The 80lb fish ate a cut threadfin herring and I had it boatside in less than 5 minutes for a few quick pictures in the water before releasing it. A few minutes later my buddy hooked up on a nice fish which he fought for a while before it finally shook the hook. It was nice to have a relaxing afternoon on the water.
On Monday and Tuesday I got back on the water with a client that had me for both days on his boat. We fished in the middle of the day with probably the worst tides all month so there was little current. This made the tarpon fishing pretty tough. We managed to hook one but focused most of our efforts on other species. On Monday afternoon, my client and his friends caught a variety of species including mangrove snapper, spanish mackerel, gag grouper, and a baby goliath grouper. The following day it was just my client Nick by himself. He got a limit of nice size mangrove snapper to 20 inches as well as some gag grouper that we had to release.
Wednesday I had two guys from South Carolina for a half day and they were able to get in on the hot mangrove snapper bite, catching some good eating size fish. They caught a nice cobia early in the day and then on the last cast of the day hooked up with something big. For 25 minutes we followed this big slow moving fish around trying to lift it off the bottom when finally a huge goliath grouper came up! What a fight on light tackle this thing was. My clients were stoked. We got a couple pictures of it in the water and then released it.
That's it for right now but the tarpon bite should pick back up this week with the better tides. The bite has been on in the evenings during the strong outgoing tides but was slow this week during the day when the tide wasn't moving as much. Bottom species are biting really good. Right now I am in South Florida for the Pompano Beach Saltwater Shootout on Saturday with "Team Tax Relief" on their Sea Vee. We pre fished today and went 1 for 2 on sailfish, and also caught a 36 lb true smoker kingfish, a 16lb dolphin and some smaller kings. Wish us luck tomorrow!
I look forward to getting back to the Bay Sunday night and be back on the water this week. I have a couple openings so if you'd like to get in on the action shoot me an email at [email protected] or call me at 813-293-4750. The tarpon fishing is only going to be getting better and there are also lots of snook and redfish around still.
Until next tide, tight lines.
Captain Troy Mainzer
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