Guide bites
Capt. George Hastick (727-525-1005): Though Capt. George has not been fishing them, several good sources are reporting a tremendous number of fish in the bay and off the Gulf beaches this year. Pods of big fish are cruising just outside the swim buoys along the beaches, where live baits under floats and fresh dead bait on the bottom is working well. They are being hooked regularly under the Skyway Bridge by chumming with cut threadfins and drifting a live one into the chum line. Night fishing under the lights at the Gandy Bridge also is producing lots of hookups. For his own fishing, snook, redfish and trout action has been solid. The reds have been schooling in groups of up to 30 fish inside and outside Fort De Soto. The biggest fish have been slow to bite, but when found the schools of small and slot-sized reds have been feeding well. Live sardines have been working, with the biggest fish this past week measuring 35.5 inches. Most of the snook he’s finding along the Pinellas side of the bay all the way up to the Gandy Bridge have been in the shade around docks or mangroves on high water. Most are smaller males. Customers initially hooked but were unable to land larger females on recent trips. Trout fishing has been good on many grass flats in 4 to 6 feet of water early in the day, but better over deeper water with shell and coral bottom as the sun gets higher. Live sardines of Sea Shad soft-plastic tails on jig heads are producing fish 16 to 22 inches. Schools of jacks running 2 to 3 pounds have been plentiful and his customers have been hooking a few flounder on the sand along the edges of grass flats. Flat fish between 13 and almost 18 inches have been boated.
Capt. Chuck Rogers (813-918-8356): Capt. Chuck reports he continues to connect with redfish under mangrove overhands on high tides. He notes that most are singles or doubles, so it is a situation where you must keep moving and placing live sardines directly at the edge of the growth to score a few fish over the course of a day. Fishing early has been best when it coincides with the tides. The snook are running the mangrove lines, as well. Most are smaller males and they are taking the live sardines, as well. Fishing from Pinellas Point to about Weedon Island has been productive for both. Capt. Chuck added that along that stretch of bay he spotted lots of big tarpon, with pods all along the way and a few spotted free jumping. He also noted that he’s seeing more schools of threadfin shad than he’s seen in three years, and the abundance of scaled sardines and other signs, including large numbers of cow nose rays, add up to the bay water being a “very healthy” environment. He’s seen a few pompanos skipping on the surface in his boat’s wake, stopping to land a couple when they appear. Fishing on sandy bottom just off oyster bars continues to produce a few flounder, which have been around in pretty good numbers for the past few weeks. Schools of Spanish mackerel are scattered around the bay, though it looks like the numbers of fish are starting to decline.
Tackle shop roundup
Gandy Bait & Tackle (813-839-5551): Zack says customers are reporting more and more tarpon in the bay, with concentrations around the Gandy Bridge at night and off Picnic Island during the day. Lots of fish are being jumped and landed. The redfish bite picked up over the past week, according to several people. Fish have been on the flats in front of Weedon Island up to above the Howard Frankland Bridge at Big Island. The flats at Fort De Soto also have been producing some nice redfish action. Snook have been hanging along mangrove lines, with moving water and higher tides producing many. Most have been smaller males. Schools of live sardines have been providing the best live bait for them. The bait is on the grass flats in the morning and gravitating to markers and tripods during the middle of the day. Mangrove snapper fishing has been decent on many bridge pilings, with live shrimps working. Lots of short ones can be expected before taking a keeper-sized fish. Trout have moved to a little deeper water now that bay temperatures are rising. Grass bottom in 6 to 8 feet of water is where they’ve been. Check markers, buoys and other structure for cobia and tripletail, as a few of them have been spotted or hooked over the past week. Spanish mackerel schools are feeding on baitfish in the open bay from the Skyway up north. Many have been reporting large schools of big mullet working in many parts of the bay, so those who cast a net with them may do well now.
Riviera Bait & Tackle (727-954-6365): Jacob reports the big snook are on the beaches and in the Gulf passes. It’s sport fishing only due to the closed season, but big live baits like grunts or ladyfish are a good way to land a trophy fish. A few have done well fishing the Pinellas side of the bay near Riviera Bay using live sardines or big shrimp on a knocker rig. Redfish have been cruising along the sand at the edges of deeper grass flats, with singles and doubles being the norm. The exception has been schooling reds around Tierra Verde. Fishing early for them has been best. Some good catches of mangrove snapper are being made around pilings of small, interior bridges, with fish 12 to 15 inches being reported. Canal docks don’t appear to be very good places to find them right now, so anglers who expect them there may want to focus only on bridge pilings for now. The Spanish mackerel schools are still in the bay from the Skyway north in open water. It looks like the spring run is winding down, though, and that it’s going to be only a small amount of “resident” mackerel that stick around through summer. The numbers of cobia around have been disappointing. Early showings of fish this year seemed to indicate we were about to see an abundance of fish, but as of the past week, that hasn’t materialized.