Guide bites
Capt. Matt Cowden (727-534-6603): Capt. Matt says the redfish bite has been great and will only get stronger as we inch toward fall. Fish are schooling and starting to stage on flats off river and creek mouths. On higher tides, they are pushing up next to mangroves, where fresh cut bait or live bait will take them. When they move off the growth with the falling tide, they hang in potholes, where a soft-plastic fluke rigged weedless with a worm weight is a good lure choice. That setup also is effective on trout. Gag season is here and the numbers of fish are very encouraging. There’s been a lot of floating grass around, which will be a problem for those who want to troll for them, so bottom fishing with live and dead bait on the bottom may be the ticket.
Capt. Cody Albright (727) 992-3918: Capt. Cody continues to find the fishing inside the Cotee and Anclote rivers too good to ignore. His anglers have been scoring trout, snook, reds and even a few small tarpons. He’s been sticking close to the mouths of both rivers, finding fish along mangroves and under deeper docks. Live sardines under a float have been his bait of choice. He did a day working the grass flats in 3 feet of water from the Cotee River north to the northernmost stilt house and his anglers landed several trout around 17 to 22 inches, along with plenty of ladyfish. He also reports schooling reds in Sand Bay just south of Gulf Harbors. Reliable sources are reporting big schools of small baitfish at Honeymoon Island, where tarpon, snook and ladyfish have been feasting on them. The pattern over the years is that the bait moves north, and he suspects we may see the same level of action in a couple of weeks at Anclote Key. Gag season is all the talk now and will be until the season closes at the end of the month. He’s got a day or two still open for shallow-water trips for big gags in as little as 8 feet of water.
Capt. Josh Fritz (352) 345-9304: Capt. Josh reports the inshore bite is on, with redfish the main target, followed by snook. He’s working rocky island shorelines, along with hard-bottom points on the incoming tides. Live sardines are the bait of choice. Trout fishing is best in the deep grass, with the 10- top 12-foot depths holding a lot of fish. Picking through a lot of shorts can be expected to get to the bigger fish. The scalloping remains very good on the grass flats to the north of Bayport in Hernando waters. For this month, his focus will be on the gag grouper season, and while the demand for trips is high, he’s got a couple of open days as of this writing.
Tackle shop roundup
The Rusty Bucket (727) 645-6598: Capt. Bill says the action around Anclote Key has been great. Live sardines fished on the back side of the island early in the day have been taking trout, snook and reds along mangroves. Cut pinfish or mullet also produce. The pass between the island and north sandbar has been attracting a variety of species there to feed on the schools of scaled sardines. Trout, cobia, jacks, and mackerel are there. Snook fishing has been fair in Pasco backwater areas, with creeks holding some, but often it has been redfish taking the bait. Night fishing along the west beach at the island is getting some jumbo snook, with cut mullet, ladyfish and grunts the baits they want. The gag grouper season is upon us and the bite has been decent in shallow water and could get fired up if water temperatures drop a little. Otherwise, the best bet is to fish 60 feet or better with live pinfish or frozen sardines.
Tarpon Trading Company (727) 937-1488): Larry reports that customers have been dealing with a lot of floating, dead grass in the Anclote area, and combined with murky water it’s been making fishing tough. Nevertheless, he’s received some decent reports, including one angler who has scored snook and a nice gag fishing one of the bridges on the Fred Howard Park causeway. Others have reported that the shallow flats north of the causeway have been holding some schools of redfish, which have been tailing on low tides. Other redfish reports came from anglers working the backside of Anclote Key around mangroves, as well as the spoils along the channel coming out of the Anclote River. A few have reported taking some trout on grass flats off the Anclote River, though the bite has not been anything to brag about. Offshore, boats have been taking big gags in 40 to 45 feet of water, with some hooked on trolled plugs.