Tampa Bay offers excellent angling for over 200 species of fish. Tampa Bay starts at the extreme north end above the Hwy 60 Causeway. It ends at the south where it goes under the Skyway Bridge. Pick a good day with a respectable incoming or outgoing tide and plan on catching fish. Many places are fishable from the land for shore anglers. Or accessible to those who like to wade, or those with boats or Kayaks. There are also many public and private boat ramps located throughout the bay area for the many anglers with boats. Pictured with the redfish is my good friend Ernie Griffin. Ernie and I fished the Original IFA Redfish Tournements for many years together together. We competed against great anglers like Captains Greg & Bryan Watts, John Oliverio (inventor of Power Pole), Capt. CA Richardson, Capt. Artie Price, Capt. Greg DeVault, Capt. Mike Anderson and Capt. Billy Nobles to name a few. The IFA was just getting started and Ernie and I had a great time fishing and competing with so many great anglers from all over Florida.

Snook (Still Closed Season) The Tampa Bay snook bite’s been excellent around the mangroves on high water, and the grass flats early in the morning. Greenbacks, shrimp, cut pinfish and cut ladyfish; or you can try your hand at something new and catch some snook on artificial lures, especially top water’s early in the AM.

Redfish (Still Closed Season) Redfish are popping around over the bay and pushing in as the tide climbs. There is no shortage of large mullet schools, and Redfish aren’t far behind. Greenbacks, small pinfish, shrimp, cut bait, and for those that like pitching soft plastics, you can expect some great action on incoming tides. If you’re lucky to find a school moving around a shoreline, setup, and wait, they will move back and forth when feeding. Chasing them causes them to scatter.

Spotted Sea Trout (Still Closed Season) The Fort Desoto area is finally seeing a return of large spotted sea trout many over 20 inches. Also, the southeast shore and the south end of Tampa Bay are reporting good catches on incoming or outgoing tides. As always, live free-lined greenbacks or shrimp are the best baits for Trout. Try suspending your bait under a popper cork with a medium split-shot about 8” above a 2/0 circle hook. Just find any grass flat, and you should catch all the Trout you want this month. Of course, you can always use a topwater popping plug or soft plastic swimbait whenever fishing broke bottom grass flats with deep potholes.

Spanish Mackerel: The mackerel have moved into the bay, and it sure makes for exciting “fun-fishing.” especially for the kids. Mackerel are showing up all over Tampa Bay. Look for a school of Threadfin Herring, start chumming with some cut up scaled sardines, also known as whitebaits put one on the hook and hold on. I’ve had reports of catches up to 3 and 4 lbs using long shank 2/0 hooks and fifty-pound Seaguar Fluorocarbon leader. Try a popping cork and split shot like you would for Trout. It works well when the Threadfins are thick.

Cobia: Sighting of a few Cobias around the bay most cruising markers holding bait or following rays or manatees around the flats.

Tarpon: Grab a few Threadfins or large Greenbacks, then slip into one of the bridge slots and chum by cutting some bait into pieces. Then on a 5/0 circle hook, drift a full-sized threadfin back with the current or drift back a large one cut into chunks.