Clearwater and Tampa Bay Florida

 Fishing Reports

July 18, 2010   Hello Everyone.  Spotted Sea Trout remains a decent catch throughout June and July with several large fish being landed.  Miss Lydia, visiting with her father, from Alabama caught a 25 inch fish using a Scaled Sardine for bait.  Lydia also had a blast catching several Black-Tip sharks.  While several sharks were swimming around the boat, she would just lower her sardine to the nearest one and the fight would begin.  Many Tarpon were seen on this fishing trip in a deep cut near the Islands of Tampa Bay.  We had a few bites but no solid Tarpon hook-ups on this trip.

Shark fishing should be excellent all summer long.  Late afternoon trips ending around 9 or 10pm can be scheduled in order to avoid the heat of the day.  Rock piles along the beaches will hold Redfish, Black Drum and Flounder through-out August and September.

     May 2010 was a great month for fishing in the Tampa Bay area!  Tarpon, Redfish, Spotted Trout, Spanish Mackerel and Grouper were biting well through-out the month.  Mackerel and Grouper were nice by-catches while fishing for Tarpon around the bridges of Tampa Bay.  A large Cobia was also caught this month by my good friend, Art, while visiting from California. 

     Tarpon were feeding mostly on Threadfin Hearing and Pass Crabs, drifting with the current, near the bridge structure.  The strong tides during the new moon phase had the best bite for Tarpon.  When the current slacked up a bit, the Grouper came up to feed.  Pulling the Grouper off the bottom and out of their rocky holes was a bit of a challenge when using spinning gear.  Therefore, give the fish a little slack line, within a few minutes the fish will swim out of the rocks and the fight will resume.  Sharks were also out in abundance on the shallow flats of Clearwater Harbor.  If you would enjoy catching sharks and watching them take your bait near the boat, reserve a fishing trip this summer.

       February remained almost as cold as January.  The best fishing days were the second or third day after a cold front had past through.  We found the Spotted Sea Trout bite was best in the afternoon after the moon started to rise.  Mike and Stacey, visiting from up north, caught several nice fish on artificial jigs near the small Islands lining the coast of Clearwater and Dunedin.  Clear, clean water was the key to finding trout as the cloudy water near the passes did not produce fish.  On February 23^rd, Scott W. went fishing for his 60^th Birthday.  Although, weather was not ideal - we managed to keep eight nice trout for a family fish fry.  Residential canals have been productive this month offering some protection from the cold windy days.  Steve’s friend caught a large 34 inch Redfish under a boat dock in Clearwater. He was using shrimp for bait.  March should offer warmer days and water temperatures that make fishing more pleasant.  Come on Spring!