Category: Fishing Reports

March is typically one of the busiest months for guides in Tampa Bay. Spring breakers flood our beaches, restaurants, and boats. The weather in March is some of the best, with sunny days, lighter winds, and temperatures into the 80’s. This March has unfortunately started with a looming red tide plaguing our coastline. Although red tide isn’t a new phenomenon to Florida, the severity of the blooms these last years has been alarming and to make matters worse, a bloom in February is extremely unsettling, as we haven’t even moved into our hottest months. This bloom has been traveling up the coast of Florida from the south and strong winds out the south these last few weeks have pushed it into the bay and down our beaches. Luckily, we have a northern wind spell coming through and that should help drive some of the bloom out of the bay. In regards to red tide and the poor water quality Tampa Bay is experiencing, it has lost 12% of its Seagrass since 2020 and since 2016, the bay has lost a staggering 27%.

The silver lining is the fishing inshore has still been great and at its worst times recently, the red tide in the bay has been “patchy”. I have run most trips in the last few weeks with clean water and hungry fish. I haven’t had a single livewell of baits die and I’ve only seen a handful of dead fish floating in open water. That’s not to say there aren’t worse areas experiencing it, such as marinas with little water movement and wind blown passageways, as well as residential coves that blow the dead fish into. However, fishing in the open with moving water has been clear and productive.

We’re seeing our typical spring shift in fish patterns with water temps in the mid 70’s. The snookare starting to transition towards the beaches and passes, redfish are moving onto the flats, spoil islands, and mangrove lines, Spanish Mackerel and Jack Crevalle are starting to flood the bay and nearshore grounds, threadfins are beginning to show up around the bridges, and bait is making its way onto the flats.

These next few months are historically some of the best fishing in Tampa Bay. Some of the biggest fish are caught during these months as fish are preparing to spawn for the summer and feeding aggressively both pre and post spawn. Small numbers Tarpon have already begun to show up and the crabs slowly began to flush on this recent full moon. March offers a month of great weather, good fishing, and bustling beach towns.

See you on the water,

Capt. Skylar Wilks

February is historically a mild month, with temps ranging from 64-75 degrees. It is often a dry month with more winds, however it begins our warming trend away from winter and into the spring. As the water begins to warm up in the bay, fish like snook, redfish, and trout will begin making their way out of the creeks and rivers and back onto the flats and beachfronts for the spring and summer. This transition will have the fish looking for meals to sustain them on their journeys. As we move into spring fishing the bait will be getting bigger, as we’ll have threadfins make their way into the bay and not too long after, our tarpon migration and crab flushes will begin.

Springtime snook and redfishing is hot and February is a great time to begin taking notice of their patterns for the next few months. Creek mouths and river mouths on an outgoing tide is a great area to pitch baits, as we are coming off a big full moon and big outgoing tides. The first few weeks of February will produce longer, slower incoming tides and quicker outgoing tides. The slow incoming doesn’t always make for a great bite but waiting for the tide to flip and head out gets the fish into ambush points and waiting to feed.

Trout and flounder bites have been ramping up recently in the bay and both can be targeted with shrimp or small swim baits on a weighted jig hook. I like a Z-Man Trout Eye jighead, in 3/16 or 1/4 oz. depending on depth paired with a Trout Trick Jerk ShrimpZ or MinnowZ. You want a slower, erratic retrieval with the shrimp, as it reaches the bottom and your line gets slack, you want to be beginning your next pop and reeling that slack. For the minnow you want a steady, slow retrieve with occasional twitches bumping the baits through the grass and focusing on making long casts to potholes. If you find yourself hooking smaller fish, work your way to deeper water. Our water had been pretty clear in between the cold fronts, but with this recent blow, the wind has stirred it up again as we begin February. When the water is dirty and stirred up bigger baits with more color and action are a go to, such as chartreuse.Soaking a shrimp or bait with a cut tail and small weight if needed will allow the fish to sniff it out, given some time. When the water is clearer once the wind settles, you want to move back to a smaller, low profile bait and natural colors.

Lots of black drum are being caught around the bridges and these fish can weigh well over 50lbs and make for a fun fight on shrimp, cut blue crabs, or even artificial swimbaits on both light and heavy tackle. On slack tides you may see these bruisers breaking the surface while munching on barnacles and crustaceans much like sheepshead. 

Good Luck this Month and see you next time,

Capt. Skylar Wilks

Happy New Year to you all, I hope you ended 2022 on a high note and have plans to make 2023 an even better year!

Holiday Red Tide Was Bad – Look To Be Abating In January

As for fishing, Tampa Bay is coming off of a red tide spell that hindered the last few weeks of the year for our fishery. Red tide blooms were found highly concentrated around the Fort Desoto area and very present throughout most of the lower bay, even up to 10 miles or so offshore. With this late bloom came another cycle of the bait moving out of the area, and fishing to slow drastically, while even if you were able to catch bait south and transport it back into the Desoto area, the entire live well would die. Although you could get a few fish to eat shrimp and artificials, the majority of the fishing recently has been dismal. There have been numerous fish kills this bloom as I witnessed more than 10 large black drum washed up on the beach and countless other small fish and sea life floating dead on the surface.
Red Tide has become more rampant over the last few years than ever before and although there are contributing factors out of our control, as it is a naturally occurring phenomenon, there are some factors we can control that are directly impacting the severity of red tide blooms, such as pollution and fertilizer runoff. A few suggestions would be to impose stronger sanctions on businesses that dump into the bay, including more oversight of the dismantling of Piney Point and those in charge of the travesty it became be brought to justice. Lastly, we need more fertilizer bans and stricter policies for communities that border the bay and neighboring areas, as Florida is continuing to see record growth. These are just a few examples I believe would be steps in the right direction to ensure we maintain a sustainable fishery here in Tampa Bay. Some are speculating that this most recent bloom could be a remnant effect from Hurricane Ian that hit Fort Myers and the weather and tides pushed it north to now be affecting Tampa Bay. Even if that was the case, once it arrived here in the bay specifically, the bloom grew exponentially while also becoming more concentrated. We may not be able to rid Red Tide entirely, but we certainly need to find ways to mitigate the contributing effects when it is present or year after year, at this rate, it will destroy our fishery. We can’t continue to hope solely on a big storm to pull it out of the bay or a cold snap to kill it because if one of those doesn’t happen our red tide blooms will continue to last longer and become more frequent.

However, its not all grim news I bring in the New Year. I was on a charter January 3rd and although we’re not back to the normal wintertime fishing that we are accustomed to, there are signs of good news on the way. Bait is beginning to move back onto the flats, dolphins are popping up all over, and sheepshead are back munching on bridge and dock barnacles.

One unfortunate telling sign that the bay has not yet fully recovered is a lack of mullet on the flats and in the usual spots that we see them this time of year. The bottom bite in and around the bay has kept us busy, as grouper, snapper, and sheepshead have all remained active throughout this period.

The redfish have been steady in the upper bay; as this time of year with the cooler months these fish seek the warmer water temps of the muddy flats that absorb heat more rapidly. I hope in the weeks to come we are back to more normal fishing patterns.

Until next month,

Capt. Skylar

Hurricane Ian was forecasted with nearly every model in the days leading up to landfall in Florida, to rip right through the heart of Tampa Bay. Within the last 3 days of landfall the forecast began to shift slightly more and more south. While this was a blessing for the bay area, it was a tragedy for Southwest Florida. Hurricane Ian made landfall as a category 4 in Sanibel, Naples, and Fort Myers causing widespread destruction, power outages, storm surge that tore homes and businesses apart. We are praying for those communities and families and hope they rebuild even stronger, as they have shown unbelievable strength and resilience throughout this catastrophic event.

October begins a cooling trend for Tampa Bay, as fall is now officially upon us. This time of year can be one of the most productive months for catching multiplespecies on every fishing outing. From fishing goofy jigs for Pompano under the bridges and throughout the passes on the big swinging tides, to moving out in the bay and causing mayhem on the surface with live bait for mackerel, bonito, cobia, and jacks. The fishing this time of year is some of the best!The water temp will hover around the 70’s, as cold fronts come and go over the next few months. A new hatch of bait is here and while a ¼ net was required the last few weeks, you can now begin throwing a 3/8 net without gilling them, since we are into mid October. The white bait has begun to flood the flats and near shore structures and big bait schools, along with the cooler water temps, have begun to bring the pelagic species such as kingfish, jack crevalle, and mackerel closer to the beaches and into Tampa Bay.

Fall King of the Beach will be November 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th and registration IS OPEN.

Redfish have begun to congregate in bigger schools on the flats and with these dropping temps and lower salinity levels their yearly migration throughout the Gulf is beginning. There can be schools of hundreds of redfish cruising the gulf and in and out of bay over the next 3 months or so. Seeing a school of bull redfish pop up out of nowhere is one of the coolest sites you can see while fishing. These monsters will eat anything thrown their direction and will boil on the surface bringing an entourage of birds looking to get in on the action.

The snook bite has been some of the best in recent weeks since the hurricane came through. The storm sucked out a ton of water from the bay and the rain has helped to rapidly cool the water, since we haven’t actually experienced our first cold front of this season. Fishing a few days prior to a cold front will be productive, but as the front is upon us the bite will slow until it has passed and then the fishing will fire off again. Planning trips according to the fronts will help ensure a productive day on the water. One thing that caught me by surprise on my first trip back on the water since the storm was the water clarity. I expected extremely murky water from all of the rainwater and runoff due the vast amount of rain this area received, but the slower sides of the tides have shown clean water in and around the beaches and bay. The fall frenzy has officially begun in Tampa Bay!

Good luck and good fishing,

Capt Skylar Wilks

September has begun with a number of lengthy storms, in addition to the more typical afternoon showers that are par for the course for summers here in Florida. Therefore, be sure to continually check the forecasts prior to your trip and continually check in on live radar apps such as MyRadar, while on the water.

Water temps are hanging in the high 80’s and with the big swinging tides this time of year the flow of water in and out of the bay has kept the fish feeding throughout the day. Fish deeper pot holes while on the flats and move closer to the mangrove shades as the sun begins to reach its peak midday. The big outgoing afternoon and evening tides have made for some hungry waiting fish on the corners of cuts and oyster bars inshore.

Our redfish bite is heating up with the big bulls starting to show in the deeper parts of the bay, while the snook bite around the beaches continues to produce. Although the season opened for snook on September 1, please do your best to practice catch and release when possible to continue allowing the species to rebound from the red tide spells and sewage dumps that have severely decreased the population over the last few years.

One species I really want to highlight in this report is our speckled trout bite. The numbers of trout in our area since those terrible red tides a handful of years ago, killed off and moved out just about every trout in our region. However, over the last couple of months we have been consistently catching trout. Not only are we seeingbigger numbers of trout caught, but actually bigger sizes of trout, which is a good sign for breeders continuing to reproduce and strengthen the population going forward.

The Spanish Mackerel bite has turned on in the bay and near shore, along with the mangrove snapper. On a few trips lately, we have managed to catch some of the biggest mangrove snapper this year, some coming in the 18-inch+ranges. The bait has been steady and you can expect a mixed size of smaller baits in shallow water and near the surface, while the bigger baits are sitting close to the bottom in cooler water. Mojarras are a money bait ticket in the summer, as the big snook and redfish can rarely turn them down.

Good luck out there this month,

Capt. Skylar

August is upon us and that means we still have another 2 months of hot weather and high water temps. The afternoon rain storms have helped keep the water temps from remaining too long in the blistering 90’s, although still holding in the mid-high 80’s. During the spells of high water temps, it is best to fish high current areas and beach fronts.

Back-waters this time of year have low oxygen levels and without much moving water, the lack of nutrients can cause lethargic, uninterested fish. Even areas closer to the gulf and bay with moving water and higher oxygen levels will lead to a tough bite around slack tide for the same reasons. However, around the full and new moons the bite has been spectacular with the big swinging tides. The tarpon numbers are beginning to thin out around the bay as they continue on their migration. Although some fish are still being caught, most fish this time of year are eating dead baits on the bottom, often without even seeing any on the surface. The redfish bite should be heating up in deeper areas of the bay and around Egmont Key, free-lined live pinfish has been the key however, as the fall approaches we will start to see the bigger schools of bull redfish moving in and out nearshore.

The snook bite slowed for us towards the end of July, although it is beginning to ramp up again, as we have bigger tides approaching another full moon on August 11th. This is a fun time of year to try something different and cruise the bay and shipping channel buoys for Cobia and Tripletail, as the bite has been good for them lately. Bait around the flats moved out all of the sudden making catching white bait the last few weeks of July a mission. However, small hatch bait has moved back onto the flats and bigger, better baits are being caught down deep at the Skyway and Desoto Gulf Pier. Summer time shrimp are tiny, so if you’re unable to catch live bait opt for buck tail jigs and small swim baits to get the job done. Both of these species make for a fun fight and even better table fare, if lucky enough to catch a keeper!

Unfortunately for Tampa Bay, sometime in late July the governing bodies had decided to release an undisclosed number of gallons of polluted wastewater into the Bay AGAIN, at Piney Point. “Since the beginning of the year, 27 inches of rain have accumulated in one of the gypsum stacks at the former Piney Point phosphate processing plant, and the plan is to pump that stormwater into Tampa Bay.” (https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/environment/2022-07-28/millions-gallons-piney-point-stormwater-released-tampa-bay ) Although it appears we may have been fortunate enough to dodge any real effects of red tide in our area this summer, this “release” will certainly not be good for our fishery. The verbiage used in the press release regarding the waste water discharge was vague and did not express any clear action plan or projected extent of ill-effects to be felt. I fished south of the Skyway on July 28th and half of my live-well died all of the sudden, which I can only assume was from the release or excessive rainwater runoff from the local area.

Lobster season opens August 6th and I will be heading down to Islamorada for the first few days of season. For everyone going, stay safe and have fun. I’m looking forward to a great month of August fishing in the Bay on my return.

Capt. Skylar

The tides to start July have been sluggish and with the water sitting at a steady 90 degrees, the lack of oxygen has made for a tough inshore bite. These lackluster tides have come in in the wakeof June’s full and new moons, which createdstellar bites both inshore, and off the beach for Tarpon, for roughly a 2-week stretch. The Tarpon bite for July should be turning up within the next week or so, as the full moon is set for July 13^th this month. The summer months give us our highest high tides and we are currently in a summer hill tide stretch. This gives us a steady incoming morning tide and massive outgoing tide in the afternoon. I prefer to fish the beginning of the outgoing tide this time of year, as the water pulls large numbers of fish like snook and trout into deeper holes, passes, and wave swashes. These fish will typically choosebeach edges where the tide is ripping and wait to ambush bait as it gets swept out with the tide.

These afternoon outgoing tides are also a great time to target tarpon. Although the tides haven’t been strong enough to flush crabs for the last two weeks, it still gives you a good chance of drifting baits like threadfins around structure to these fish.

On these big outgoing tides, look for areas where the water is being pushed over shallow points into deeper areas such as a pass. Egmont key is a great example of this and where a number of our bites have been coming from on recent trips. The water on an outgoing tide rushes over the shallow sandbars and into the deeper water, where these fish have been sitting in large numbers. When the tide isn’t moving very fast, Tarpon don’t need to expend much energy, therefore they will sit at the bottom in the deeper water. This scenario is a prime example where Structure Scan/Side Scan bottom machines can help to identify where the schools are sitting in the deeper water. This allows you to position the boat up current and drift the baits down to the school.

Good luck this month,

Capt. Skylar

June 1^st officially kicks off hurricane season and without missing a beat, the very first weekend we had Tropical Storm Alex push through South Florida. This system was partially from the remnants of Hurricane Agatha, a cat 2 hurricane that hit Mexico and made its way into the Gulf. While the Tampa Bay Area only experienced rain and some wind gusts, it did lower our water temp and water clarity for a few of the following days. The water the last few weeks has been gin clear, making the beach fishing a little tougher to get a bite, however, much more exciting for stalking fish in the shallows.

Tarpon season is rolling along with double-digit hook-up days not being uncommon. There are schools of fish milling around on the shallow bars off the beach, as well as the deeper pockets in the bay around Egmont Key and the staples of the area, including Bean Point, and the Skyway, on fast moving tides. The afternoon outgoing tide has created some unforgettable fishing around the bridges and passes, while the mornings have produced a little better on the beaches. The crabs have flushed on and off the last few weeks while some strong outgoing tides have pushed only a small amount of crabs to the surface and other afternoons they have moved through the bridges in massive numbers. Live and dead shad have been a solid option for presentations on the lighter crab flushes around the bridges, while live pass crabs on the beaches have been the ticket, especially in the mornings.

The snook have certainly started moving up and down the beaches in larger numbers in early June, as some will begin spawning this month. The Full Strawberry Moon will occur on Tuesday, June 14^th 2022. The week leading up to this phase and the week after the moon phase will push a ton of water into the bay and create a massive outgoing tide schedule in the afternoons, which will have the fish chewing. Tarpon will typically push offshore during this moon phase to spawn so leading up to the full moon will certainly have them hungry. Snook, however, will remain in the passes and keep to deeper, faster tidal areas to spawn during this moon phase and will also be looking for big meals in the week(s) leading up to it.

June 1^st opens up for one of our fisheries most sought after table fare, Gag Grouper. Gag Grouper need to be a minimum of 24 inches to keep and eat a wide variety of baits including: diving plugs, flair hawks, and jigs, as well as live bait such as pinfish and sardines. You’ll need to fish around heavy structure for these fish and beef up your tackle to 40-60lb leader and a 4-7/0 hook. Don’t be surprised if you get taken for a ride and the “rocked” as these fish will bury themselves under cover and push their thick gill plates out making them extremely hard to catch. If you don’t use strong enough leader, it is not uncommon for the gag bite to shut off once you lose a fish. Therefore, the first few drops/casts are important. 

Good Luck this Month,

Capt. Skylar

The month of May creates a perfect recipe for unforgettable fishing days. The weather is in the upper 70’s, the water is in the low 80’s, the offshore fish are moving in, and the inshore fish are moving out. Fishing just off of the beach can easily land you more species than you can count on one hand.

For one, the kingfish bite remains steady this month. Two, the tarpon are here in large numbers. Three, the snook bite is turning on in the passes and along the beaches. Four, the big jack crevalle are all over the beaches. And 5, the (big) sharks are lurking in close (if that’s your thing). One fish that didn’t make my top 5 most targeted fish this month, which definitely should be worth mentioning, is redfish. Although they are certainly around during this month and we have been seeing steady numbers being caught on our trips, it’s not all that often in May we set out strictly for them. I run most of my trips this month off of the beaches and in the passes, focusing our efforts near Fort Desoto, Bunces Pass, Egmont Key, and into Tampa Bay, sometimes even south of the Skyway, depending on weather and wind direction.

We get a lot of easterly winds this month, which helps to lay the beach down to a ripple, and with crystal clear water it’s tough not to run out there trip after trip. The pilchards, small threadfins, and pinfish, are still all over the flats, which makes catching bait and fishing inshore into an easy change of plans if the weather isn’t cooperating, by keeping out of the wind behind mangroves and around spoil islands. We have a full moon and Total Lunar Eclipse on May 15^th-16^th, I expect larger numbers of Tarpon to continue moving north during this week and Tampa Bay will see more big fish move in, as we move closer the peak season in June and July.

Certainly a lot to look forward to this month and a massive array of species to target, with this month of great weather and great fishing opportunities, here in the Bay Area.

Good Luck this Month,

Capt. Skylar

Spring has kicked into high gear with March closing out with a final cooling spell and some windy days. However, the fishing was stellar with about 3 weeks now of consistent water temps. April-July spring and summer times bring some of the best fishing Tampa Bay has to offer.

Our inshore species are feeding heavy before the summer spawning months and with an excess of bait around this time of year, they are chewing for extended periods throughout the day. We have two important new moons, May 30^th and June 28^th when the snook, in particular, choose to spawn with the stronger tides present. Snook are all born males and some transition to females between one and seven years old or 12-35 inches. Therefore, many of the monster snook that are caught are most likely breeder females. Many of the migrating tarpon will also push offshore for their spawning rituals around the full moons, as well. Therefore, the last 2 weeks of both May and June will offer some great chances at hooking a hungry female fish. 

These springtime months offer a huge array of species you can target no matter the time of day or tide. Bonito and big jack crevalle have made their way into the bay and along the coastline along with a large presence of Spanish mackerel and King mackerel. This last week or two, the kingfish bite has really taken off after the brief cooler days the first weekend of April. The big fish are moving closer and closer inshore as bait schools congregate so vastly they look like rain hitting the water when passing predators tear through them from below. Cobia are still very present and active in the bay cruising around the buoys and showing up to chum blocks while fishing near shore. The big fish are here because the pilchards are palm sized, big threadfin are covering the bridges, cigar minnows and blue runners are circling the near shore structures, and pinfish and ladyfish are all over the flats and beaches. All of these factors also give way to the most sought after fish people wait all year for, the tarpon. There have been a few reports recently of boats starting to hook into these fun fighters, as the conditions are right for their annual migration north, up Florida’s coast. Pass crabs have been flushing more and more with these last two full moons, which is a staple for migratingTarpon.

This year’s spring King of the Beach is sure to be a good one, with big kingfish being caught day after day, and their numbers sky rocketing as boats don’t have to travel far at all to get shots at them. March is historically a windy month and this year was no exception, but aside from April afternoon showers it is shaping up to begreat weather for the big weekend!