1: At Big Pier 60 in Clearwater, sheepshead, whiting, speckled trout and silver trout have been the most consistent catches this week. A couple of Spanish mackerel were caught and on Tuesday, a 22-inch black drum came over the rail, reports Big Pier 60 Bait & Tackle (727-462-6466).
2: At Madeira Beach, the tripletail bite is good nearshore. The hogfish bite is “insane” nearshore in water 50 to 70 feet deep. There were still kingfish biting at that same range before the front. There’s plenty of lane, mangrove and vermillion snapper, along with porgies and grunts at those depths. Deeper offshore, the red grouper bite really picks up around the 100-foot mark and some amberjack have been caught, reports Andrew Schleissing at Gulf Coast Bait and Tackle (727-343-4181).
Pompano: Pompano have been caught in a number of spots around the Tampa Bay area and elsewhere this past week.
Strike Zone, 3, 4, 7, Elsewhere
3: At John’s Pass, sheepshead are all over the pass around the bridge, the docks and any structure. Pompano are biting from the jetty on Doc’s Jigs. Some Spanish mackerel and whiting have also been caught from the jetty and the nearby surf. The redfish and trout bite is good inside the back bays. Some trout are also biting around the dock lights at night. Mangrove snapper have been caught inside around the oyster beds and structure around the mangroves, reports Schleissing at Gulf Coast Bait and Tackle (727-343-4181).
4: At Fort De Soto Park, the marina area is full of sheepshead. There’s also plenty around the seawall and the area docks. The flats are loaded with bonnethead sharks. The Boy Scout area flats at the park are producing trout and redfish. Soldiers Cove is producing some snook, redfish and sheepshead. The east side of Shell Key is good for snook. The piers are producing pompano, along with plenty of sheepshead and whiting. Bunces Pass is holding whiting and jack crevalle, reports Capt. Claude Hinson at Tierra Verde Bait and Tackle (727-864-2108).
5: Around the Sunshine Skyway and lower Tampa Bay, right now you can find snook anywhere from the passes all the way to the back country as they are heading toward their winter spots. Trout and redfish are also mixed in with the snook. Cooler water has also picked up the sheepshead bite just about anywhere there’s structure. The bridges and the bay reefs are also hold good numbers. Gag grouper season closed, but mangrove snapper are still biting on the bay reefs and along the shipping channel, especially around Port Manatee. Spanish mackerel have been caught around edges of the flats inshore and on the nearshore reefs, reports Capt. Shawn Crawford of Florida Sport Fishing Outfitters (941-705-3160).
6: At Anna Maria, Anna Maria Sound, all the way south to Longboat Pass, is holding a lot of good size trout and snook along with the occasional redfish mixed in. There’s plenty of sheepshead around Longboat Pass, the bridge and both the Manatee and Cortez bridges. Oyster bars, structure and some of the docks in the sound are also holding sheepshead. Some bluefish have also been caught in the sound and south to Sarasota Bay, reports Crawford.
7: At St. Petersburg, sheepshead are biting anywhere there’s structure. There’s still mangrove snapper along the channel and on the reefs in the bay. Some pompano are biting around the bridges and in the passes near the beaches. A good mix of snook, redfish and trout have been caught around Fort De Soto and Weedon Island. Cut bait on the bottom has been very productive for the snook and redfish. Snook and redfish are also in the residential canals from Weedon, south to Pinellas Point. There’s also some trout on the deeper flats off the point, reports Larry Mastry at Mastry’s Tackle (727-896-8889). The jetty at Pass a Grille is producing black drum, sheepshead and some pompano, reports Hinson.
8: In the north end of Tampa Bay, there’s plenty of sheepshead around the bridges along with decent numbers of black drum. The west shore flats of the Gandy and also at Picnic Island are producing flounder on jigs tipped with shrimp. Good numbers of trout have been caught around the bridges, along with the deeper edges and cuts on the flats. Whiting have been caught around structure and the deeper channels. Redfish action is decent around Weedon Island and in the upper bay, north of the Howard Frankland. The cobia bite is picking up around the channel markers, reports Gandy Bait & Tackle (813-839-5551).
• At Homosassa, high profile nearshore rocks and rock piles are holding good numbers of sheepshead. Channel markers, ledges and docks are holding the sheepshead back inshore. Live shrimp and jigs tipped with shrimp are getting the bite. Deeper holes near rocky points and channels in the rivers are producing redfish, trout and black drum on live shrimp, reports Capt. William Toney of Homosassa Inshore Fishing Charters (352-621-9284).
• At Fort Pierce, there’s kingfish on the troll offshore at the 50 to 80-foot mark. The rest of the pelagic bite has been slow. On the bottom, there’s mangrove snapper at 80 foot and some lanes at the 50-foot mark. Spanish mackerel are biting just outside the inlet around 30 feet, all the way north to the Vero Cove area. At the inlet, whiting are in the surf and a few pompano have been caught. Inside the inlet, there’s a really good catch and release snook bite on live baits. There’s also plenty of sheepshead in the inlet around structure and inside around the bridges, reports Clint Walker at the Fishing Center of St. Lucie (772-465-7637).

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