Intervals of clouds and sunshine. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 91F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph..
Partly cloudy. Low near 75F. Winds NE at 10 to 15 mph.
Updated: June 20, 2024 @ 1:52 am
This happy little angler holds her snook for a photo before releasing it back into Tampa Bay. She landed the fish on a trip with Capt. Chuck Rogers, who has been finding snook in the shade of mangroves. Live sardines have been fooling them.
Jacob Littleton hoists a monster snook taken on the Flair Hawk jig in John’s Pass. The big spawning snook are on the beaches and in the passes. The fish was released after the snapshot.

This happy little angler holds her snook for a photo before releasing it back into Tampa Bay. She landed the fish on a trip with Capt. Chuck Rogers, who has been finding snook in the shade of mangroves. Live sardines have been fooling them.
Jacob Littleton hoists a monster snook taken on the Flair Hawk jig in John’s Pass. The big spawning snook are on the beaches and in the passes. The fish was released after the snapshot.
Capt. George Hastick (727-525-1005): Capt. George has been finding some good action with Spanish mackerel in the open bay from the St. Pete reef up to near the Gandy Bridge. Live chumming with scaled sardines is getting the bite going. Gold spoons also accounted for some of his catch. A long-shank, light-wire #1 hook helps prevent cutoffs.
Snook have been under the mangroves when the water is high and the tide is moving. They are taking live sardines. He’s been working the Pinellas side of the bay for them. He’s finding a few reds in the process, with stray fish hanging with the mullet schools.
Trout fishing has been pretty good on grass beds with sand holes in 7 feet of water or more. The fish are taking Saltwater Assassin baits on quarter-ounce jig heads near the bottom. He’s found a few small cobia in the bay, landing three on one trip to 22 inches. If the undersized fish are around, the bigger ones likely are, so keep an eye out around pods of stingrays, markers and tripods. Some fishing buddies reported taking keeper cobia around markers. They used live threadfin shad about 4 feet under a float.
Capt. Chuck Rogers (813-918-8356): Capt. Chuck has been putting his anglers on some decent snook, with a few bigger fish showing up around the mangroves. Fish when the water is high, with the bite turning on when there is a good outflow. He noted that the snook are hanging over sandy bottom patches mid-bay on the Pinellas side. Live sardines are working and the bait is abundant all over the shallow grass flats about everywhere early in the morning.
Trout fishing has been good, and there are good numbers of keeper-sized fish on grass flats in 5 to 6 feet of water from between the Gandy and Howard Frankland bridges on the Hillsborough side, as well as around Picnic Island. Spanish mackerel have been a little harder to find than the previous week, but look for them feeding on bait from Pinellas Point to off Picnic Island. There are plenty of mangrove snapper on the bay bridge pilings, docks and other structure.
Gandy Bait & Tackle (813-839-5551): Zack says anglers are reporting good action on tarpon on the bay bridges at night. The night bite has been strongest but the pods of tarpon have been showing up at the drop-off at the Bootleg, a bar off the southern tip of Picnic Island, during the days. Redfish have been cooperating for some anglers, with reports of fish under the shade of mangroves. The bite has been best during the week when few boats are there. Others have been finding their reds at the top of the bay at Double Branch and Rocky creeks.
Trout fishing is good, but the fish are hanging on the bottom of grass flats in 8 feet of water to stay cool. Some of the deeper channels have been producing some whiting on shrimp. There are a few tripletail around, though it takes some hunting around markers and tripods in the bay. Mangrove snapper fishing has been decent on submerged rocks, bridge and dock pilings, with shrimp getting it done.
Riviera Bait & Tackle (727-954-6365): Jacob reports anglers have been scoring nice tarpon and snook on the south Pinellas beaches. Some big snook have been taken in the beach passes on the outgoing tides, as well. Jacob was exploring the beach at Fort De Soto and spotted several large snook in the shallows just 10 yards from shore. Flair Hawk jigs in the 2-ounce size have hooked snook and tarpon. Pass crabs and small, live ladyfish have taken some of the biggest tarpon.
Trout fishing has been very good, with a good ratio of keepers to throw-backs. Grass flats in at least 5 feet of water from Pinellas Point up to the Vinoy have been holding plenty. Redfish have been hanging in deeper holes and the shade of mangroves, with fresh cut bait the way to go in the very warm water. Some have been doing well by crippling live pinfish and baiting the reds. The mangroves along the Hillsborough side of the Bay below the Gandy Bridge have been good, and there were a couple of reports from Christmas Pass at Weedon Island.
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