Partly cloudy in the morning followed by scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon. High 88F. Winds E at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%..
A few clouds. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 76F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph.
Updated: June 19, 2024 @ 12:42 am
This happy angler displays one of the snook taken on a recent charter with Capt. George Hastick. He’s finding the fish on structure, including docks, with some fish up to 40 inches being spotted. Large, live sardines have been the best bait for them.
This happy angler displays one of the snook taken on a recent charter with Capt. George Hastick. He’s finding the fish on structure, including docks, with some fish up to 40 inches being spotted. Large, live sardines have been the best bait for them.
Capt. George Hastick (727-525-1005): Capt. George has been working the Pinellas side of the Bay and seeing more snook on structure like docks. He’s seen fish up to 40 inches and his anglers have landed some smaller. Large, live sardines have been the best bait. Reds have been on the docks, as well, though they also are running along mangrove lines when the water is up, and on the flats off the mangroves when the water falls. He’s not found any schools with the exceptions of small, rat reds. The bigger fish have been in singles or pairs. They also like the live sardines. Spanish Mackerel are in the Bay to around the Gandy Bridge area, of the Bay reefs and around some of the range markers. Trout fishing has been pretty good. Shallow grass flats are holding the most fish, but they tend to be undersized. Working hard bottom with patchy grass in deeper water from 6 to 8 feet is where his anglers are connecting with the bigger fish. It’s time for cobia to start showing up. One of his anglers hooked one on a recent trip on a flat. While he doesn’t know where they are finding them, some anglers he knows of have been landing black drum. He suspects they’ve been getting them on bridge pilings.
Capt. Chuck Rogers (813-918-8356): Capt. Chuck said a couple of good bets now are Spanish mackerel and trout. He’s finding both below the Gandy Bridge. His anglers boated mackerel on the deeper flats off of Weedon Island, with the incoming tide when the fish turned on. The trout have been in the same area and on the Tampa side of the bay on grass flats in 5 to 6 feet of water and around oyster bars. Expect to go through a lot of short trout to get to the bigger fish, but putting in a little time with jigs with soft plastic tails will get a limit. Redfish have been around the bars and mangroves when the water is up. He’s been seeing a lot of singles and doubles, but no schools. There’s lots of scaled sardines schooling in the Bay and they are just now starting to move up on the flats from the channels and bridges. That’s a good sign, as it means predator fish like snook and reds will follow them.
Gandy Bait & Tackle (813-839-5551): Bill says anglers are reporting finding more snook on the outside points and mangroves, with some big fish being seen. Reds have been working the same areas and around bars, but the numbers have not been great, with no one reporting schools of them. Spanish mackerel schools are showing up from the Skyway Bridge and Fort De Soto up to the open water off the St. Pete Pier and on to around the Gandy Bridge. Trout fishing on the grass flats around mid-Bay has been decent in 4 to 5 feet of water. Some are reporting seeing good numbers of big tarpon showing up around the Skyway Bridge, but also well up into the Bay.
Riviera Bait & Tackle (727-954-6365): Billy reports customers are seeing tarpon all over the Bay, ranging from juveniles in backwaters and canals, to big fish around the bridges. The Skyway and off Egmont Key has been holding the most big fish. There also have been reports of fish inside the Bay, which he suspects are silver kings leaving the rivers as the water warms. Spanish mackerel schools can be found anywhere from the mouth of the Bay up to the Gandy Bridge. Live bait, spoons and other artificials with some shine will take them. Anglers that had been doing well on sheepshead around bridge pilings, docks and rocks are saying that bite is past its peak. Trout fishing have been good on the grass flats and along the drops off shallow flats into deeper water. Live shrimp or jigs with soft plastic tails will take them.
Angler 360 (727-669-5455): Steven says customers have been doing fairly well on trout fishing the grass bottom at the top of the Bay above the Courtney Campbell Causeway. The reds have been around the creek mouths in the same region and a few snook are on the outside and feeding. The bridges are giving up some trout, sheepshead and a few mangrove snapper to anglers fishing with live shrimp.
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