Fishing Forum - Tampa Bay area Fishing Report

Tampa Bay Area Fishing Report Captain Charles Walker 3/25/01 The winds finally died on Friday so everyone could go fishing over the weekend. Everybody did go fishing too! It looked more like the 4th of July out there. Everyone that owned a boat was on the water I think. The Gulf was muddy for over ten miles off shore but everybody was fishing anyway. If you picked a spot and anchored up, within 10 minutes someone would come up and either try to steal your number or just anchor up on top of you. Anglers trolling hardware caught a lot of tiny king mackerel and I had some reports of grouper being caught in the 60 foot depths. We went out to 90 feet and found a lot of 14 inch red grouper and no legal grouper on either frozen sardines or live cigar minnows. The surface water temperature is only 65 degrees yet, so I guess everything on the bottom is waiting for a little warmer water to start biting. I’ll be fishing for kings now for the next few weeks, so the baby grouper are safe from me for a while at least. On to the bait house reports: Ruskin Bait and Tackle - 813-641-2325- Snook are biting like crazy in the Cockroach Bay area. Trolling for grouper in the ship’s channel is the ticket for grouper this week. Spanish mackerel have come back up into the Bay after the last cold snap. Lots of sheepies are in the Bay and biting like crazy. Buddy’s Bait and Tackle on the Courteney Campbell Causeway in Tampa - 813-287-1026- Trout and reds have been biting around the Causeway this week. Lots of small snook have been caught at the big bridge. Snook have been caught at the flood gates on live grunts and lots have been seen in the canals but weren’t biting over the weekend. Bonnie’s Bait and Tackle in Clearwater - 727-446-2772- Grouper have been coming in from 60 feet this weekend on the all day boats. A few small kings have been caught off Clearwater. We’re still waiting for the kings to show up, hopefully any day now. Trappman’s Bait and Tackle on Gandy Blvd in St. Petersburg - 727-579-1414- Reds have been biting well around the Weedon Island area and are biting best on live shrimp. Snook have been biting well on pinfish around the Gandy Bridge rock piles. Sheepshead are still biting well at all the rock piles and pilings. Dogfish Tackle on Redington Beach - 727-392-6644- The back waters are pretty muddy this week. The pier anglers this week landed cobia, Spanish mackerel and kingfish, even with the muddy water. Don’s Dock on Madeira Beach - 727-391-3223- Spanish mackerel seem to be the majority of fish caught this week. Some grouper and snapper came in this week. from 80 feet and a few were caught in 60 feet. Pass-a-Grille Bait and Tackle on St. Pete Beach - 727-360-6606- Our offshore boats have been bringing in small kingfish, some grouper, and plenty of grunts. Lots of sheepshead are biting up and down the seawall, some even with yellow stripes.? Trout are biting along the wall as well this week. Pompano have been the fish of choice off the jetty this week. A red was caught under our gas dock today. The Skyway Fishing Pier - 727-865-0668 and the south Skyway - 941-729-0117- Grouper, Spanish mackerel, silver trout, and sheepshead are biting during the day and the sharks are starting to bite well at night. On the south side, sheepshead and Spanish mackerel are biting well during the day and of course the sharks are available at night. Folks, feel free to call any of the places in my report for more information, and be sure to tell them that you read about the fishing in their area in Capt. Charlie’s fishing report on the Internet. If you want more information about fishing in the Tampa Bay area or wish to book a charter, simply e-mail me at captchas@flfish.com or if you wish to arrange a charter faster, call me at 727-546-7257. Be sure and visit my web site for lots more Tampa Bay Area fishing info at: http://www.floridasaltwater.com . Good fishing and tight lines, Capt. Charlie http://www.flfish.com/fl Capt. Charlie Walker http://www.flfish.com