Fishing around Anna Maria Island has continued to follow a wintertime pattern for yet another few weeks. Although this is nothing new, spring doesn't arrive until March for us. So we are dealing with it for a few more weeks. As the water temperatures both in the bay and in the golf of Mexico are struggling to reach the upper 50s
Well we went from a late winter, straight to summer like conditions on the water. During this reporting period bait has been sporadic as it is moving around a lot. Some days bait is very plentiful (Picture) other days we are struggling to get enough bait to fish with, but I always find a way to get the job done! The bite has been
April winds bring May flowers...
During the first week of April we seen strong winds all week, starting out of the south at 20-25 knots then ending the week with a strong 20-25 knot winds out of the north as a cool front passed over our area. During the first part of the week fishing was steady with the South wind and the cool front approaching. The end of the week, when the front finally passed over, left the biting a lot tougher as high pressure from the cool...
Cold to HOT...
We started the second week of March with the remits of a significant cold front that pushed though the region, leaving us water water temperatures in the high 50's. The week prior we had water temperatures in the mid to high 70's, so we have a 20 degree temperature drop which slowed down the Snook, Redfish, and Trout bite. We ended up heading for some deeper water to target Sheepshead and...
This reporting period has seen its ups and downs as far as the water temperature. We started the 1st week off in March with water temperatures reaching 78 degrees and then this past week they struggled to reach 70 degrees. The wide swing in temperatures made the fish feeling a little confused and lethargic at times. Bait is everywhere from the flats...
Fishing around Anna Maria Island has continued to follow a wintertime pattern for yet another few weeks. Although this is nothing new, spring doesn't arrive until March for us. So we are dealing with it for a few more weeks. As the water temperatures both in the bay and in the golf of Mexico are struggling to reach the upper 50s
Well we went from a late winter, straight to summer like conditions on the water. During this reporting period bait has been sporadic as it is moving around a lot. Some days bait is very plentiful (Picture) other days we are struggling to get enough bait to fish with, but I always find a way to get the job done! The bite has been
April winds bring May flowers...
During the first week of April we seen strong winds all week, starting out of the south at 20-25 knots then ending the week with a strong 20-25 knot winds out of the north as a cool front passed over our area. During the first part of the week fishing was steady with the South wind and the cool front approaching. The end of the week, when the front finally passed over, left the biting a lot tougher as high pressure from the cool...
Cold to HOT...
We started the second week of March with the remits of a significant cold front that pushed though the region, leaving us water water temperatures in the high 50's. The week prior we had water temperatures in the mid to high 70's, so we have a 20 degree temperature drop which slowed down the Snook, Redfish, and Trout bite. We ended up heading for some deeper water to target Sheepshead and...
This reporting period has seen its ups and downs as far as the water temperature. We started the 1st week off in March with water temperatures reaching 78 degrees and then this past week they struggled to reach 70 degrees. The wide swing in temperatures made the fish feeling a little confused and lethargic at times. Bait is everywhere from the flats...
Catching Convicts (AKA Sheephead)...
Sorry its been a couple months since my last report, I commercial fish for Mullet in the months of December and January every year. Well lets start out with how well the commercial mullet fishing season was. This mullet season was better than the 2015 season, but still was slower than average. Record high temperatures in December left the fish feeling confused and left me thinking it was July or August as pools of sweat dripped from...
The fall season is upon us, the water temperature is dropping, and the fish are biting. Over the past month we have been doing really good with Redfish aka "Pumpkins". Large schools of fish have allowed us to catch up to 50 Redfish in a 4 hr trip (Picture 1). Some of the Redfish we have been catching...
Well the past two weeks we have seen a persistent 15 knot north-east wind for the past two weeks which has made fishing challenging at times. The wind has made it especially tough sometimes to go and get bait out in the middle of Tampa Bay, as we faced a 3 foot tight chop of waves. Taking that into account...
Well the past two weeks have been trying to say the least, between the red tide and Hurricane Matthew we have seen our fair share of natural adversities over the past two weeks. We will start off with the red tide issue, the red tide did not dramatically affect fishing around Anna Maria Island, but I did receive countless phone calls regarding the...
A touch of Fall...
Fishing has been pretty good as we officially make our way into the fall season. Although the weather has not seemed to cool down much you can definitely tell that the fish have started to fall into their fall pattern. Bait has been plentiful out off the beaches of Anna Maria Island, Skyway Bridge, and the shallow grass...
Hemine the Hurricane...
Well the last part of August and the 1st couple days of September were a washout as Hurricane Hemine brought record amounts of rain and gusty winds for most of the week. Prior to Hemine fishing was pretty good and we had no complaints. After Hemine brought record rain fall amounts it took a couple days for the fish to get back into their normal state. The bite was tough for the first couple days after the storm, but we still managed
Schools back in session...
This is the time of year when the little ones head back to school and typical we start to slow down, but I've been still pretty busy and the fish have been busy as well. Bait is still plentiful and can be found on almost any grass flat also it can be found out on the beach of Anna Maria Island. The Trout and Snapper bite has been pretty...
Well, the past two weeks we have seen a low pressure system that sat on top of Anna Maria Island and Florida for six days straight. The low pressure system brought daily rain and dropped the water temperature considerably in some areas. In most of the areas I fish the water temperature went from the mid 80's to around 78 degrees. I was able to get in most of my trips this past week...
Fishing has been as Hot as the weather...
This time of the year inshore fishing traditional slows down a little bit as our water temperature rises to the 90 degree mark, but as of lately fishing has been remarkably good. The daily afternoon thunderstorms have keep the water temperature in the mid 80's which has keep the fish biting. Bait is everywhere from the grass flats around the mouth of the Manatee River to the gulf side/ beach side of Anna Maria Island. The Snook bite this year has been...
Summer is here to stay for the next couple months, which means the small bait has shown up. We have all the small bait (pilchards) you want on the flats around Anna Maria Island, just make sure you are throwing a 1/4" mesh net or you will have a Christmas tree of bait on your hands and a lot of clean up. The Trout fishing has still been strong and a lot of smaller Trout have been showing up and sometimes its hard to get the bigger Trout to bite before...
It's been a great start to the summer fishing season. There is plenty of larger bait still around and lots of smaller (fry) bait showing up on all the shallow grass flats from Sarasota to Anna Maria Island. The Tarpon bite has been pretty disappointing over the past couple weeks. Most of the guides that I have been talking too have said its the toughest...
The fishing has been really good considering we had a tropical storm pass right over us during the second week of June. The Snook bite has been red hot as all the fresh water we got from the storm/ rain pushed the last remaining Snook from the rivers and backwaters to the mouths of large estuaries...
Bait everywhere from the flats of Lower Tampa Bay, the Skyway Bridge, and Fort Desoto. Again, the fishing has been RED HOT. The Snook bite has been the most predictable, productive, and consistent. Over the past couple weeks we have caught well over 450+ Snook (video 1) (video 2) (video 3). Most have been in the 25" range but we have manged to catch a few that were bigger. The biggest Snook has been 42" (Picture) ...
Last week I took a vacation with the family so I was off the water for a week but the fish were on fire when I finally got back to work. We did real well with Redfish this past week with several fish over the 30" mark. Most of the Redfish have been along the mangroves on the higher water and when the water starts to drop they have been feeding well near outlet creeks and near pinch points. The Snook bite has been the most consistent...
We started out the week on the back side of the Full Moon which left us with great tides at the beginning of the week and then towards the middle and end of the week I had to move my trips to the early to late afternoon due to slack water most of the mornings. All of the trips this week did well on Redfish (Pic 1) (Pic 2). The Redfish are definitely...
Call or Text (941) 812-7435
