April has been a crazy good month for fishing. Everything seems to be going off right now and it’s only going to get better. The water temps are steadily rising and the water levels and tides are also stronger and higher. This allows us to get up towards the mangroves and pound all the nooks and crannies to try and draw out the fish. Right now, the fish are really hiding deep under the mangroves and way back in the creeks. What we really need is some consistent rain. I believe that will force these fish out from God knows where and into areas where we can easily access them. Plus, it will start to murky up the water a bit. The water has been unusually very clear for this time of year and the fish seem to know we are there. With that being said the fishing still has been really solid.
My last trip was really very fun. I took out my long-time client Greg, his son Charlie, and his father in-law Roy. My real concern had been bait. Bait has been a bit of a struggle but I have yet to not get it done. Been having to make long runs and throw the net a lot. Better to have plenty of bait than not enough.
We started the morning fishing one of the bridges for Spanish mackerel and we absolutely crushed them. Mackerel are such a fun fish to catch. They hit hard and pull even harder. The are also extremely fast. We drove to the bride, which is about a 1 min ride, and threw out the first white bait. Before I could even bait up the second rod we were on. That went on for about an hour. Every bait that went out got hit by a mackerel or a jack crevalle. I think we landed close to 50 mackerel and 20 jacks mixed in. Not to mention all the misses and cut offs. Definitly a fun way to start the day.
They then wanted to shift gears and go look for tarpon, but with the heavy amount of boat traffic the really didn’t show themselves or want to play. Switched gears again and went to look for redfish and snook. The bite wasn’t all that great landing a few small reds here and there as well as some small snook.
The highlight of the day was Charlie caught a few personal bests. Eventually he landed a solid redfish coming in around 30 inches. Then the epic bite happened. Charlie hooked into a monster snook and by sheer luck he was able to get it out of the bushes twice and bring the snook to the boat. The snook measured in at 41 inches and will be a memory that will last a life time!
If you are looking for a Tampa Bay fishing charter now is the time to get on the books. Summer is just around the corner and some of the best fishing of the year is about to take place. Give me a call or text 407-977-7650. FISHING IS FUN!