The last half of March was some of the best fishing I have had all year. I have been getting busier and with that more time on the water. Can’t tell you how much time on the water helps to dial in the fish. It allows you to stay on fish and work adjacent areas with confidence knowing the fish can’t be too far away from where they were last.
Luckily, the last of the major cold fronts have passed, and the bait fish are getting easier to catch. Soon they will be everywhere and the fish will be going crazy. This is the time of year that everything is firing off as they follow the bait fishing into the bay. You name it and it will be biting. Snook, Redfish, Trout, Tarpon, Mackerel, Jacks, Ladyfish, Cobia, Sharks, Snapper will all be a possibility to catch, and of course those darn catfish which seem to be everywhere!
Live bait and cut bait have been working extremely well. Scaled sardines, threadfins, and pinfish have been the bait of choice. I haven’t caught a lot of pinfish lately, but everyone has been crushed by a redfish! Cut lady fish have been great as well. One day we caught 9 big redfish on one small ladyfish as well as a bunch of catfish, a few small bull shark, and a giant stingray.
The trout bite has been great, easily catching our limit, that is if we were to keep them. Smaller sized scaled sardines have been working best. In deep water a spilt shot has been key to get that bait down to the bottom where they like to hang in the current. Trout have been ranging from 14 to 20 inches with a few bigger fish here and there. Still have a long way to come to get back to where they were in 2020, but I have seen more in the past year than previous years.
Snook bite is definitely picking up and if you can get some higher water levels and moving current you can certainly put some numbers in the boat. We lost a 40 plus inch monster the other day. I have been seeing more big fish this year. Eventually one is going to slip up again and we better be ready to capitalize. Snook have been hanging in the creeks or points waiting for the water levels to rise so they can make it out on the flats and cruise the mangrove shorelines. I can’t wait for consistent higher water levels and bait on the flats.
The redfish bite has been great. A few smaller fish, but most have been in the mid to upper slot size and a bunch over the slot. The biggest last week was pushing 32 inches. Redfish have been following the mullet schools around. I have been finding them off the edges of the flats on the negative low tides and pushing in as the tide rises. Just follow the depth where the mullet are and keep working it hard. Sitting tight for longer than that you would like has been the key to success. Chumming an area and quickly leaving because they are not blowing up chummers, is a bad idea. I have been bombing out cut ladyfish or pinfish, if I have them, and chumming closer in and fishing with white bait. If snook or redfish are something you always wanted to catch, now is the time to book a Tampa Bay fishing charter!
The mackerel and jacks have been really starting to show up as well as some residential tarpon. Snapper fishing should soon fire off as well. April and May have to be one of my most favorite months to fish, because you never know what you are going to get. Fishing for snook and reds, and a big school of jacks come rushing by or a cobia, swims up to the boat. It’s always an adventure out there. Not to mention the wildlife is in full swing with dolphins and manatees everywhere. The birds are out of control, but their crashing on your chummers definitely makes a lot of noise and attracts some hungry predators. My April is almost full for what I can take, but I have plenty of availability in May and June.
Call now to book your trip. 407-977-7650.
Capt. Bucky Goldman of Bag’Em Fishing Charters LLC