ReelCranking

Had a great trip today with Dave and Reid lots of action and a bruser of a red fish caught by Reid. Reid has one of the best cast I’ve seen for a ten year old he can work a top water or a jig and catch fish.

All kinds of fish can be targeted right now. The Pompano bite is great around the Tampa Bay area bridges and all the major passes along the beach. Black drum are hanging around the Gandy bridge look for them to be on the backside of the pilings. They will eat shrimp, crabs and even a Docs Goofy Jig. Keep an eye out for Tarpon they too are all around the area along the beach and at the bridges. You can catch them using shrimp, thread-fins and my favorite pass crabs on the right tide. The trout have also been a good go to for a fun time on the water. I have been fishing the pot holes in the three to six foot depth with live white bait, Strike King Coffee tubes or Paddle Tail jigs. So get out and fish or call us to book a trip.

After a long hard winter that was less then kind to the Snook population the fish are doing well and the bite is good. We boated several Snook in the high twenties and low thirty inch ranges today using white bait. The Snook are under and running the edge of the mangroves. The key was heavy chumming and some patience didn’t hurt either. Keep in mind to handle the fish with care and take the time to revive them before sending them on their way. After the winter they have had the more we can keep alive the better we will all be. The Trout bite in upper and lower Tampa Bay is still good we caught plenty of them today and yesterday using several differnt types of soft and hard baits in three to eight feet of water. The fishing is getting better every day and Tarpon are just around the corner so get out and fish.

Had a great time on the water today caught several nice Trout in 6 to 9 feet of water using Strike King Coffee tubes. The key was to work the tube slow and lift the tip of the rod and reel the slack in while lowering the rod. The bite seemed to come on the fall more so then the rise of the bait. The weather is good and the fishing is getting better get out and fish.

 Today I found a large school of Reds along with a large number of big size Trout while working the grass flats of South Pinellas today. The trout were eating MirrOdines and Strike King Tub baits. The Reds were harder to get to eat but with a lot of patience they finally took a shrimp. If you come across one of these schools be patient and as quiet as possible and you will be rewarded. Spring is almost here so  go fish!

Had a great time fishing for trout today with a friend of mine. The trout were in 2′ to the 3′ of water working Mirrodines at a good pace faster then in the past two weeks do to colder water temps. The water temp is up to mid 60’s so a faster retrive was very productive today. As far as the Redfish they are still very spooky and in the shallow water around oysters a very silent approach with a sented soft plastic or live shrimp and some patience should do the trick. Good luck!

Got to fish today, with the front coming tomorrow, today was the day to fish and it was worth the trip out. I saw several Reds in the shallows less then 2′ of water only hooked one, they are still very spooky. Also, saw lots of good sized Sheepshead on the flats. The bite of the day goes to the Trout. I boated several in the 10” to 15” slot with one coming in at 20.5”. The key is working your bait slow just fast enough to keep it out of the grass. Try a Stike King Coffee tube or a Mirrolure Mirro Dine XL. Good Luck!

Sad, but there are lots of dead Snook but the good news is that the live Snook seem to be doing better. I did see some slowly moving around in very shallow water to keep warm. If your planning on heading out to fish I would not target the Snook they need time to recover and even if they were biting they wouldn’t be much of a fight in their condition. The Sheepshead on the other hand are all over the dock saw a ton of them today. Cant say I caught a bunch but they were there!  The few bites i did get were on shrimp with a small split shot to get them to the bottom. I think a few more days of this weather and the bite should be good …the problem is there is another front headed this way. We will see.

Looked at several spots today but did not catch much. Looked around docks and canals with little to show for it. Saw lots of Sheepshead but i was unable to hook any… had a few fish on but could not get them in the boat. Tough day.

Did a lot of searching today saw plenty of fish but we were not able to catch many of them. We looked along drop offs where the flat went from less then a foot to around two and a half feet of water. After looking at several flats we moved to a channel that ended up having trout and lady fish. From there we moved again to a canal that had deep water docks and we were able to get a few red fish using shrimp on the bottom. Overall not a total bust but not an epic day still fun none the less.