What a great start to the summer fishing we have been experiencing around Anna Maria Island. Water temperatures are up and there is massive amounts of bait through out Tampa Bay right now. Our Anna Maria Island fishing charters have been producing awesome catches inshore from Snook, Trout, Redfish, Jack Crevelle and even a few Flounder and Mangrove Snapper starting to show up.
Wildman Adventures is expecting a great summer bite, as well as our waterways staying clean this year, as everyone knows we have battled a few crazy years of Red Tide. We are still seeing good numbers of Speckled Sea Trout on the deeper grass flats through out Tampa Bay, and go great on the grill for a Family cook out. Capt. Wes says the best method of catching these tasty critters is to find the deeper grass flats between 6-10 feet of water and drift them with live pilchards. If you cannot get bait we also find small grub like plastics on 1/4 ounce jig heads work well, white and and chartreuse seem to be the best color combinations for the artificial baits.
The Snook bite has stayed very consistent as long as we have moving water, regardless if the tide is moving in or out. The bigger Snook are definitely in transition and making their way to the beaches of Anna Maria and LongBoat Key. Reports of 30 to 40 inch fish being caught all along the coastal shore lines and the piers close to the beaches.
Capt. Wes of Wildman Adventures also report big schools of Jack Crevelle through out Tampa bay. Although they do not make very good table fare, these fish pound for pound put up the most fight of any species in the bay and bring huge smiles to our guests faces when they start screaming the drag! We have been finding the schools of Jack’s around the deeper water passes that lead to the smallest bays such as Terra Ceia and Miguel bay, moving water is key. Look for the birds diving on schools of bait around these areas and you a guaranteed to catch a few of these awesome fighters.
The Mangrove Snapper are starting to show up in decent numbers, it wont be long before the entire Anna Maria Island area is flooded with them. Typically the full moon in June is when we notice the first big wave of snapper infiltrating Tampa and Sarasota Bay. Our fishing charters will start targeting these as our main source of eating fish in the next couple weeks. Wether you are fishing the artificial reefs, passes, bridges or even around the Mangrove islands you should be able to catch good size limits of these tasty fish. Although the size limit is only 10 inches we tend to let those go and only keep them if they are greater than 12 inches. Again live and cut Pilchards are our go to bait for Mangrove Snapper.
If you are staying around the Anna Maria Island or Bradenton area for summer vacation and are looking to do some fishing give us a call, we would love to have you out for an adventure of a life time! Tight Lines Capt. Wes Wildman
Recent Comments