Whhhheeewww its been so hot this summer around Anna Maria Island , but the fishing is too! We are able to get our morning trips out early and try to beat the storms in by 1-2 pm. The few afternoons I have been able to get out we are still catching them!
We are currently dealing with Hatch bait though which can be a little tricky to find the right size bait with out running all over creation. What do we mean by hatch bait? So in the summer alot of our fish are in spawn mode, including the the Pilchards we use for bait. This mean that all of our larger bait that we have been so blessed to have through the spring and early summeris starting to spawn and most likely die off or head offshore to deeper water. This leaves us with alot of micro bait, so micro that even a 1/4 mesh cast net can be the wrong choice at times. But I promise if you spend some time and look hard enough you will find useable bait.
With our bait being so speratic and small through out Tampa Bay you really have to down size your tackle so your bait still looks natural in the water. We typically stick to 20lb leader, sometimes dropping down to 15 lb leader if the bite is tough. Hook size is key, if your bait is only 2 inches long sometimes putting a 2/0 hook or even a 1/0 in the bait will make the bait look unnatural and you will get less bites. Everyone says fish are dumb blah blah, well I am here to tell you that they are not as dumb as you think and making the right choices on tackle can take you from zero to hero really quick.
The only good thing about the small bait is it’s Mangrove snapper season! These snapper love this hatch or fry bait as let’s face it they are not the jumbo we catch offshore in a 100 feet of water. These mangs are ranging from 12-16 inches, perfect size for Fish Tacos! And boy do they make some great table fare. We typically like to catch these fish on rock piles through out Tampa and Sarasota Bay. There are plenty of artifical reefs that we are so lucky to have that these fish really like to school up on as well which is all public information. Remember, the lightest tackle you can get away with will help you catch your limit of Mangrove snapper and fill the cooler.
Now at the beginning of July we still had some nice baits around, and we took full advantage of this as there were still some juvenile Tarpon around Anna Maria Island. Probably the most fun fish to catch on light tackle, as they put one heck of the show once you get a hook in them. I have found over the years that the Juvenile Tarpon really steal the show and people love to catch them if they can be paitent enough.
As we push into August and September we will really put our focus on the Redfish as they move into the bay to Spawn. We should see schools of big breeder Redfish which will all mostly be over the slot limit in our area. Which I am fine with, these Large redfish are great fun to to catch as the put up a great battle on light tackle. Don’t miss your shot on a fish of a lifetime as they will be gone just as fast as they showed up. We have plenty of availability in August and September to target these beast in Tampa Bay.
Tight lines, Capt. Wes Wildman
Recent Comments