Guide bites
Capt. Chuck Rogers (813-918-8356): Capt. Chuck says the bay water was starting to warm too quickly last week but minor fronts that followed were just what we needed to slow things down to ensure we don’t lose spring by jumping right into summer conditions. Over the past week, the arrival of schooling mackerel in the open bay near the St. Pete Pier has been most welcome, with lots of fish to 20 inches taking live sardines. The sardines have moved onto the shallow grass flats in the Gandy Bridge area, where netting them in 3 feet of water proved to be easy work. Trout have been very shallow, with fish in sand holes on grass bottom in 3 feet or less of water. Live sardines have been producing fish between 14 and 26 inches for his customers. Spots around Weedon Island have been producing. Drop-offs onto sandy bottom have been holding some nice flounder in the Gandy area and warming conditions have seen some sharks showing up around the bay.
Capt. George Hastick (727-525-1005): Capt. George reports the warmth last week got things fired up with the snook, which he began finding along mangroves and docks along the bay shorelines on the Pinellas side from St. Pete north. Live sardines have been taking them. Redfish action has been pretty good, with fish spread out along the same area, hugging the mangroves or venturing out onto the open flats in pairs or pods up to four or five fish, sometimes as much as 100 feet off the growth. The numbers of rat reds appear to thankfully have fallen, with slot-sized fish now more common. Reds to 28 inches have been landed on recent trips. Spanish mackerel schools have been feeding on glass minnows near the St. Pete artificial reef and they are easy to catch. There are a lot more around the Skyway Bridge. Warming water has moved sheepshead to rocky bottom in 8 to 12 feet of water, where shrimp were taking some nice ones. Schools of jacks are more numerous, with fish 5 to 7 pounds providing some thrills for his customers.
Tackle shop roundup
Gandy Bait & Tackle (813-839-5551): Zack says customers have been taking advantage of the warmer bay water, finding some good redfish action on the shallow flats from Weedon Island up to the Fourth Street flats and Big Island, with plenty of slot-sized fish reported. The warmer water drew some snook out of backwaters, with anglers connecting with some nice fish around the Tampa end of the Howard Frankland Bridge. Trout fishing has been solid on the grass flats in many parts of the bay in 3 to 6 feet of water, with some good numbers of keepers in the mix. Jigs with soft plastics and live shrimp are working. Spanish mackerel are all over the Skyway Bridge, but also being taken near the St. Pete Pier. The warming has slowed the sheepshead bite, but they are still around and taking shrimp and fiddler crabs in deep water around rocks. Bait schools are popping up everywhere; jacks are running in schools and the first tarpon of the season have started to make a showing around the bay bridges at night.
Riviera Bait & Tackle (727-954-6365): Jacob said the quick warming this year is a sign we’ll have a shore spring to work with, so now is the time to fish before summerlike conditions set in. The Spanish mackerel are schooling everywhere from the mouth of the bay to well inside. Redfish are stacking up in the passes along the Gulf and while there are a lot of undersized fish, bigger ones are showing up more frequently. Snook have popped out of their backwater wintering spots to feed in the bay. Mangrove snapper fishing has fired up over the past week in the bay, and while lots of undersized fish are in the mix, a few bigger ones are being landed on shrimp, and the numbers of large fish only get better from here. Any structure is holding them. The first kingfish of the season have shown up just offshore of the bay, though no catches have been made inside and around the Skyway Bridge as far as he knows, but that could change soon.