The snook seem to no have realized its getting cooler yet they are still pretty thick and active around our passes and local waters in the area. The flats, passes and piers still have snook loaded up around the areas. Plus, residential canals are starting to see them along with the mouths of the bayous and rivers. Great time to go target some snook with live bait or artificials. Live bait for snook can be pinfish, pigfish, big shrimp, pass crabs, or even finger mullet. They seem hungry no matter what your throwing and what the tide is doing. Definitely the most prominent catch in our local area this past week. You can find them best at night but early morning hours and around dusk is working well too. The only tough time to get them going is mid day hours when the sun is directly over head. Behind last weekend’s storm they were very active even when the winds were up after the rain cleared Sunday and Monday.
Along with active snook this past week the redfish are very active from upper tampa bay to Fort De Soto to the flats in the intercostal too. They are scattered around a bit more now but seem to be very active at similar times to the snook. Residential canals are holding the redfish under docks during the day and along the light lines of dock lights at night. We are seeing them around the mangrove islands in the bay and also on the oyster bars and flats. They love the smaller pinfish, shrimp or white bait. For artificial baits soft plastic paddletails, mirror lures, DOA shrimp or the old gold spoon are my favorite options.
Sheepshead are starting to show up around the area more and more. They love the bridges, docks, piers and other structure but once they get thick in the area you can find em in schools moving around the flats as well. They love barnacles, fiddler crabs, shrimp, cut oysters or clams for bait. You typically can’t target sheepshead with artificial lures but I have seen them take them from time to time mostly the artificial shrimp when they are frenzy feeding around docks or bridges. The cooler the local waters get the better the sheepshead bite will become. Also, they seem to feed extra well behind the cold fronts when the water is stirred up and murky and the barometer just fell out it’s like the dinner bell ringing for sheepshead.
Lots of mackerel around the beaches, piers, passes and especially around the skyway. Mackerel love to eat the white bait and sometimes live shrimp too on the top half of the water column. However, I prefer to target them with a fast moving gotcha plug in the 7/8th oz to 1oz size or a casting spoon with a 1-2oz casting lead as far 4-10ft in front of the spoon. When the bite is hot you can add some 30lb wire in front of your lure or live bait but if you aren’t getting them chewing go with 20lb floro to start. Often when using live whitebait for them you can use that 20lb floro effectively if you use a extra long shank J hook. Mustad makes some good ones in this style but they are a little difficult to find sometimes.
Trout bite is good and shows signs of improving with the cooling temps. Trout are mainly loving the flats right now, but you can find them at night around the dock lights in the canals and also in many of the passes on the bridge lights and rocky shorelines hanging in the street light’s glow chasing any live whitebait or shrimp around. My favorite trout lure is a DOA shrimp hands down but some of the mirror lures are great options or the soft plastics too. However, live shrimp or green backs make great live baits for the trout too.
Mangrove snapper in the passes and around the Tampa Bay bridges and rock piles, plus around the piers too! The mangroves are still very active inshore around the structure eating shrimp or greenbacks. It helps to hit them at the start or end of the tides so you can use lighter tackle and give a more natural presentation devoid of using any weights, or super light weights if you need any. They are very quick biting fun to catch fish on lighter tackle.
Great time of year for the triple tail in Tampa Bay and along the beaches. They hang just on or below the markers and buoys, but right now it seems they are hanging a little deeper. Sometimes you won’t be able to spot them right away so approach slowly and silently and try to present a bait to their floating hiding spot before you get too close to spook them. My favorite method for these guys is a free lined live shrimp. However, a little popping cork just above your live shrimp will give you more casting distance and accuracy if you need any help making sure your live bait is in the strike zone.
Also, in addition to all these species we have seen a few cobia caught inside Tampa Bay and around the local area. Most of those cobia have been caught on pinfish, crabs, and eel baits. I like using a jig head and one of those senko bass worms in the dark green or purple color for the cobia sight fishing.
