The full moon was yesterday so this weekend’s bite should be pretty good on the back side of the full moon. Plus, with the full moon we have larger tides and more water moving around creating more action and more feeding opportunities. Look for that water flow in the passes, rivers, points or pockets of the inshore fishing areas to find the best area to catch plenty of fish inshore. Also one great tip is looking for actively feeding wading birds. These wading birds on the flats are a great sign that there will be some predatory fish ready to eat your lure or live baits.
The snook bite is going well up in the bay around the mouths of the bayous or rivers. Pinellas point area, south shore of Tampa Bay and upper Tampa Bay and the inner side of the intercostal are great areas to find these guys ready to eat. The snook, trout and redfish are all feeding better later in the day after the sun gets a chance to warm up the local waters a little bit to get them more active and ready to cooperate.
Redfish bite has been going very well around the residential docks in our back bay areas, around the upper bay area shorelines, oyster bars and grass flats. They are loving smaller live pinfish, cut bait or slower moving soft plastic lures. Gold spoons are a great option for these guys too, but remember to work them as slowly as possible. Keep an eye out for schools of mullet around the seawalls, oyster bars or grass flats often a few nice redfish will follow these guys around. Mostly the bite is best during mid-day or later afternoon but a few of them have been found overnight, too.
Trout fishing is really good this time of year they are really excited with the cooler waters and we are seeing some truly monster trout for our area being caught right now. They are biting really well during the day but through the night time too the trout bite has been really hot too especially with the full moon casting more light around the inshore waters. They love live shrimp or live greenbacks but the artificial paddle tails or soft swim baits work well for these guys too. Like the redfish and snook you have to remember to slow your retrieve a little since the local waters are cooler.
The flounder action around the area is starting to pick up but its not really hot quite yet. The best place to find them is definitely the more sandy bottomed areas adjacent to grass flats or any structure that will hold bait or crustaceans like docks, seawalls, bridges or jetties. They are ambush predators that hide on the bottom to surprise passing baits so whenever you are targeting these unique looking great eating fish you want to work your bait super slowly or use some light weight on your live bait to ensure its sitting on the bottom.
Sheepshead are biting very well this time of year too like the trout the cooler waters make them super prolific and aggressive around the structures like docks, bridges, piers, jetties and anything that will hold oysters, barnacles or crustaceans. They love to eat cut clams, cut oysters, barnacles, fiddler crabs, or small pieces of shrimp on lighter tackle with 2ot hooks.
Triple tail are super thick right now around the bay and along the beaches around the markers, buoys and floating debris. Hitting them in the early morning before they get bombarded by multiple anglers trying to get them to eat. Earlier you get out there the better luck you will have getting them to eat your live shrimp on light tackle.
