Could it get any better?
With days of springlike conditions in mid-February, fishing around Anna Maria Island is quite productive.
The easterly breezes combined with calm waters in both the bays and the Gulf of Mexico are the perfect recipe for a memorable — and tasty — fishing experience.
Anglers opting to venture offshore are rewarded with a variety of fish.
Fishing baits on or near the surface is attracting black fin tuna. The schooling fish are readily taking baits, introducing anglers to some arm-burning thrills and great table fare.
Bottom fishing offshore is yielding thrills, especially with large red grouper and many snappers of the yellowtail and mangrove varieties.
Finally, for those who haven’t had enough, there’s a chance to match their strength against hard-pulling amberjack while offshore.
Moving inshore, fishing along the beaches and over the deeper grass flats in the bays produces great pompano action. If you’re catching the elusive fish along the beaches, you can expect to also encounter sheepshead, whiting ladyfish, Spanish mackerel and jack crevalle.
If you’re working in the bays over the grass flats, you’ll likely encounter bluefish, ladyfish and plenty of catch-and-release spotted seatrout.
On my Southernaire charters, I am patrolling the beaches for pompano. Casting jigs tipped with shrimp yields plenty of pomps for my clients, as well as ladyfish whiting and sheepshead.
Anchoring and chumming during swift moving tide provides the best action.
On slower moving tides, fishing over wrecks and reefs produces action on mangrove snapper and sheepshead, as well as Key West grunts and flounder.
Jim Malfese at the Rod & Reel Pier is seeing a variety of species caught by anglers using live shrimp as bait.
To start, casting live shrimp on a bottom rig under the pier yields keeper-size sheepshead — most are 12-14 inches although larger fish are in the mix.
Also while casting under the pier, anglers are hooking into black drum, flounder and catch-and-release redfish. Casting baits away from the pier is yielding action too — especially on pompano.
Malfese says the small jigs tipped with fresh-cut shrimp bumped along the bottom are being picked up by forging pompano.
If jigging isn’t your thing, you can combine shrimp with a bottom rig and let it soak on the bottom for similar results.
Capt. Jason Stock is taking clients offshore now that the strong winds and rough seas have subsided.
The highlight of the week?
Numerous catches of black fin tuna. The 20- to 30-pound tuna put up one heck of a fight and are good table fare. They’re coming on to both live baits and artificials.
When the tuna bite is over, Stock switches to bottom fishing, yielding a variety of fish, including yellowtail mangrove snapper, almaco jacks and amberjack.
Lastly, Stock is seeing plenty of tripletail while offshore, mostly around floating debris and grass.
Capt. Aaron Lowman says he’s seeing a lot of snook and trout on the flats. He anticipates targeting them in the next couple of weeks — as long as the warmer weather continues.
Until then, Lowman is targeting sheepshead in Tampa Bay around structure such as reefs and wrecks.
Nearshore fishing in the Gulf of Mexico also is producing some sheepshead, as well as other species. Using live shrimp as bait is attracting mangrove snapper, Key West grunts, porgies, hogfish and a few tripletail.
Capt. David White is spending his days offshore now that the Gulf is calm. According to White, the red grouper bite is quite good, with live and frozen baits attracting the large groupers to the hook.
While bottom fishing for grouper, White also is putting clients on plenty of yellowtail and mangrove snapper.
And the amberjack are being quite accommodating for White’s anglers, those who want their arms pulled out of the socket!
Moving inshore, White says he’s seeing plenty of sheepshead and a good bite from the catch-and-release redfish and snook.
Send high-resolution photos and fishing reports to fish@islander.org.