With yet another round of heavy thunderstorms this past week, Anna Maria Island anglers are having trouble navigating around the hazards while on the open water.
The rainwater funneling out of the Manatee River into the back bay fishing grounds is turning inshore waters the color of iced tea. It’s impossible to see into the waters and the lower salinity levels make inshore fishing challenging.
The best bet is to focus on redfish and spotted seatrout. Anglers using live bait such as shiners or pinfish are finding redfish along mangrove shorelines and around residential docks. Cut baits, such as ladyfish and mullet, are yielding results, which can come in handy if finding shiners is difficult.
As for the trout, many are claiming the fish are spread out in large areas. This being said, casting artificials such as soft plastics on a jig head is a great approach, as one can cover a large area by drifting and jigging. If a school of trout is located, casting live shiners works, but those large schools of fish are hard to come by. This makes casting artificials advantageous.
Moving into the Gulf of Mexico to target bottom species, such a snappers, grunts and hogfish, is slightly more consistent than the inshore bite. Using live shrimp or live shiners as bait is yielding a variety of species when working the nearshore reefs and ledges.
And for those willing to go the distance to fish, the 100-foot plus offshore waters are frequently yielding red snapper and limits of other snappers including, yellowtail and mangrove.
On my Just Reel charters, I’m keeping busy in the inshore waters around Anna Maria Island. Limits of spotted seatrout are being caught by my clients, although I’m having to make quite a few moves to get the cooler filled.
Many small trout and ladyfish are filling the gaps between catches of keeper-size trout. Fishing along mangrove shorelines is yielding action on catch-and-release snook and redfish but, again, frequently switching spots is required to keep the bite going.
Finally, blacktip sharks are being found on the grass flats, which adds some variety to the bite as well as some intense battles on medium-spinning gear.
Capt. David White is targeting redfish while working the inshore waters of Tampa Bay. Casting live shiners or live pinfish as bait is yielding his clients reds of all sizes. Finding reds is slightly challenging, as some are being located around mangrove shorelines and oyster bars, while others are being found along the Gulf beaches.
White also is targeting catch-and-release snook throughout the inshore waters, where he says casting live shiners along the mangrove shorelines yields the best action, especially near points or flats adjacent to deeper waters where tidal flow is maximized.
Lastly, White is putting clients on mangrove snapper around structure in the Gulf of Mexico. Fishing around rock piles, ledges and artificial reefs is producing action on the tasty fish.
Capt. Johnny Mattay is spending as many days offshore in the Gulf of Mexico as he can, as the American red snapper season for charter boats winds down. Limits of the large snapper are being caught daily and typically are occurring early in the trip.
Fishing depths of 100-150 feet of water is producing the best action. Mattay says live pinfish and frozen bait, such as sardines and threadfin herring, are working well to attract the aggressive snapper to his angler’s hooks.
Once a limit of American red snapper is attained, Mattay is switching over to target yellowtail and mangrove snapper. He says the yellow snapper bite is as good as it gets. In fact, on some days, he says the yellowtail are literally coming to the surface behind the transom in the chum slick, which is enabling his clients to drop a bait right over the side of the boat and immediately get hooked up.
It’s like fishing in a barrel!
Moving inshore, Mattay is following schools of redfish on the flats. Many catches are over-slot, although his clients are finding a couple within the slot of 18-27 inches to put in the cooler.
Capt. Wes Wildman of Wildman Adventure says he feels things are getting back to normal after all the rainfall. Now with the waters starting to clear up, the fishing is improving.
Fishing nearshore around the reefs and ledges is yielding hogfish, porgies, and mangrove snapper for Wildman’s anglers and shrimp on a rig is his bait of choice. Macks are present in these areas and Wildman says they’re biting on shiners.
Moving inshore, Wildman is finding spotted seatrout are responding to artificials, including soft plastics combined with a light jighead.
Live baits such as shiners also are enticing the trout, and schooling reds are appearing on the inshore waters, especially around mangrove islands and shorelines. For bait shiners are working, as well as fresh pieces of ladyfish and mullet.
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