Tampa Bay Fishing

Boy what a month of fishing! If you have not booked a trip with a Extreme Flats Fishing you are missing out.
Finally the air and water temperature has come down and the bite is hot and heavy! We have been catching Snook, Redfish, Tarpon, Snapper, Grouper, and Mackerel all in our local waters of the Tampa Bay. This month we fished from the Manatee River (between Bradenton and Palmetto), Anna Maria Island up to the Tampa Bay Shipping Channel.
Boy there is almost too much to cover in just one report!
Our Tampa Bay Tarpon Fishing is still a hot topic. This month we have caught a few Tarpon using white bait in local residential communities in the Bradenton / Palmetto areas and there are several big fish hanging in bait pods in the Tampa Bay. Most of the fish inland have been up to 30 lbs which is a blast on light tackle using 12 lb test line and the fish in the Tampa Bay have been up to 100 pounds which is great for the seasoned angler looking to tackle a big
tarpon on light line. These fish make amazing acrobatic jumps and strip line from a reel like you have never seen!
This definitely is a must see for any fisherman!
The backwater Snook fishing has also been extremely hot also. We are free lining white bait along Mangrove Lines
with shallow grass flats with lots of success. Most of the Snook we have caught have been between 25 to 32 inches
and in good numbers. We have been fishing Terra Cia Bay, Miguel Bay, and Perico Bay which are the surrounding waters of Palmetto, Bradenton, and Anna Maria Island. Snook season opened September 1st and you don’t want to miss out on the heart pounding action of catching a Tampa Bay Snook; stripping drag and bending your rod!
Our Tampa Bay Redfish Fishing has also been hot. We have been catching Redfish from lonesome sand bars on the Tampa Bay to Mangrove Lines with Oyster Bars in the backwaters of Terra Cia Bay. The bait of choice has been white bait and when you are on them they will eat.
The Tampa Bay Grouper, Snapper, and Mackerel fishing has really been the story. On the days with unproductive tides or water to high to get to the Snook, these fish have really been the life saver. The Tampa Bay Shipping Channel has several rock piles that have been holding Snapper and Grouper. We have been bottom fishing with live bait using white bait and Pinfish. There’s also tons of white bait around the Skyway Bridge and holding lots of Mackerel. This time of year with the weather cooling down the fishing really turns on! Don’t miss out on a fun filled day tackling a monster fish with a Captain Wayne Johnson with Extreme Flats Fishing!
What a fantastic day of fishing on the Tampa Bay! I picked up my clients at Anna Maria Island @ 8:00am on the near perfect morning. I told them there were some nice Snapper hanging on a rock pile in the Tampa Bay and they were game. We anchored up and at first they had several missed bites. I looked at my clients and said that those Snapper were really kicking your butts! Then I followed up with you really needed to concentrate and set the hook before they bite. Once they got the bite down we limited out in no time on the Tampa Bay Mangrove Snapper ranging in size from 14 to 20 inches. Boy you can really get spoiled catching nice Snapper like these without an hour ride offshore. I told
my fellas that there were some birds diving about ½ a mile away and we should check it out. Well there were some
nice Tarpon in this massive pod of bait. We anchored up and watched the Tarpon feed and finally it was fish on! The battle did not last long on the light line but it was the battle of a life time for a short period of time. What a great day
of fishing we ended up with our limit in Snapper, several Mackerel, and jumped a 100lb Tarpon.

Welcome to fishing PARADISE!!! I am Captain Wayne Johnson a local native of Palmetto, Florida with more than 20 years experience fishing the Tampa Bay area and I have not seen fishing this hot in some time. Don’t let the heat get you down and pass on the opportunity to catch your next trophy fish! Come with Captain Wayne and fish our beautiful waters of the Lower Tampa Bay which is one of the most beautiful and productive fishing hot spots in the state of Florida. With its beautiful backwaters, mangrove lines, and grass flats it definitely needs to be at the top of any fisherman’s hit list. Don’t pass up the opportunity of a life time to fish our beautiful back waters of the Tampa Bay targeting Snook, Redfish, and Tarpon.

Our Tampa Bay Tarpon have been the story this week. We have caught several Tarpon live bait fishing in local residential communities in the Bradenton and Palmetto areas. Most of the fish have been up 30 lbs which is a blast on light tackle and 12 lb test line. These fish make amazing acrobatic jumps and strip line of a reel like you have never seen! This is a must see for any fisherman!

The Tampa Bay Snook fishing has not missed a beat. We have been free lining white bait along Mangrove Lines and passes with lots of success. Most of the Snook that we have caught have been in the 25 to 30 inch range and in good numbers. We have been fishing the Terra Cia Bay, Miguel Bay, down to Anna Maria Island with a lot of success.

September 1st Snook season opens and you don’t want to miss out on the heart pounding action of a local Tampa Bay Snook stripping drag and bending your rod!

We have not targeted our Tampa Bay Redfish this week.

Trip of the week

What an incredible day fishing on the Tampa Bay! I picked up my client at sunrise at the local ramp in Palmetto, Florida on this picture perfect morning. We headed out to the Tampa Bay to the ole bait hole. On the way out we were trying to decide what we wanted to target on a beautiful morning like this, we could run anywhere. We thought we should target Snook and Redfish in Terra Cia Bay or Miguel Bay, or even Snapper and Grouper in the Tampa Bay. Once we got to the ole bait hole we loaded up the well with white bait with one throw of the net. Barry looked at me and said are we ready, my reply was no man we need more bait. He looks at me and says how many fish are looking to catch. My reply was a lot! I am going to wear you out today! And he chuckles with a crazy stare. So I convinced him to let me make a couple more throws and we were really loaded up. I told Barry that we where here we may as well fish the Tampa Bay for some Snapper and Grouper. The tide had started to slack and it didn’t feel right. Then I mentioned to Barry that I had a little spot that we could go and pick on some Backwater Tarpon down in Bradenton and he was game. So we headed up the Manatee River to my honey hole. We anchored up and on my first white bait casted we hooked up in a matter of minutes on a 40+ pound Tarpon. I handed the rod off to Barry and he had a battle on his hands with 12 lb test line and light tackle. Once Barry got a couple of jumps out the beast he finally thought he had tamed him then he broke off at the side of the boat.

Welcome to paradise! The Tampa Bay is one of the most beautiful and productive fishing locations in the state of Florida. With its beautiful backwaters, mangrove lines, and grass flats it definitely needs to be a must see for any fisherman. Don’t pass up the opportunity of a life time to fish our beautiful waters targeting Snook, Redfish, and Tarpon.

Tampa Bay Redfish have been the story this week. We have been caught several Bull Red’s in Egg Mont channel anchored up Tarpon fishing. Most of these fish have been over the slot and up to 40 inches. It is truly a blast hooking up on a big Red, with the drag screaming and the rod bent with plenty of open water to fish the fish on light tackle.
The Tampa Bay Snook fishing is not missed a beat.

We have been fishing the mangrove lines free lining shiners and the bite has been on. We caught several nice fish this week and it seems when the bite slows down all you need to do is toss a hand full of chumers and the action picks right back up. You also don’t want to miss out on the heart pounding action of a Snook stripping drag and bending your rod!
We have targeted our Tampa Bay Tarpon this week with little success. We have seen several Tarpon roll thru with nothing but a passing by.

The trip of the week was with the Flournoy’s a father and son duo. We set off at 8:00am for a little late day Tarpon fishing and we decided to head to the pass. We set anchor in approx. 30’ of water with a nice tide moving we had the expectation of hooking up with the Silver King. The action was a bit slow at the beginning and then our first fish was on without a break at the surface but a big fish at the end of the line. This fish was screaming drag and taking names. After the battle we got the fish to the side of the boat and it was a 40” Redfish. We hooked up with several other nice Red’s but the big high five was the Scotty’s monster Red.

posted on Tue, 07 Aug 2007 22:17:59 GMT