Fishing to begin April has consisted of temps starting in the high sixty’s and ending in the 80’s. The water temp is in the mid to upper 70s and we are approaching the summer high tide cycles, meaning our high tides are higher in the summer and low tides are lower in the winter. The inflow of water inshore in the summer months allows for a great incoming tide bite and even stronger tidal swings around the full moon this month, on April 5th. The snook bite inshore is great, as the big females have made their way into the passes onto the beaches where they will stage in late spring and stay for ..read more

March is typically one of the busiest months for guides in Tampa Bay. Spring breakers flood our beaches, restaurants, and boats. The weather in March is some of the best, with sunny days, lighter winds, and temperatures into the 80’s. This March has unfortunately started with a looming red tide plaguing our coastline. Although red tide isn’t a new phenomenon to Florida, the severity of the blooms these last years has been alarming and to make matters worse, a bloom in February is extremely unsettling, as we haven’t even moved into our hottest months. This bloom has been traveling up the coast ..read more

February is historically a mild month, with temps ranging from 64-75 degrees. It is often a dry month with more winds, however it begins our warming trend away from winter and into the spring. As the water begins to warm up in the bay, fish like snook, redfish, and trout will begin making their way out of the creeks and rivers and back onto the flats and beachfronts for the spring and summer. This transition will have the fish looking for meals to sustain them on their journeys. As we move into spring fishing the bait will be getting bigger, as we’ll have threadfins make their way into the bay ..read more

Happy New Year to you all, I hope you ended 2022 on a high note and have plans to make 2023 an even better year! Holiday Red Tide Was Bad – Look To Be Abating In January As for fishing, Tampa Bay is coming off of a red tide spell that hindered the last few weeks of the year for our fishery. Red tide blooms were found highly concentrated around the Fort Desoto area and very present throughout most of the lower bay, even up to 10 miles or so offshore. With this late bloom came another cycle of the bait moving out of the area, and fishing to slow drastically, while even if you were able to catch ..read more

Hurricane Ian was forecasted with nearly every model in the days leading up to landfall in Florida, to rip right through the heart of Tampa Bay. Within the last 3 days of landfall the forecast began to shift slightly more and more south. While this was a blessing for the bay area, it was a tragedy for Southwest Florida. Hurricane Ian made landfall as a category 4 in Sanibel, Naples, and Fort Myers causing widespread destruction, power outages, storm surge that tore homes and businesses apart. We are praying for those communities and families and hope they rebuild even stronger, as they have sh ..read more

The month of May creates a perfect recipe for unforgettable fishing days. The weather is in the upper 70’s, the water is in the low 80’s, the offshore fish are moving in, and the inshore fish are moving out. Fishing just off of the beach can easily land you more species than you can count on one hand. For one, the kingfish bite remains steady this month. Two, the tarpon are here in large numbers. Three, the snook bite is turning on in the passes and along the beaches. Four, the big jack crevalle are all over the beaches. And 5, the (big) sharks are lurking in close (if that’s your thing). One ..read more

September has begun with a number of lengthy storms, in addition to the more typical afternoon showers that are par for the course for summers here in Florida. Therefore, be sure to continually check the forecasts prior to your trip and continually check in on live radar apps such as MyRadar, while on the water. Water temps are hanging in the high 80’s and with the big swinging tides this time of year the flow of water in and out of the bay has kept the fish feeding throughout the day. Fish deeper pot holes while on the flats and move closer to the mangrove shades as the sun begins to reach it ..read more

January continues the traditional pattern of a cold front just about every 7 days or so. The water ranges from high 50’s, which I haven’t seen yet this season, to about 73 or so, with the water temp hanging around the mid to upper 60’s for most of the month. Planning for these cold front patterns and tides in January can drastically increase your chances for catching more fish in Tampa Bay. What is biting right now? And, how do I plan my trips? These are two questions I get asked most often in the colder months, when some people are surprised to hear that actually the coldest months of the yea ..read more

June 1st officially kicks off hurricane season and without missing a beat, the very first weekend we had Tropical Storm Alex push through South Florida. This system was partially from the remnants of Hurricane Agatha, a cat 2 hurricane that hit Mexico and made its way into the Gulf. While the Tampa Bay Area only experienced rain and some wind gusts, it did lower our water temp and water clarity for a few of the following days. The water the last few weeks has been gin clear, making the beach fishing a little tougher to get a bite, however, much more exciting for stalking fish in the shall ..read more

November is now upon us, which historically brings a string of cold fronts throughout the month. The first week of November immediately brought a weaker front followed by a much stronger one almost exactly a week later. The front that came through on November 5thbrought a strong north wind that stirred up the bay and dropped water temps by almost 10 degrees. The week leading up to the front the water had remained a steady 74 for some time and starting just after the front we have now been anywhere from 64-67 degrees, depending on the time of day and cloud cover. These cold fronts can cause a ..read more