Tampa Bay Fishing, April Offshore And Flats Report

4 Apr 2010

Hello From Anna Maria,

Finally, true Florida weather, 80 degrees with light winds. I have to admit for a while there I was starting to forget why I became a Florida charter captain. The weather is really getting nice and the fishing is really heating up. This week we will see major changes in the fishing with good warm weather in the extended forecast. We are finally going to get into true spring patterns with the water temperature now above 70 degrees.

This week has been great and my primary action has been on the large trout we have been catching. I don’t target trout that often but when they are really big they are a lot of fun and that’s all we have been catching is big ones. I don’t think we had one trout under the limit of 15 inches this week. Most of the trout are in the 19 to 24 inch class with the largest running 26 to 27 inches. We have even had a few larger ones on that we lost as large as any trout I have ever caught in my 15 years of being a guide. The trout fishing has just really been supper.

Redfish are really easy to find as well and they are everywhere. Most of the Reds we have been catching are slot size fish in the 20 to 27 inch class. They have been a little finicky some days but I think this warm weather is really going to get their metabolism moving and feeding heavier.

Some other good news is I found a really nice size school of Snook on the flats yesterday. The first I have seen this year. It really makes me feel good to see that after the hit the Snook took this winter.

Grouper season opened up on the first and the action is hot right now and you don’t have to travel very far to get into them. Everyone is catching nice keepers. I will be heading out there a lot over the next week to take advantage of the good action. It’s hard to leave the good backwater bite, but the Grouper fishing is really hot right now.

A few more days of warm weather and we should be killing the Kingfish, Mackerel and Tunny as well offshore. April is always my favorite month to be offshore. I can, on the best days, never pull anchor and catch Kingfish, Mackerel, Tunny, Grouper, Snapper, Dorado, Sharks , Goliath Grouper, Amberjack and maybe even some Permit all in one spot. April is awesome offshore and I really look forward to getting out there more now that the wind has died down.

Another month and we should be fishing for Tarpon. I can’t wait. I have a new trolling motor system even more advanced than my previous; I can’t wait to use it to chase down large schools of roaming Tarpon.

Hope you have enjoyed my report; look forward to some spectacular fishing this month. If you want to get out in April let me know, I have a few dates open. Tarpon is peak May through July and those dates are filling fast as well.

Capt. Matt