October: 2011 With the drop in water temperatures from the 80's into the 70's ,the Fall fishing pattern has come on strong like a category 4 hurricane. Fishing out of Anna Maria island the past week has been nothing short of fantastic with redfish taking the center stage. Schools of redfish are roaming all over the flats and edges of Tampa bay from the Skyway bridge all the way down past Sarasota's Long Bar. Shiners ,pinfish and cut ladyfish have been the bait of choice for the copper belly bruisers. . Lamar Stokes of Tampa fished 2 days last week in the evenings with me and had non stop action for over 3 hours each evening.
Off the beach and near shore reefs the action has heated up with Spanish mackerel ,kingfish, tarpon , and sharks all feeding heavily on the passing schools of bait. Hammerhead, blacktips and spinner sharks were chewing heavily last week off the 1 mile artificial reef. The sharks provide for some epic battles with strong drag pulling runs and aerial acrobatics that rival tarpon. All sharks were released to bite another day .
2010 Once again the October weather has rolled around and turned postcard perfect . Mid 80f in the daytime low humidity and the Fall Pattern has busted wide open. Speckled trout , Redfish, Mackeral, Kingfish etc are turning on. I have even been jumping tarpon off the beach. Bait is thick in the Anna Maria area and will Supercharge the fishing . 2009 This is one of the best times of the year to fish around Anna Maria .In the last week my Charters have averaged 30 Redfish a trip with snook and MANY Trout mixed in.The weather has still been Summer like( HOT) but the fish are in a fall Pattern. Kingfish and Cobia are off the beaches and Grouper are in the Bay . We got 3 nice keeper Grouper in about and hour of trolling with the Duvall family . 2008 was one of the best months yet as Snook ,Trout ,Redfish,Kingfish ,Spanish Mackeral,Sharks ,and Cobia were chewing hard . Oct. has seen the Pattern change from the SummerPattern to the Fall Pattern. Grouper have come on Strong with many keepers being landed while trolling inshore and near shore. The fish are moving into canals and deep-water trying to stay warm. Capt Mark 2006 The red tide is NOT factor now in my fishing plans. I took a Father and his boys out on Sat 2 Oct and had a banner day. We caught many reds to 12lbs , snook to 5 lbs ,trout, mackeral and some ladyfish. The Fall pattern is here and fishing is GREAT!!!Capt Mark
November: 2010 The past week was one of best weeks for fishing in the County Waters. On a scout trip with my sister ,Cindy McClure ,we netted bait in 2 throws with both live wells filled to the brim with a nice mix of shiners and thread fins .We then proceeded to troll for grouper around the hard bottom areas of Tampa Bay. In a little over an hours time we were able to catch 10 grouper with 4 being legal size and ready for the grill. The color of the day was a gold Bomber Long A Magnum with a broken back rigged on the appropriate planner. We literally left the fish biting.
Switching gears we moved up to the flats for some spectacular catch and release speckled trout fishing with a few going over 20". As the tide continued to rise we moved to the potholes and mangroves and chummed with shiners . The redfish bite turned on and Cindy landed a nice redfish in the 30" club. Do not forget to use the dead shiners in your live well as chum because the predators of the flats will be drawn to the smell of the bait.
2009The redfish and Snook were chewing hard this month preparing for the Winter. We caught 30+ snook on a couple of trips . The redfish were still schooling and chewing hard.
2007A variety of Sharks ,2'to 6', have been exceptional in November.We have been hooking up to 20 a trip.Redfish and snook have started to make there way to their Winter time hangouts .Kingfish, Mackerel ,Grouper are all available . Bait has been plentiful!! The weather has been Postcard perfect. Capt . Mark
December:
2010) With the past weeks weather staying Fall like ,the fishing was red hot with many species landed on my charters.Shiners are still around in the bay and at the Skyway piers.I have not made the switch to live shrimp but will very soon.
Anchoring up over the near shore artificial reefs and chumming with shiners, cut bait ,or using chum blocks helps to draw the fish to the back of your boat and fires up the bite. Catches of grouper ,mackerel,bonito and huge flounder have been the result of using this technique .We caught doormat sized flounder to 24" in the sand just off of the reef structure . A live shiner,pinfish ,threadfin, or shrimp rigged on a 2/0 hook with a split shot weight was the rig for catching these tasty white meat fillets.
Looking forward the tides will be favorable for fishing and the weather looks to stay moderate. We should be able to enjoy the fall pattern until the real cold fronts come our way
2009) Shiners were still available until the week of Christmas. Speckled Trout, Mackeral , Ladyfish all were chewing hard. The redfish are tight to the deepwater docks .
2008) was very moderate temperatures . I ran my A/C on Christmas. The near shore Grouper and Snapper bite was Fantastic with non stop action on the calm days. Inshore the Trout, Reds, and Ladyfish have been cooperating.
