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Non stop action Tampa Bay

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By Steven Markovich
Recent afternoon storms on Lower Tampa bay have cooled waters to 83 degrees. Cool being the key word as afternoon water temperatures have soared into the upper 80's. Before picking up today's clients I made a short run to gather bait. 5 minutes of chumming had all the bait I could ever need camped out in front of my boat. Lower Tampa bay has a new hatch of scales sardines all small so a ¼" cast net is a must. We started at the tail end of the outgoing tide targeting a mangrove shoreline with a deep channel running past it. The first bait wasn't in the water 30 seconds and it was fish on. Over the next 90 minutes it was trout after trout for my 3 anglers. I needed running shoes to keep up with the action. {%image_id=34802%} Next up we targeted Redfish and quickly found a school of large over the slot (27") bruisers. We quickly deployed 3 cut pinfish directly in the path of the school. It was like slow motion watching the redfish get to our baits. One by one they ignored our offering and quickly disappeared. Very frustrating. Back to the deep grass flats we again got right into the action. Trout, Mackerel, Jacks, Ladyfish along with black tip and Bonnethead sharks. The Bonnet Heads were big pushing 40" and the Black Tips jumped like Tarpon. Load up on live bait and chum the flats to attract sharks along with the mackerel and jacks. Captain Steven Markovich