Tampa Bay Fishing Update!

Shark Fishing in Tampa Bay & St Petersburg continues to be productive. Black Tips & bonnet head sharks are still being caught around local power plants. Shrimp on a 1/4-5/8 oz. jig head is getting the job done. Try dead sticking or a super slow retrieve for best results. Black tips and bonnet head sharks are ranging from 2.5-5ft. in length. Anglers can expect to average over 20 or 30 sharks on a good day! Saturday we had a young angler land a pregnant 4ft nurse shark in a deepwater cut on the St Petersburg side of the Skyway Bridge. Ogie Rice landed his first nurse shark on ultra light tackle while fishing for spanish mackerel. {%image_id=19454%}{%image_id=19453%}{%image_id=19452%} The Spanish mackerel are upon us! Tampa's Skyway is holding large numbers of spanish mackerel. Anglers should have no problem limiting out in a short period of time. Spanish mackerel are feeding on white bait, shrimp, and artificials. The macks varying from 1-4 lbs. Anglers are allowed to harvest up to 15 spanish mackerel per angler per day! {%image_id=19456%} The flounder fishing has been nothing short of awesome! On recent fishing charters with Shamrock clients they have been averaging 12-15 flounder in under a two hour period. The flounder are still on the small side, but we have been managing 4-6 keepers per trip. {%image_id=19455%} The redfish are everywhere. It has been the norm to boat over 40 or 50 redfish per fishing charter. Unfortunately most of the redfish fall in the rat red category with a slot size redfish thrown in if your lucky! The good news is I have never seen as many juvenile redfish in Tampa Bay as I have in the last two years. These fish will soon be adult fish and Tampa Bay red fishing is going to be out of this world! Look for Big reds on the flats around Fort De Soto and Weedon Island. The Big black drum are here! These brutes are ranging from 30-60lbs and are being taken on the deeper water flats of Tampa Bay and St Pete. When black drum are in spawn they can be sighted in big schools. These monster black drum are hungry and are feeding on crustaceans and artificials. Try fishing them on light tackle, it's a battle you won't want to miss! Sheepshead have been the disappointment of the month. The sheepshead have not been seen spawning along the flats deeper water cuts like years past. Perhaps it just didn't get cold enough for them yet or they are spawning on the bays artifical reefs. Don't give up hope, one good cold snap might be all it takes for them to return to their usual spawnig grounds. Lastly the Speckled trout fishing has been good. Good numbers of the larger trout have been taken on the flats down south. The reports of gator trout in Sarasota as been on the rise this year. In fact this has been the year for big trout through out the Bay! Till next time have a safe and quality day on water! Eupro Pro-Staff Diector, Captain Sean Hagen www.shamrock-fishing-charters.com 1877 357-HOOK!