Tampa Bay - Saltwater

Hello fellow fisherman, fall is in the air, my very favorite time of year to fish. It’s not only that the fishing is very good, but that combined with low humidity, perfect air temperate and especially the tranquil peacefulness you get of having fewer boats on the water. With only a few snowbirds in town right now and most of the local fisherman out hunting, it leaves all the water to just a few of us charter captains and local diehards. I wish it was fall all year. . Well now lets get to the fishing. It’s been mostly on the flats for snook which has been the majority of the catch. Like every fall the larger snook are starting to gorge themselves to pack on fat for winter. I guess they don’t get big by being stupid and now is the time to eat before most of the bait becomes less available. As a whole the snook are really on the bite, but especially the larger fish. I have been catching snook nearly everyday over the 30inch mark, as well as a hand full of true trophies. Last week we caught two around 39 to 40 inches and I can’t remember how many that size we broke off. The preparation for winter and the lack of fishing pressure always leaves the larger fish vulnerable. We are also catching lots of smaller snook in the 20 to 27 inch range as well and they have been keeping my fishermen very busy most of the day. On our better days the past few weeks we probably boated 45 snook, even on our slowest with cold fronts I can’t think of any days where we caught less than 20 or 25. So snook fishing has been very consistent. As for other fishing opportunities, reds have been biting but not with the same consistency as the snook. Last week we had a few days where we boated maybe 10 to 15 while snook fishing. Most of the reds have been running smaller 17 to 25 inches. Though trout are out of season they have started biting better than I have seen since the spring. There have been some really nice ones. My fishermen have actually been catching most of their trout in the 17 to 21 inch class with just a few smaller ones mixed in. Yesterday while on a school of snook we were getting some large jacks moving through sporadically, 12 to 15 pounders, boy can they smoke a drag on 10-LB test spinning tackle. We have also had some whopper flounder on the flats, one that I bet would have gone 24inches. Most of the flounder have been eating size and at least a few inches larger than the 12in min. Most have been what I would consider worth cleaning, I kept one for myself this week, man are they good eating. There are also a few cobia starting to show up on the fats, most of what I’ve been seeing are shorts, say 30 inches or so following sting rays. Who knows, maybe we will see some larger ones this week to cast to. As for offshore, the flats fishing has been too good for me to venture out there, if the kings come in thick you can’t bet I’ll be out there. Well I hope you have enjoyed my report. Let me know if you want to get out on the water and enjoy some great fall fishing. Until next time, keep those drags screaming. Capt. Matt Ercoli