Late Summer Fun In Tampa Bay

Summer fishing continues to be awesome inside Tampa Bay, with snook, tarpon, and mangrove snapper on fire. Snook fishing has been phenomenal this year. Plenty of juvenile fish are being caught every day. Tarpon fishing inside the bay has picked up as our resident fish push into the bay and feed on the millions of glass minnows around the channels. The key with tarpon is to pick the right tides. Typically you will find a great deal of success fishing the outgoing tides around the new and full moons. This time of year you will also find plenty of juvenile tarpon around the river systems, which makes for a great fight on light tackle. These are peak times as the tides seem to flow best. Mangrove snapper have also been very productive around the wrecks and rocky structures in the bay. Snapper fishing in the summer is great. On a good day, you can have your limit in an hour or so. Smaller bait has moved into the flats, and this is great snapper bait. Make sure to load up with plenty of chum bait, dead and alive. This will bring the fish to you, and sometimes you can actually fish them from the surface.