Florida Fish Report

Fish are on the move inshore right now and we are seeing big shifts in spatial distributions of a variety of species with the weather transitions that have been ongoing since the recent hurricane Idalia.  

Specifically, we are seeing mangrove snapper numbers start to dwindle a bit and concentrations lighten up as the sheepshead start to take over these areas that have been engulfed with clouds of aggressive mangrove snapper through the warmer months. We are seeing the bigger mangroves swim near shore while the smaller fish retreat to the mangroves of the upper and back bay areas. Sheepshead show up to stay through the cooler months and only get more and more concentrated and aggressive with each passing cold front.  

Snook action is also on the move as we see many of those fish moving off the beach and out of the passes retreating to the back bay and upper bay waters slowly as they transition out of their summertime haunts back to the back protected bay waters and upper bay waters that generally will holder warmer shallower waters. Once it gets cold, they will even push to rivers, creeks, and even shallow canals where that dark bay mud will radiate heat through the afternoon and into the night. However, we are not there yet, and the snook are just slowly meandering out of the passes and off the beaches. There are still fish around the pass through the night and into the early morning, just we are seeing already a dwindling down of those numbers of snook.  

Redfish are also on the move with schooling redfish being more and more common throughout our area waters. The redfish love live shrimp or greenbacks, but it’s that weird time of year where you aren’t sure which is best, but those with success are loving the cut pinfish for the redfish too. Around the pass we are seeing huge numbers of redfish crowding the jetties and hanging around the bridge through the morning hours and into the daytime biting best on lighter tackle and live shrimp.  

Pompano are still around the beaches, passes and outer bay areas but more are being caught back away from the beaches on those sandy edges of flats, or sandy cuts between flats. We see these guys chasing live shrimp and even sometimes soft plastics as they feed more around the flats.  

Flounder action is going pretty good and should only get better in the coming weeks. Look for them with live bait on the bottom or slow-moving soft plastics bouncing along or dragging on the bottom.  

Tarpon action persists around the bay pretty heavily, especially around the skyway and approaches to the skyway but most any area bridge has some tarpon on it. Johns pass bridge is holding plenty at night around the lights.  

Shark action too is going really well inshore and around the passes and beaches. There are tons of them around right now and only seeing more and more it seems from the back and upper bay to the beaches. The biggest sharks remain around the passes and beaches but we are seeing some large ones in the bay too, especially bulls.  

 **REMEMBER, please help spread the word and knowledge on what to do if you hook or entangle a bird. NEVER CUT THE LINE, stay calm and reel in the bird and get all your line back and dehook them and release. Never leave any line in the water, if you accidentally hook a dock make sure to break the line off at the hook never cut your line. Seabirds in the area are more and more often showing up with line hanging off them and we are in danger of losing access to fishing areas due to this. While anytime a bird is in danger or having issues is concerning too, but a wave of support of closing areas to fishing due to negative bird interactions is extremely concerning to an already dwindling number of areas you can fish around Tampa Bay from a shoreline, dock, bridge or pier! Check out the NEW podcast we did with salt strong on this issue – https://www.saltstrong.com/articles/shutting-down-fishing-at-busy-pier/ **   

NEARSHORE FISHING REPORT