My last trip out was a scouting mission. I have a Redfish tournament to fish a week from now so Redfish have been on my mind. I found some nice fish but not in the quantities I would like. Of course I did not make to far of a run from the tournament launch site so I did limit myself a bit. Not to worry my partner will also be out this coming week looking. We have a huge school we can fish tournament day we just like to have more than one option.

On our scouting mission I also found some good numbers of snook. This was an exciting thing to see as our snook suffered a big hit during this past winters freezing temps.

Snook

The big Black Drum I reported on a couple of weeks ago are also still in the area. I will be taking my wife this weekend for her chance to land one.

Big Black Drum

I have had several other captains give me some good reports of  Spanish Mackerel showing up. One of my sources told me his clients put six in the box and they were fishing in the very north end of Tampa Bay. This kind of news really gets me fired up!

Grouper season just opened up and on the first day a good friend of mine made it a point to get out and get a couple for dinner in the shallow waters of the bay.

Tarpon have been sighted already. I am really liking this! If you have never done battle with the Silver King you may want to think about booking a Tarpon Charter.

Spring is here according to my wife and the fish. So get out and get after them. I know I will.

Gag Grouper

Mackerel

Thanks for stopping by and keep checking back as I keep my reports up to date.

Capt. Steve Betz

If you have been reading my reports you know that just recently the Black Drum have showed up in our area. I have been very excited about this as it has seemed like an eternity that I have caught anything besides Trout,Lady fish and Sheepshead.

It was a game of patience when we got to our destination as the tide had not started moving in and the drum had not showed. I did not want to waste the guys time so I asked a friend who was in the area to give me a call when they showed as I was going to drift some flats for trout for a while. Well no sooner than we had caught one trout on a short drift my phone rang with good news. We made a bee line back to the area and it was not long before the fun began.

We had a couple of hook ups but the huge drum came unbuttoned. Thats OK it gave the guys a little feel for what they were going to have to deal with on 15 pound test line and light spinning tackle.

First with a solid hook up was Tom. I maneuvered the boat and we broke away from the pack so Tom could do battle with his beast. I think Tom has spent a little time fishing as he seemed to handle the fish well. After a 15 to 20 minute tug of war Tom landed a nice one.

Tom and a nice drum looking happy

Another shot to get the idea of size

After some high fives and congratulations it was time to catch up with the pack. As we eased in the guys presented there baits and it seemed almost like an instant double hook up! In the back of my mind I was thinking this could go bad real fast. With two fish over 30 pounds on and a pack of boats surrounding them anything can happen! Fortunatly John and Jommie handled the situation well as there fish started ripping off drag and running around and under another boat. After some jokeying for position and some slick manuvers we were able to clear the pack and get into open water to fight the fish.

I do not think Jommie had ever caught anything this large and he was having a blast.With just a little coaching he handled it like a pro.

Double hook up!

The battle between man and monster seemed to go on forever. I was getting tired just watching,but both fish came boat side and were landed for a few quick pictures and then released.

Jommie excited to land such a monster!

John with his catch of the day!

I asked the guys if they wanted to give it another go and they were all in agreement to take another shot. Again it was a quick hook up and Jommie was on! I simply told him to do the same thing as last time and that what he did,all though he put some heat on this fish and landed it in what seemed like record time. He already had his picture with one so we revived the fish and released it.

The guys had enough fun with the drum so we set out for a drum of another kind. Red drum. Even though we found them we did not get a hook up. The guys did not catch huge numbers but they caught quality fish.

Keep checking back as I keep updating my reports.

Capt. Steve

Black Drum

Big Black Drum are invading Tampa Bay. When I say big I mean in the 30 to 40 pound class. When this happens I know things are going to change for the good. Not far behind them will be the Tarpon,Sharks ,Spanish mackerel and other spring and summer species.

It has been a long cold winter and this is a welcome change. To welcome the change I invited a couple of good fishing buddies of mine to come along today and scout it out for some of these large drum I had been hearing about. It was almost a no go trip as the weather man was making some predictions I did not feel good about. I went with my gut and proved the weather man to be wrong. The 12 mile run to the area I was told they may be was flat and smooth. Myself ,Jay and Loren could actually have a conversation and enjoy the ride. I love these days.

We arrived in the area and started searching. It did not take long and Loren was hooked up with the first Drum of the morning. After a battle that lasted about 15 minutes Loren landed one that was right around 30 pounds.

I revived and released the fish and it was time to get back to business. I was next up with a nice one on. These fish will really test your equipment. This battle seemed to go on forever but I eventually landed the beast! He was somewhere in the 40 pound class.

Another Black Drum

We worked the area for a time and put a couple of more drum to the boat. These fish are a blast to catch on flats gear. We are talking spinning reels and rods I would use for Reds ,snook and trout on the flats. Most of those don’t go over 10 pounds. With these drum showing up I know it is only a prelude of how good the fishing is going to get.

Thanks for stopping by to read the reports.

Capt. Steve Betz

This Black Drum was over 40 pounds!

I changed it up a bit this past week and ran my trips using mostly artificial baits. For some reason the trout seem to be responding better to artificial lures. The lures I have been using have varied depending on the water clarity. The water clarity was not very good in the Tampa bay areas I  fished this past week so the best results I got were by using a 1/4oz DOA Glow Shrimp. This is a slow moving bait and crawling it slowly along the bottom or drifting it in the current produced the most bites.

DOA GLOW SHRIMP

Winter time fishing is a totally different ball game than spring or fall when the water temp hovers in the mid 70s and the fish seem to want to chew the bottom out of the boat. Patience is the name of the game and working your baits slowly and methodically will produce the best action.

On one of my trips this week I made a move further west and fished in the Clearwater area. I love this area and I just don’t get the time to fish it as much as I would like. Small  islands dot the area and huge expanses of grass flats never seem to end.

This is a great area to set up a drift and toss soft plastic jigs bouncing them slowly along the bottom to entice the trout into biting. The DOA Shad Tail in Rootbeer with chart tail or the Pearl with Chart tail rigged on a 1/8 oz jig head seemed to do the trick.

DOA SHAD TAIL

I picked up some live shrimp for this trip and after the guys had some fun with the trout I moved and set up on a hole around 25′ deep. This turned out to be a good move. Live shrimp on a 1/0 circle hook and a split shot produce several nice sized whiting. Another move and it was sheepshead and small black drum.

The Guys with some of thier catch

This past week was a productive one and I only expect it to get better. I will be back on the water next week and I will be sure to give a report.