Fishing Tampa's Flats and Bay

Posts Tagged ‘Tampa flats fishing charter’

Tampa Bay Charters have been very good in August. Now that we are past some of our hottest weather I think the fishing will only continue to get better as we approach fall and the weather cools along with the bay water temperature.

Redfish, snook,trout,flounder and some very good fighting jacks have all been around to make for some great drag screaming and rod bending action on light tackle.

On a couple of recent outings I took along my video camera. I wanted to get the action on film,but I will warn you I am not the best camera man around. On one of the outings I was actually just scouting out some area for redfish,so I was by myself and had to fight the fish and hold the camera at the same time. Really not an easy thing to do. On the other occasion a good friend of mine asked me if my wife and I would go out for a morning trip with him.  I took him up on the trip as I don’t often get to kick back and just have fun anymore as I am always the captain.

I hope you enjoy the videos.

If you would like to book a trip with a Tampa Bay Fishing Guide then feel free to contact me.

Capt. Steve Betz

August fishing has been very good so far this month. Adapting to the hot water and outdoor temperatures has been key to a successful day of fishing.

Most of my fishing has been on deeper grass flats and bay structure. These are the places you will find trout,mackerel, jack cravelle and a variety of other rod bending species. As the sun gets higher in the sky it is time to head deeper to areas with good water flow. These places have been producing flounder,trout,mackerel and others.

In some areas the redfish have schooled up. It really has not been predictable fishing for redfish as each day things change as we have our many summer rain storms that cause a lot of fresh water run off causing the redfish to move constantly. Even so we have been able to put some nice reds to the boat on several of our past trips. The redfishing should become even better as we leave August behind and head into September.

One thing all of the Tampa Bay Guides are happy about is that we have NO oil in our bay or on our beaches! Our fishery is alive and well and our fish are safe to eat if you feel inclined to keep a few for dinner.

If you would like to book a Tampa Bay Charters feel free to contact me.

Capt. Steve Betz

July has been a month so far that has been very productive in many ways. The beginning of the month being July 4th weekend was basically a rain out as far as fishing went. With that being the case I decided it would be nice to change the pace and visit the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary on Indian Rocks Beach. If you ever get this way I would suggest a visit to the sanctuary as its free admission and with a guided tour you can learn a lot about   our seabirds and the work they do at the sanctuary.

Some of the many Pelicans being cared for

On the week end of the 10th I was to fish in the 4th of a series of Xtreme Redfish tournaments I have been fishing with my partner Justin Ascherman. The rain had stopped and it was time to get our game on. Pre-fishing proved productive as we found a nice school of slot sized fish in the 3 pound range with bigger fish mixed in at upper and over slot in the 7 pound range. We  set our plan in motion Saturday morning for the tournament.  Our goal was to get to fish in the live well and then work on upgrading to heavier fish. This tournament is a combined weight of two fish weighed in. The fish have to be with in the legal size limit of 18 to 27 inches. Our plan worked our very well as we took second place with total weigh of over 12 lbs and also won in the big fish category with a 7.63 lb Redfish.

Tampa Bay Charter 7.63 lb Redfish

After the second place finish I was ready for a vacation. OK not really but my wife have planned a vacation every July for the last 3 years to go scalloping. We spent a week in Crystal River with a group of good friends and scalloped every day. Its a great event for everyone collecting the clam like shell by snorkeling in 3 to 6 feet of Crystal Clear water. As a bonus the tender morsel of meat inside the shells makes for a variety of recipes.  If you think this is something you would like to try there are a lot of guides in the area who specialize in scalloping trips. Just do a Google search.

Tampa Bay Charter Scalloping

Tampa Bay Charters Scallops

After a week long fun filled vacation it was time to get back to fishing. I had the opportunity to fish for the FWC  tag and release program. The mission was to catch,tag and release as many Mangrove Snapper and Grouper as we could. Along with fellow anglers Jim and Mark and Brent from the FWC  along we set out to get it done. In all we caught over 20 Mangrove Snapper in the 17″ size range and several under sized grouper. We ran out of bait at about 2 am and called it a day. It was an interesting experience that I hope to participate in again.

Well with lees than a week left in the month I have to get back out on the water to make sure I can keep up with the fish to provide the most successful days for a Tampa Bay Charter.

If you are looking for a Tampa Bay Fishing Guide please feel free to contact me

As always thank you for stopping by to check out my reports.

Capt. Steve Betz

June fishing has been very good. The trout bite in particular has been very good with my clients taking their limit on every trip.

Its been a very hot summer so my trips have been early morning to get the bite and beat the heat. By 11 am most anglers are ready to get off the water as the heat can get unbearable and the bite slows down.

Besides the trout there have been Jack Cravelle and Spanish Mackerel in the mix. Tarpon are still here but to my dismay they have been very picky for me and I have not been able to get the hook up.

Here are a few pictures from some recent charters.

Susan with a nice keepr

Dillion shows off a Jack he caught

Loren caught this trout while trying to catch Grouper from a deep water dock

Lynsey and Paul with an early morning limit

As always thanks for checking in to read the reports.

If you would like to book a trip with a Tampa bay fishing guide go to my contact page.

Thank you Capt. Steve

As a captain and a Tampa fishing guide I spend time before every Tampa Bay fishing charter preparing. Getting ready for that next charter includes rigging tackle,boat preparation and of course pre fishing different areas of Tampa Bay to find out just where the fish are holding up.

Yesterday was one of those days. I have some clients who want to have a fish fry. So my task at hand is to put them on some fish they can take home and put in the fryer. With snook being a strictly catch and release species until the end of September and Redfish being very unpredictable right now I felt the best bet would be some trout,mackerel and Cobia.

The tide was not the best yesterday with a very slow and short incoming turning to a just barely out going. My scouting partner and I thought it best to drift a near by grass flat in the morning and then move further south later for the out going.

The plan worked out pretty good.  The bite was a little slow but we did manage to find some hungry and very fat trout on the grass flat. When the tide slacked we made our move and worked our way south to a small spoil area. This area proved to also hold some nice trout going over 20″ and fat. In the mix we were cut off a few times buy some mackerel only because catching them this day was not as important as finding them so we were using some light leader material. We also got a few flounder that were nice eating size.

Cobia have been sighted and are being caught on a daily basis right now. On the last cast of our day Loren had his bait inhaled by a nice 33″  and legal to keep Cobia. After some drag ripping runs on the light tackle we were able to land the fish for a photo and then release him to be caught another day. This Cobia would of been a nice one for the fryer for sure.

Cobia caught on light tackle spinning gear

Thanks for reading my reports.

If you would like to book a trip for a Tampa Bay fishing charter please call or e-mail me.

Capt Steve