Tuesday was much improved from the last few days. I changed gears and traveled to the Ruskin / Apollo Beach areas. Today's angler Ricky from Boston had 4 snook on his first four casts. Fly lining small white baits worked best, bigger baits were left unmolested. The water was cooler than lower Tampa Bay flats; I firmly believe that positively impacted our results.

The tail end of the incoming tide proved best for snook and redfish. Focusing on deeper, cooler water was key. Snook were holding very tight to the mangroves, if you got your bait within a few inches of the shady overhangs you were quickly rewarded. Cast left several feet away would result in a jack or ladyfish.  We scored spotted sea trout on lush grass flats with clean water. Ricky scored the Tampa Bay Slam. As we drifted the flats we found mackerel on the same areas as the trout. Adding a float keeping the bait out of the grass resulted in even quicker action.  Wanting to get Ricky on the Bonita action was our next target. The recent heat wave has changed the Bonita action from fast and furious to slow.  Up in the tower I quickly spotted a school of Bonita gorging on glass minnows. A silver Clark spoon tossed into the frenzy resulted in an instant hookup. The line screamed off the reel then the Bonita ran back at the boat as fast as it ran away. Several runs later Ricky was all smiles showing off his 10 pound Bonita. As quick as we found Bonita they were gone. Look for these pelagic speedsters to return in masses.

Mix in mackerel, snapper, jacks, ladyfish and 3 spine snook for a total of 9 species and you see just how much West central Florida has to offer. Once again the weather was much above normal with highs in the low 90's all full 5 degrees above normal. Look for a big change this weekend with lows in the lower 60's. Look for the action to improve with cooler water in the days to come.

Capt. Steven

Late summer heat resumed on Tampa Bay with temps in the upper 80's with our next cool front not scheduled to arrive until next weekend. We continue to lose 1-2 minutes of sunlight which allows Tampa Bay waters to slowly cool. Water temperatures can have a major impact on inshore fishing. Captain Steven's favorite target the snook get very aggressive filling up for the upcoming winter.

With morning water temps now at 80 and very successful snook trips last week expectations were high for more of the same today. Bait is always the first step this time of year and Sunday did not disappoint. Chumming on the flats took only minutes to fire up frisky white baits off the bow. Only 3 tosses of the cast net were needed to have 400-500 baits in the live well.

Captain Steven has been targeting snook on Tampa Bay's lower eastern shoreline with super results so today's goal was to mirror recent trips. The tide has been incoming early the last few days so we focused on the outside of mangrove islands and oyster bars. Points with lots of water flow and deeper edges are ambush areas snook frequent.

I have my anglers cast then I start chumming with live baits, snook will give away their locations and recast to those areas. Today worked as planned with snook and a few redfish regularly attaching our offerings. As the water depth increased you could visible see the snook and reds move into the mangroves. Casting away from the mangroves we had Mackerel, Ladyfish and Jacks taking the same baits. Snook to 26" and redfish to 25" were taken on our first stop over a 2 hour period. As the water continued to come in we relocated looking for bigger snook and a stop on my redfish hole. The big bruisers eluded us but the bite continued. Remember leaving fish to find fish often backfires. The big 32" redfish pictured was taken onboard good friend Captain Little Jim Fesperman boat this weekend.

I have been ending trips chasing Bonita 8-15 pounds in the Skyway ship channel. Schools of Bonita and Mackerel are gorging on glass minnows and will attack silver spoons retrieved rapidly when cast into the boiling action.  Big sharks have been attacking our Bonita. Remember to reset your drags, tight drags are a must when fishing mangroves and much loser settings when out in the open and away from cutoffs.

The school of monster redfish I located last week was nowhere to be found. These 35-40" plus bruisers are on my hit list to locate Tuesday. Stay tuned for details.

Capt. Steven

Saturday's snook action was outstanding. Most every bait was attacked or inhaled within a minute. Snook can be a challenge to locate, and then getting them to chew is another challenge. We gathered bait just as it got light; chumming on the flats required 6 tosses of the net to fill the live well. Scaled sardines just big enough to not get gilled in the 3/8" cast night along with way to many pinfish. Sunrise was nothing short of spectacular. Smooth glass like conditions make for a great ride for my clients.

Tampa Bay eastern shoreline was our destination and it did not let us down. Within several seconds of the first bait hitting the water it was game on. Snook after snook after snook hammered our baits with a vengeance. To keep things interesting I would chum every 15 minutes and the water would boil more like Mackerel or Jacks. Needless to say the fish were stacked up. Snook make a very unique popping sound when they take bait, once you hear it you will never forget it.  The typical snook was 22" with the range running 20-25". Unlike the last few weeks we did not hooked any true toads in or above the slot but nobody was complaining. Check this out we had a 4" pinfish taken by a 12" snapper!

Next target was Mackerel on the way to my redfish hole. What we did find was schools of Bonita aka Little Tunny. If you have never caught one of these drag screaming speedsters you are missing out. On light tackle it's a blast. Typical Bonita runs 8-15 pounds and Saturday we had nothing but the bigger ones. Ripping silver jigs through the schools was almost a guaranteed hook up. As we would battle our fish the school would move off and once we released or fish we simply repositioned ourselves up current and drift back into the combat zone.

This was so much fun we ended the day this way and said no thanks to the redfish. Trust me catch 8-10 Bonita on light tackle and you arm and wrist are done for the day. Water temps have climbed back into the mid 80's but the bite was more like fall. Go figure.

Capt. Steven