Tampa & Pass-A-Grille Fishing Guide

Maybe it’s the tides. Maybe it’s the temperature. Maybe it’s the moon phase. In any event, this time of year it’s best to get an early start for the best fishing action. And when I say early- I mean well before sunrise.

I met with Tim from Tampa for some early morning fishing this weekend. We tore up the snapper and grouper till around 9 or so, then the bite tapered off quickly… and never did pick up again. But for an hous or two around sunrise, everything was biting – mangrove snapper, undersized grouper, flounder, jacks, mackerel, small sharks, spadefish, and even my first catfish of the year.

Once more, the snapper were running large. I kept 4 Saturday, and another 4 Sunday, while releasing dozens of fish up to a foot. This weekend we enjoyed snapper in parchment; sausage and snapper; and snapper fettuccine Alfredo. Good stuff!

Saturday produced ideal fishing conditions in St. Pete Beach – strong tides, clear water, moderate temperatures and a perfect summer breeze. Using cut frozen sardines drifted under the Merry Pier, Cap’t Dick and I secured a couple limits of big mangrove snapper, most in the 15″ range. The snapper bite remained strong until massive schools of pinfish, grunts and tomtates began to appear.

Grouper were also abundant, including a 21″ near-keeper that was hanging out on a ledge.  As usual, big macks were harassing the bait schools (still small whitebait), and big snook occasionally shot out from under the dock through the bait.

Meanwhile, Tim from Tampa was blowing bubbles in the Keys, and bringing up some nice bugs: