OFFSHORE

Deep water trips are providing fishermen with awesome action in some areas, the Middle Grounds have been very consistent. Amberjacks up to 50-pounds, a variety of snappers, and grouper are all common catches. The Steps are holding bonito, blackfin tunas, dolphin, wahoo, and sailfish.

Some shallow offshore hard bottom is holding red grouper in about the 80-foot depths southwest of Pinellas. Scattered Spanish mackerel and king mackerels from the artificial reefs off Pinellas, Manatee, and Sarasota Counties westward. Kings up to 20-pounds have been common. Permit have been taken from wrecks off Anna Maria out to 9-miles. Crabs have been the most productive bait for them.

INSHORE

Tarpon are still the target up and down the coast with great action just about everywhere in Suncoast waters. Anglers working the beaches in the early pre-dawn hours are having the most success. Arriving at least a half-hour prior to dawn will usually put you in position just in time for the bite to begin.

Trout anglers are finding some decent catches north of Palm Harbor. Slot-size fish are about the norm. Live shrimp are working, but the pinfish make it difficult to keep one on the hook. Artificial baits like jigs and topwaters are working well, but live baiters will find scaled sardines very effective.

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Large snappers were caught last weekend on the new moon tides all the way into Tampa Bay, but fish got progressively smaller in shallower depths.

Sailfish are on the horizon off Bradenton. Anglers reported hooking up with a sail in 120-feet of water west of Longboat Pass while bottom fishing for scamp, gag grouper, and amberjacks. The billfish hit live bait on a flat line.

INSHORE

Monster snook are prowling the troughs along the beaches from Manasota Key to Hudson. Terra Ceia angler, Weston Hayes, and friends reported seeing linesiders in the mid-forty inch range while fishing some pilings just off the beaches between Holmes Beach and Bradenton Beach. While they saw good numbers of fish, they couldn’t get the big spawners to eat.