Tampa Bay to Sarasota, FLORIDA

    How you doing this week? I know if yours has been half as good as mine it has been a pretty darn good one. The snook fishing has been absolutely unbelievable since my last report. The average day for snook has been between 40 and 50 a day on live bait and 15 to 20 a day on fly, including 3 days in the past two weeks when we broke 30 snook a day on the fly. This is almost unheard of, including some in the 30 inch. class on the fly rod. Most of the fish are coming from clear shallow water which make for some of the most exciting sight fishing to be had anywhere. On live bait of course the average size fish is a little longer, we have landed several in the 33 to 35 inch class and have lost a few larger including a couple that may have approached the 40 inch class. Since the snook fishing has been so good for myself and my partner Capt. Shawn, we haven't targeted other fish as much.

We have been catching a few large trout to 28 inches and some slot redfish 22 to 26 inches while targeting snook.

The tarpon fishing has been exceptional in the past week. This is probably the most dependable tarpon fishing of the year. The fish out there have had very little pressure and ready hook-ups are almost a guarantee. Most of the tarpon fishing this time of year is strictly done around bridge pilings and many are lost to snags, but because of numerous hook-ups your chances of landing one are quite good!

Ok! now that I am done with the fish stories I will conclude with a forecast . The snook fishing should remain strong, traditionally April is the month for giant snook and if I where to pick a month to catch a 40 plus incher that would be the month. I hope to be reporting catches of giant bull redfish in the 30 to 35 inch class soon. I would have to say we are now over due but with such great snook fishing its hard to waste valuable fishing time searching for them. You can sure bet as soon as the snook fishing slows we will be turning to bull reds.

If you are interested in boating a tarpon on live bait April is truly one of the best months. These early season tarpon have very little pressure and are easy to hook up. Fly fisherman, I still have a few days available for May and June fishing.

Due to an early spring our permit fishing should be prime in April. Last April we had days with up to 30 fish landed, from 8 to 15 pounds and a couple in the 20 pound class per week. We catch good numbers of them thoughout the summer. If your planning to fly fish them, April and May is best before they have a lot of fishing pressure.

I hope you have enjoyed our fishing report and forecast, give us a call so we can talk fishing.

See you on the water!

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