Today the first cold front of the year has come through dropping the temperatures into the low 60s overnight and into the early morning for the next few days. Strong north winds will keep us off the water tomorrow but we will be back at it on Tuesday to start our week of inshore fishing charters.

Depending on how often and how strong the cold fronts are in the next few weeks will make the fish start to move around a bit more than the summer time lately and will make for some great action on our fishing charters! Bait fish are plentiful throughout the bay and we have been doing very well with a large variety of fish being landed by our guests aboard our charter boat. Lately the star of the show has been the redfish which we can now harvest as of October 12. They are around in abundant numbers and there are multiple schools of fish from Sarasota bay all the way up past the skyway that we have encountered on fishing charters in the last couple weeks. We have also started to see the gag groupers becoming more active and it should get better as the water continues to cool. We are still catching quite a few mangrove snapper and Spanish mackerel on some of the hard bottom and rock piles in Tampa bay as well. Some days we are catching upwards of 20 to 30 mackerel making for fast action for our guests. The spotted sea trout bite has been decent as well the last few days getting our limit or close to our limit of these tasty fish to bring home for dinner!

It is now stone crab season and there is plenty of crab traps throughout Tampa bay and the just off the beaches of St Pete, Egmont key, Anna Maria Island and Longboat key to take a look for one of the most fun sight fishing opportunities, the Tripletail! They have to be 18 inches to the tail to harvest and you are allowed two of these fish per person. The Tripletail fishing has been very productive the last few days with lots of action but most of the fish are 15 inches or less. Once the water cools and we get closer to December there will be larger ones showing up. The king mackerel better known as the kingfish should also be making an appearance in the next month or so out on the beaches and near shore wrecks. Looking for big bait schools with diving birds near the beaches this time of year is a good indicator that kingfish could be near.  

This is a great time of year to go fishing and as the holidays approach it is always a great idea to book a fishing charter with your favorite captain and enjoy the outdoors with friends and family. If you are looking for an inshore fishing charter in the Bradenton, Palmetto, Anna Maria Island area give me a call or text 813-220-8725 to get in contact with me and to get a day set up.