Here in Bradenton and Anna Maria Island, Florida the weather has been great and so has the fishing! Guests aboard our fishing charters lately have been catching a lot of snook, seatrout, mackerel, sharks, and the occasional tarpon! We have also been starting to see more and more mangrove snapper showing up, which is one of the tastiest fish we catch on our fishing charters.

Off the beaches of Anna Maria Island the tarpon migration is in full swing. These fish travel in schools sometimes within just hundreds of yards of the beaches. The average size of these fish is about 50- 80 pounds with fish regularly exceeding 100 or even 150+ pounds. On our fishing charters we can solely fish for tarpon the whole trip if you would like this time of year. They can be the fish of one thousand casts just to get a bite or some days they eat almost anything that we put in front of them. Once one of these fish is hooked it usually takes the angler anywhere from 10 minutes to upwards of an hour to tire this fish and bring them beside the boat to photograph and release unharmed.  These fish are purely for sport and they have no food value to humans. We also encounter tarpon during this time of year sporadically around Tampa Bay and Sarasota Bay while fishing for seatrout and Spanish mackerel on some of the grass flats that are four to eight feet deep. We encounter sharks while tarpon fishing as well and provide for a great fight on the same tackle that we are tarpon fishing with. The most common species are blacktip and lemon sharks with the occasional small hammerhead shark.

On our fishing charters that guests elect not to solely fish for tarpon we are having great action with snook and spotted seatrout. The snook are catch and release this time of year but the seatrout are very tasty and make for a great meal for our guests. We target the snook on the shallow grass flats at the mouth of the Manatee River and along the beaches and sandbars in just a few feet of water. We are seeing more and more of the tasty mangrove snapper showing up inshore in Tampa Bay and have been providing meals for our guest as well.

If you are looking for a fishing charter in the Bradenton and Anna Maria Island area give me a call or text 813-220-8725 to inquire and book a charter. I am owner operated and very family/kid friendly. I fish year round and there is always something to catch no matter the time of year.