You just have to love it when April rolls around. The fishing is awesome, the time sprang forward last month, and it is a great time to be on the water. Here in the Tampa Bay area, inshore fishing rivals offshore fishing. Both are highly regarded, and choosing to go in or out is often difficult. While the shallow-water snook, redfish and trout fishing scenario is excellent, offshore fishing is always a hoot fishing for kings, tunny, grouper, sailfish, sharks, permit and sometimes a goliath grouper.
The Tampa Bay Snook bite has been well. Try using lighter leaders, especially in this clear water. Slow down on the chumming and try fishing your greenbacks first without tossing a bat full of bait into your favorite spot. You might be surprised how it affects the bite to the positive. If you still cannot get them to eat, try the old standby of tossing out cut bait. Snook cannot resist a cut threadfin or pinfish lying on the bottom. Greenbacks, shrimp, pinfish, threadfins and artificial lures are all working. Try topwaters early in the morning. Snook and redfish remain catch and release. For details, click on myfwc.com
Redfish are popping up around the bay and pushing into shallower water, especially as the tide climbs. As always, large schools of mullet are good places to look for fish. They are either inside the school or behind it. Greenbacks, small pinfish, shrimp and, for those that like pitching soft plastics and topwaters around the mangroves, you can expect some great action on high incoming tides. In addition, snook and redfish are partial to cut bait. So, if you still cannot get them to eat, try the old standby of tossing out cut bait. A red cannot resist cut threadfins or a half pinfish lying on the bottom. Of course, you might also pick up a stingray–be careful dehooking.
There is a new FWC rule for spotted sea trout. Please check out the details on myfwc.com. When fishing in theTampa area, baitfish is the first thing you have to find. If there is bait around, there will be speckled trout around. Look for live shrimp popping on top, as well as, greenbacks. Most of the bridges, docks and many markers throughout the bay often hold trout. Trout will stage up in the deeper water in these areas and come up into the shallow flats to feed. Now, when I say deeper water, it is still usually not over four to five feet deep.
Incoming or outgoing tides around deep-water flats are producing fish up to 20 inches. As always, live free-lined greenbacks or shrimp are the best baits for trout. Using topwater popping plugs or soft plastic jerk baits and fishing broke bottom grass flats, especially the grassy potholes, can also offer artificial anglers some nice action.
Mackerel are showing up around the bay and the fishing for them will only get better as the water warms and the threadfins begin schooling. We have been seeing a few cobia around. Most are cruising markers or following rays or manatees. Sheepshead and mangrove snapper are still active on many artificial reefs and docks located in Tampa Bay.