Captain’s Corner: Mike Gore

The Tampa Bay Times

Here we are again with the summer heat and humidity. The water on the flats is pushing 90 degrees by mid-morning and this will cause the inshore bite to slow. Try moving to deeper water for mackerel, snapper and trout.

The Mangrove snapper bite is still going strong. With a size limit of only 10 inches, you can catch your limit pretty easily. You should be able to find a good snapper bite around most structure. We have been catching quite a few around the mangrove tree lines as well while snook fishing. The bite seems to be better on the slack tide or at the beginning of the incoming. If fishing structure, get a chum slick going before you even start fishing. Use small scaled sardines and when the bite slows switch over to shrimp. 

There is still a good snook bite going on. Fish for them in deeper water that has good tidal flow. Fishing docks and structure can produce some trophy fish. Tampa Bay is full of small scaled sardines and the snook cannot resist them. The key here is to match the hatch. Most of the fish are keyed in on this smaller bait.

Trout have come back like gangbusters. They are making their transition back from the beaches and are eating everything in sight. Target any grass flat but make sure you have a good incoming or outgoing tide. If you’re free-lining white bait and the current is moving, you might need to add split shot to keep the bait down. In water five feet or shallower try a popping cork, but again you might want to add a little weight.