Nathan Austin of Sarasota, (naustin) on the
Capt. Mel Berman Internet Forum, shows off an
impressive 6lb, 23 inch flounder he caught on a
Berkley Gulp Swimming Mullet in charteuse color
with a jig head while fishing in Bishop's Harbor with
Sam Rootjanapunt (Apollobeachsam) recently.
(Courtesy Photo) Salty Shores.com
 

1. Gandy Bridge: The mangrove snapper are on fire at the catwalks on both sides of the bridge on live shrimp and small baitfish. Snapper fishermen have been tangling with some big jack crevalle and black drum as well. There's been some pompano out at the bridge, but all the rain has pushed them into deeper water and onto the flats. Some nice cobia have been caught on jigs, live shrimp and pinfish. Tarpon are running the shadow lines of the bridge, but there not as thick as the last full moon. There's some nice speckled trout and black tip sharks being caught at Weedon Island, reports Robert Delffs at Gandy Bait & Tackle (813-839-5551).
 

1b. Tampa Bay South Shore: Plenty of tarpon action in the shipping channel inside the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. These fish are taking pass crabs and horse threadfins, reports Capt. Tim Whitfield of Swift Fish Charters (813-714-0889). swiftfishcharters.com The speckled trout action is still good on the area flats with many good size fish up to 20 inches still being caught. Plenty of big catch and release snook are in the passes and a scaled sardine is the bait of choice for these fish. There has been plenty of nice bait on the outside bar that runs from Cockroach Bay down along the south shore. There's lots of small bait in the area as well, keep moving till you find the nice size bait, Whitfield said.
 

2. West Shore/Weedon Island: Redfish can be found in schools of three to five fish. There's some fish in the slot and also over slot. These fish have been spooky, but will take live scaled sardines and cut bait, as well as "dead sticked" Berkley Gulp jerkbaits. The speckled trout have been in four to five feet of water. Look is areas of broken grass patches. Use a red jig head and white grub tail to locate this fish, then anchor up and fish until the bite dies off. Then search for the next area and repeat the process, reports Capt. George Hastick of Fish Hunter Charters (727-525-1005). The Fish Hunter The snook have been good at Weedon Island and near Gandy Bridge approach. Scaled sardines are the bait of choice for these fish. Look for areas with moving water around cuts in the mangroves where the tide sweeps around the points. The snook have been anywhere from way under the trees to 100 feet off the mangroves in potholes waiting to ambush unsuspecting bait as the tide sweeps them past, Hastick said.
 

3. St. Petersburg/Pinellas The dog days of summer are upon us.The trick now is to fish the early morning or late afternoon/early evening bite and pay attention to the tides. "We're starting to sight cast tarpon in the mornings with artificials and having some decent success.This will only get better with each passing day.There are still fish on the beaches, in the passes, and around the bridges that are being caught on various live baits," reports Capt. Tommy Ziesmann of Action Charters (727-432-0355). www.action-charters.com Snook and speckled trout fishing continues to be consistent on both artificials and live bait. Night is a great time to catch snook and also beat the heat this time of year. Spanish mackerel continue to make a strong showing inside the bay with a few out around the beaches. Small spoons and small live baits been productive for these fish, Ziesmann said.

4. Sunshine Skyway Area: Plenty of mangrove snapper right now at the piers, especially the South Pier. There's been some good size ones from the end of the pier. They're all over any structure in the area as well. They're catching some Spanish mackerel at the south pier. There's been a couple of goliath grouper caught at the south pier. One of them was estimated to be about 400 lbs. Some nice pompano have been caught off the piers, but not any real numbers. Lots of big snook are coming in from around the area bridges. Speckled trout have been good on the area flats in the early mornings, reports Terry Wilson of Skyway Bait and Tackle (941-721-0461). Some cobia have been spotted from the piers with a few hook ups on pinfish for those ready to make a cast at them. There also some cobia and triple tail on the markers in the bay. There's lots of bait in the area, but most of it is small. The mangrove snaper don't seem to mind though. There's plenty of tarpon still in the area and near the shipping channel near Port Manatee. The tarpon are taking pass craps and threadfin herring, Wilson said.
 

5. John's Pass: Catch and release snook are all over the beach and in the pass. These fish are feeding on just about everything, reports Mike Drake of Don's Dock/Marlin's Dockside (727-367-3835). captainscharter.com Mangrove snapper up to 2-3lbs have been hitting good round the bridge pilings and along the jetty in the pass. The rock piles and structure around Blind Pass are also producing nice mangrove snapper. Live shrimp, pieces of shrimp and scaled sardines are all producing good catches, Drake said. Some speckled trout coming in from the flats on the inside around the spoil islands. Early mornings are best. There's lots of ladyfish mixed in with them, Drake said.
 

At Madeira Beach, Offshore there's plenty of red grouper in 80-105 feet of water. To get a keeper gag you've got to get out deeper around in around 150 feet of water. Closer in there's a lot of short fish. American red snapper have been good in about 130 feet of water. Fish up to 10-12 lbs are coming in. Amberjack are still hitting consistently at the wrecks and springs in about 90-120 feet of water. Closer in the mangrove snapper have been hitting consistantly in 50-80 feet of water on scaled sardines, Drake said.
 

Larry Malinoski of Ruskin (fishhawk) on the
Cpt. Mel Berman Internet Forum, shows off a
tarpon he estimated to weigh 80lbs he caught on
a pinfish while fishing near the Sunshine Skyway
with Glen Taylor (UpOnTop) recently (Courtesy Photo)
 

6. Pinellas Beaches: From Redington to Eggmont the beaches have been holding many catch and release snook from 24 inche fish up to 40 inch beasts cruising right in the swash. The snook will be right in the trough to 20 feet out, so fish parallel to the beach and take advantage of sight casting to some of these fish. Scaled sardines, threadfins, finger mullet, and any live bait in the swash is what they're feeding on. White color jerkbaits or white bucktail jigs will also produce, reports Capt. George Hastick of Fish Hunter Charters (727-525-1005). The Fish Hunter There are tarpon feeding along the beaches and around the passes and bridges. Crabs pinfish, threadfin, scaled sardines, and shad on the bottom will all produce at on time or another so have a variety ready.The tarpon are right on the beach to a mile or so off the beach. Look for them feeding on schools of baitfish and watch for rolling fish, Hastick said. Spanish mackeral are also feeding on schools of baitfish. Look for the birds and watch for top water strikes. These fish can be a blast on light tackle. Gold and silver spoons along with jigs in the 1/2 to 1 oz weight range will also produce for these fish, Hastick said.
 

7. Fort DeSoto Area: The tarpon at Egmont Key have been good with the crab flushes. Plenty of catch and release snook on the beach but floating grass has given anglers a fit. Early in the mornings has been best. Shrimp are still day to day, but baitfish are easy to find. Pompano still good under the bridges on Doc's on the incoming tides. Mangrove snapper have been good at night on small sardines, live bait is the trick. The snapper are better size this year than last reports Kevin McKenna at the Bait Bucket (727-864-2108). Out at the piers the Spanish mackerel have been hit and miss. "They're not as plentiful as years past, but they're there for those willing to toss a spoon or a Gotcha plug. Live sardines will also do the trick of course," McKenna said.

8. Big Pier 60: They're still getting big catch and release snook at night on the pier along with some speckled trout. Some nice Spanish mackerel coming in along with a few speckled trout along with other assorted fish during the day. Mangrove snapper have been good down around the pilings and a 15 inch hogfish was caught this past week on a live shrimp, reports Tom Leonard of Big Pier 60 Bait & Tackle (727-462-6466).
 

9. Anna Maria/Sarasota Bay: "Mangrove snapper are all over the bay, big ones too. If you're catching little ones, move to another spot. Look around any structure, rock pile, jetties, bridge pilings, any thing that blocks the current and they'll be there," reports Mike Drake of Don's Dock/Marlin's Dockside (727-367-3835). captainscharter.com There's still some nice speckled trout around the passes and over areas of deep grass patches. These trout are good size too. It's the same as with the snapper, move until you find some good size fish. "We've been getting our limits of trout every day with a nice 24 inch fish coming in from near the mouth of the Manatee River," Crawford said. There's bunches of redfish on the flats with the big hill tides. Look for deep potholes next to the shallower flats and fish the end of the incoming tide through the outgoing, Crawford said.
 

Darker colored baits are best right now northern Sarasota Bay. From Miguel Bay to Long Bar, the water has been off colored in places due to freshwater runoff. Redfish, trout, and snook can still be caught, but using a lure or fly that casts a silhouette will produce more fish. On spin tackle, MirrOlure topwater plugs in Black with Orange belly or Chrome will strikes early in the morning. Working the potholes with a D.O.A. jerkbait in Golden Bream color will keep the bite going throughout the day. , reports Capt. Jon Bull of Shadowcast Charters. (863-860-7250).
 

Lee Oung of St. Petersburg (aquaholik) on the
Cpt. Mel Berman Internet Forum, shows off a
scrappy 12 inch pompano he caught on a Doc's
Goofy Jig and teaser at the Tierra Verde Bridge
while fishing with the author, Michael Wilson
(SnookMook) recently.(ForShoreFishing.TheLedger.com)
 

10. Englewood: Fishing has been really good, better lately than a couple of weeks ago. Lots of snook in the surf north of Englewood beach. Some nice whiting are being caught off the beach on Doc's Goofy Jigs and anglers are catching pompano on the jigs near the pass itself. A few nice, big speckled trout coming in early north of the Tom Adams Bridge on the west side of Lemon Bay. Topwaters such a Zara Spook are very productive. There's still some tarpon off the beaches and a few in the pass.. There's a few sporadic redfish up in the mangroves. Shrimp are really hard to come by right now, reports Ben Piercy at Stump Pass Marina (941-697-2206).
 

Offshore it's been really good. There's consistent reports of mangrove snapper from the seven mile reef and out. The snapper are hitting on live shrimp and small scaled sardines. Lots of gag grouper are coming in from the 12-20 mile range. There's still some Spanish mackerel and bonito off the beaches. Lots of sharks, mostly blacktips are being caught in the area as well, Piercy said.
 

11. Charlotte Harbor: The area around Bull Bay and Turtle Bay is producing some nice big, monster catch and release snook on small live ladyfish and fresh cut whole ladyfish. These fish are big and require stout, heavy action tackle. These fish will not take artificials, they want the fresh bait, reports Capt. Chris O'Neill of Tail Chaser Charters (941-270-7867). tailchasercharters.com The same area is producing upper slot and over slot redfish on cut ladyfish on a daily basis as well. You can chum these redfish up with pieces of cut ladyfish, then toss a hooked piece and hold on. "My clients caught about a dozen fish in about an hour on a recent trip with one fish measuring 34 inches and weighing 14.5 pounds," O'Neill said.
 

12. Homosassa: There are plenty of scallops in Homosassa and Crystal River. The south side of the Homosassa channel has the mother load but south of the Crystal River channel the scallops seen to have a larger muscle. Time your trip on the outgoing tide to avoid jellyfish. Good speckled trout and black sea bass are west of marker #2 out of Homosassa on any moving tide early in the morning. Berkely Gulp in New Penny and Camo colors will get the bite on a 1/4 oz. jig head. For redfish cut pinfish on the outside keys on incoming tide has been best. Try the area around the Little Homosassa River. Good numbers of mangrove snapper are showing up on the nearshore rock piles. Live shrimp or a 1/4oz D.O.A. Shrimp glow color will catch them, reports Capt. William Toney of Homosassa Inshore Fishing Charters (352-621-9284). homosassainshorefishing.com