Tampa Bay Fishing Reports and Gulf of Mexico Fishing Trip Reports from Capt. John and Island Lure Fishing Charters. Looking to see what the fishing action is like here in sunny Tampa? Below are photos and reports of the local hot bite and what we have been catching.
The Gulf Oil Spill has yet to effect fishing here on the West Coast of Florida. In fact fishing in the St. Petersburg Area has been EXTREMELY HOT!!!
We have been regularly encountering huge numbers of bait fish and all all the predators that hunt them down. In fact fishing has been better on this charter boat then we have experienced in the last few years! If your looking for a fist class fishing charter in the Tampa area and would like to target serious gulf game fish, contact us today!
Another great day of fishing has taken place 50 miles Due West of John’s Pass Florida. Lots of action on the water! Flying fish and balyhoo and just about every other mixed bag of baitfish was easily caught. Today however we concentrated on scouting and decided to drop some large bait on a deep water wreck teaming with schools of smaller fish. After about an hour we hooked up with this impressive Blue Tip Shark.
We estimated it to be in the 125-150 pound range and she sure put up quite the fight! If your looking to book one of our unbelievable Shark Fishing Trips please contact us here.
This year’s King of the Beach Tournament came with some rough weather and some big fish. Filling the live well with our choice bait was challenging with rough seas, moderate winds and mackerel biting off our tipped sabikis. We left port Saturday morning headed south to fish off Sarasota. Never made it. Sea conditions made our trip too timely so we searched for an alternative kill zone. We found bait outside the shipping lanes about 20 miles west of Egmont Key. Made our lines wet around 7am and boated this gem by 8. We landed the 35.43lbs Smoker on a Custom Dog Stick with a Shimano 2 speed TLD rigged with 15lbs Mono and a 4x Treble Stinger. Bait of choice was a Large Blue Runner set 100 Years back. This fish hit before we were able to deploy our outriggers or down-riggers.
This 35.43 pounder was good for 3rd Place overall at the 2010 Spring King of The Beach tournament. For more information visit http://oldsaltfishingfoundation.org
Our 2010 Spring Fishing Team Consisted of: Capt. John Fidi – Craig Auclair – Jacob Larabee – Brian Szymanal
The bite has never been better here in the Tampa / St. Petersburg Florida area.
We have been constantly hitting large grouper and large American Reds on numbers in the 120-140 foot depths. The pipe line has been super productive. And the tragedy of the BP Horizon Oil Spill has not put a damper on fishing in our area. If anything we are finding larger numbers of fish and fish that traditionally do not make may this far east normally.
Here are some pictures from a recent trip in May that put smiles on the faces of everyone aboard.
Island Lure Fishing Charters
Contact Us for Rates and to book your gulf fishing charter on the Island Lure!
Weather is changing and water temps are rising. As grouper season is about to open (April 1) and Kings soon to be showing up, we ventured offshore 50 miles to wreck fish for some Reef Donkey! The Amber Jack is easily one of the great fish in the Gulf as these monsters are always ready to beat us up.
Water temps in the 140ft mark ringed in at 67 degrees mid day. We spent the day Jigging and within two hours landed about 20 AJs and Rudderfish. Heaviest weighing in at 36lbs.
The most interesting we encountered was a Giant Cobia lying Top Water.
I look forward to re hooking up with these beasts come winter time.
// CAPT. JOHN
Inshore Charters, Deep Sea Charters and Tarpon Guides St. Petersburg / Tampa Bay FL
