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Tampa Bay Fishing Report- Late December

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Happy Holidays! The inshore fishing over the past week has been steady with plenty of trout and snook action to keep most of anglers catching their entire trip. This week I ran a few half day charters and we caught 75+ fish on each half day fishing charter. The back country snook and trout bite has been the most consistent, and we have even been getting a few redfish in the mix.

Snook fishing continues to be outstanding lately with the warmer winter we have been having. White bait has still been around and is well worth getting, some days it has been easy other days I have been spending a couple hours to locate it and catch enough to fish with. Having plenty of white bait in order to chum has made the difference of having just a decent day and having a really outstanding day. Most of the snook we have been catching have been on the smaller side ranging anywhere from 18”-28”. We have hooked a few that have been much larger, but they have taken us to school every time.

Tampa Bay Fishing

Late December Snook Fishing

 

Trout fishing remains steady with plenty of slot- size fish around. A lot of the trout we have been catching out around the spoil island’s and rocky out cropping’s have been lower to under slot size fish, but there has been plenty of nice slot-size fish mixed in. While fishing in the back county for snook we have been catching quite a few trout, and these fish have been much larger and most are the same size as the snook we have been catching.

Tampa Bay Fising Report

Eric and Dennis with some Dinner Trout!

 

Tackle- Light spinning rod, 10-20lb braid, 15-20lb leader, 1-1/0 circle or j-hooks.
Fishing Method- Free-lining live white bait
Location- Spoil islands, Creeks, bayous, Rivers, and Canals

Tight lines,
Capt. Jared Simonetti

(727)831-0111
Simonetti_jared@yahoo.com
http://www.captjared.com/

December Fishing Report Tampa Bay

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December Fishing Report Tampa Bay

December has started out with excellent weather unlike the previous month of November, which was almost a complete blow out with front after front and 20mph winds.  The inshore fishing this past week was phenomenal with slams coming to the boat almost every trip. Although the Trout and Redfish action has been awesome!

Trout fishing has finally started to pick up in the last week with the slot fish starting to school up, and the larger breeder trout starting moving into the shallows. Look for slot size fish to be in the deeper channels and creeks throughout the bay area. Live shrimp, sardines, and jigs have been producing limits on daily basis. The larger breeder size trout have also started to show up in their shallow winter time haunts. These big trout can be extremely spooking and require a long cast in order not to spook them. Darker colored soft plastic jerk baits rigged weed less or on a light jig have been producing the best results, although large live shrimp free-lined are hard for these fish to pass up.

The redfish fish bite has been outstanding this past week as well with good numbers of fish being caught on every trip as well, most of the fish have been under slot to mid slot size. Look for the redfish to be hanging out around docks and oyster bars this time of year. Live shrimp and soft plastic jigs have been working equally as well.

Snook have still been around and I have been finding them on the open flats, around docks, and in the back country. The fish have been a little sluggish, and fishing late in the afternoon has produced good results once the water has warmed up. Live sardines and shrimp have both been working well, but artificial lures have been out producing bait.  Soft plastic jerk baits fished on 1/4oz. jig heads fished slow and on the bottom have been my go-to baits.

Pompano, Cobia, Jacks, and Sharks have also been around the warm water discharge of the power plants. This fishing around these areas has been sporadic at best, but worth taking a look if you are in the area. Look for these areas to heat up in the coming weeks with the arrival of the winter time cold fronts.

 

Tight Lines,

Capt. Jared Simonetti

(727)831-0111

http://www.captjared.com/

Follow along at: http://instagram.com/captjareds/