Anglers fishing aboard the Flat Back II caught snook, trout, bluefish, flounder, Spanish mackerel, and a boatload of ladyfish and assorted other “fun fish” over the past week.  The action took a slow turn for the better when schools of Spanish mackerel, blues, and ladies moved back into the lower Tampa Bay and Terra Ceia area.

     Early in the week, working the hard bottom areas of lower Tampa Bay around bait schools we pulled out the fly rods and managed to pick up several nice Spanish mackerel to 4-pounds, a few bluefish running about 2-pounds apiece, and ladyfish galore.  Small glass minnow imitations worked best, including the Gummi Minnow and Markham’s Mack Daddy Fly.  Early morning trips produced some of the best action on Spanish mackerel.

     Matt and his wife, Donna Shane, of Sarasota fished with me Friday morning on a 6-hour trip.  Working our way out of Miguel Bay, we threw CAL Shads and DOA Shrimp in potholes as the sun rose.  Matt connected with several trout at or above the minimum slot size with a glow DOA Shrimp.  Running south, we headed for the bulkhead.  We saw several rolling tarpon working bait schools on some of the hard bottom areas.  They looked to be small fish under 100-pounds.

     When we arrived at the bulkhead, I scanned the area hoping to find some schooling redfish that were reported to be working the area along the bar.  We saw none, but we did manage to pick up a couple of decent trout and had some ladyfish action.  We did not see any birds working, but there was a considerable amount of bait there.  After spending some time fishing the edges of the bar, we moved up into the Manatee River where we saw several schools of snook.  We could not get any to eat, but the ultra-clear water conditions could have accounted for the lack of action on these cagey fish.  The schools of trout that we found were not so apprehensive and would eat our CAL Shads and DOA Shrimp.  We caught about a dozen trout there up to 17-inches.

     Some of the sandy holes along the bank of the river produced flounder to about 15-inches on the shad tails that we dragged along the bottom.  We took two legal flounder for the box there.

     Heading into Terra Ceia Bay, we worked several areas looking for redfish, but very few were spotted and none would take our presentations.  As the tide rose we began working the edges of the mangroves where Matt caught his first snook.  In all, we managed to find about a half-dozen linesiders that were receptive to our offerings.  At the back of a depression, I tossed a MirrOlure Top Dog.  A couple of twitches later a large fish exploded on the bait.  I thought I was hooked up with a big snook, but about 15-seconds into the fight, I felt the telltale bump, bump, bump of a lesser desired species.  It was a sail cat weighing nearly 4 and a half pounds.  Disappointing to some, but an exciting blast on topwater anyway.  A bonus on our trip was the sighting of a large manatee and her calf feeding on the grass beds along a deeper shoreline in Terra Ceia Bay.

     Adam Stromiger of Tampa, and Dennis Santos from Zephyrhills joined me early Sunday morning for a half-day.  We started out working Terra Ceia with CAL Shads and Rapala Skitterwalk topwater baits.  Dennis connected first with a nice 18-inch speckled trout on the shad.  The topwater baits did not produce.  Early on, a large bull shark swam by our boat for a little excitement while drifting along the flats in 3-feet of water.

     Moving to hard bottom areas of lower Tampa Bay we got a number of hard strikes and break-offs, but no fish.  The Spanish mackerel and bluefish in the area were likely the culprits in our break-offs.  We noted a few rolling tarpon in the area as we moved south.  Near Anna Maria sound we found flocking birds diving on bait schools.  Fish breaking the surface were a sight to behold.  Spanish mackerel and loads of ladyfish were flashing as they ran through the schools of threadfin herring and glass minnows.  Ballyhoo, scaled sardines, and cigar minnows were also in the area.  We were broken off several times.  Dennis hooked up with a very large mackerel that might have gone 5-pounds or better but the hook pulled before we could get it to the net.  We did manage to boat one nice mack about 24-inches long.  Ladyfish galore put on the aerial act for us that was a blast.

     Working our way inside the river, we hooked up with a dozen or two trout with several in the slot.  We saw a school of 7-to 10-pound jacks that were on a mission, moving quickly along the docks foraging for something, but they never slowed down long enough to get a cast off to them. 

     Terra Ceia Bay was our final destination, where Adam caught his first-ever snook, a nice 25-inch linesider that was staged up on an ambush point.  Adam picked up his fish on a nightglow CAL Shad with a quarter-ounce chartreuse Cal jig head.

     Again, we were treated to the sight of another large manatee while in Terra Ceia Bay.  The mammal came right up to the back of the boat where it surfaced, as if to say, “hi”. 

     As we move toward this Saturday’s full moon, I look for stronger tides to produce better catch-and-release snook action, and put a few more tarpon in the bay.  ‘Til then…catch ya later!

Capt. Ray Markham

(941) 723-2655