Bartow Fishing Reports (December 2025)

Cody Beckman
Tampa, Florida
Reported: 10 months ago

Too good not to post… so a client comes in from the eastern shore of Maryland and says he wants to catch snook. Mind you, he has never seen a snook in his life, let alone catch one. So we set out with a clear goal to target big snook...

See Full Report & Photos >

Cody Beckman Tampa, Florida Reported: 10 months ago

Too good not to post… so a client comes in from the eastern shore of Maryland and says he wants to catch snook. Mind you, he has never seen a snook in his life, let alone catch one. So we set out with a clear goal to target big snook but neither us of, especially me, expected to hook into this absolute behemoth. Most people will never get an opportunity to catch a snook this big and if they do, most people won’t be able to land it. This fish did not make it easy on us; we got her boat side and in the net and she immediately shook her head and ripped a huge hole in the landing net with her gill plates. This is when the chaos ensued. She swam through the net and wrapped the power pole and motor and swam completely under the boat while still being hooked. So I immediately jumped in the water and swam under the boat to secure the fish. I managed to get a good grip on her bottom lip and pull her from under the boat and untangle the mess she got us in. Instead of taking this big fish out of the water in the heat of summer, I kindly but sternly “asked” him to get in the water also for the picture. Fish that big in water temps this hot do not survive if kept of out the water for the normal boat picture “photoshoot”. He didn’t hesitate and jumped in and we got this amazing photo of his fish of lifetime. The rest of the day everyone was smiling from ear to ear and in shock of what had just taken place. A day and fish I’m sure neither of us will ever forget.

Scroll for more Close

Christian Lugo
Tampa, Florida
Reported: 10 months ago

Currently lots of sheepshead been biting along with some sharks and sand trout. The cold weather has slowed down some bites but the back creeks have been shows to catch them

See Full Report & Photos >

Christian Lugo Tampa, Florida Reported: 10 months ago

Currently lots of sheepshead been biting along with some sharks and sand trout. The cold weather has slowed down some bites but the back creeks have been shows to catch them

Scroll for more Close

Ike Carrasquillo
Tampa, Florida
Reported: 11 months ago

Pass few weeks have been dead, no Charters for two months because of the hurricanes but it has picked up for me and I have several this month and next month. The Sheepshead action is good on the grass flats, oyster beds and anywhere crustacean grows. The Flounder action has...

See Full Report & Photos >

Ike Carrasquillo Tampa, Florida Reported: 11 months ago

Pass few weeks have been dead, no Charters for two months because of the hurricanes but it has picked up for me and I have several this month and next month. The Sheepshead action is good on the grass flats, oyster beds and anywhere crustacean grows. The Flounder action has been slow for me but the dark muddy waters in tge back country has produced Blackdrum, Mullet and Gar.

Scroll for more Close

Wade Osborne
Tampa, Florida
Reported: 11 months ago

Even though the sheepshead spawning season doesn’t start until February, the cooler water temperatures have them feeding very aggressively. On a recent charter, my clients specifically requested sheepshead, and the day did not disappoint. On the very first cast of the day, they reeled in a 16-inch keeper. Throughout the...

See Full Report & Photos >

Wade Osborne Tampa, Florida Reported: 11 months ago

Even though the sheepshead spawning season doesn’t start until February, the cooler water temperatures have them feeding very aggressively. On a recent charter, my clients specifically requested sheepshead, and the day did not disappoint. On the very first cast of the day, they reeled in a 16-inch keeper. Throughout the charter we must have caught close to 30 sheepshead, along with numerous redfish, seatrout, and snook. At the end of the day, they went home with six nice sized keeper sheepshead. If you enjoy catching redfish, now is the perfect time to catch plenty. Even though most are rats, “under slot-sized redfish” they are still fun to catch. The same can be said for seatrout. Clients have been catching some of the largest seatrout of the year recently. Seatrout schoolup in the winter, so when you hit the right spot numerous fish in the 15 to 19-inch slot range can be landed. Snook are also making their presence known. I’m finding snook mixed in with the redfish and seatrout also. Snook are closed to harvest until March 1st, so it’s strictly catch and release.

Scroll for more Close

Steve Niemoeller with Lake Toho Fishing Guide Service
St. Cloud, Florida
Reported: 11 months ago

We have had a lot of group trips on pontoons lately and the big bass have been biting on the wild shiners The temps have been lower and the winds high some days but all in all it is a great time to be fishing as the bigger bass are...

See Full Report & Photos >

Steve Niemoeller with Lake Toho Fishing Guide Service St. Cloud, Florida Reported: 11 months ago

We have had a lot of group trips on pontoons lately and the big bass have been biting on the wild shiners The temps have been lower and the winds high some days but all in all it is a great time to be fishing as the bigger bass are getting ready to go on beds So bring your family and friends book a bass boat or pontoon and come join in the fun

Scroll for more Close

Cody Beckman
Tampa, Florida
Reported: 1 year ago

Inshore fishing and backcountry fishing has been extremely productive, averaging 30 fish days and the cooler water has redfish, trout and big snook fired up. The nearshore wrecks are holding good numbers of mangrove snapper and sheepshead with some spanish mackerel mixed in Weather has been ideal and looks to...

See Full Report & Photos >

Cody Beckman Tampa, Florida Reported: 1 year ago

Inshore fishing and backcountry fishing has been extremely productive, averaging 30 fish days and the cooler water has redfish, trout and big snook fired up. The nearshore wrecks are holding good numbers of mangrove snapper and sheepshead with some spanish mackerel mixed in Weather has been ideal and looks to stay that way for the next few weeks. Definitely a great time of year to get on the water

Scroll for more Close

Phil Pegley
Ruskin, Florida
Reported: 1 year ago

People in West and Southwest Florida will not take the term hurricane season lightly .After the hit we took from Helene and Milton .as we patch up and pick up the pieces we quickly realize beautiful mother ocean still surrounds us and has so many positives to offer the water...

See Full Report & Photos >

Phil Pegley Ruskin, Florida Reported: 1 year ago

People in West and Southwest Florida will not take the term hurricane season lightly .After the hit we took from Helene and Milton .as we patch up and pick up the pieces we quickly realize beautiful mother ocean still surrounds us and has so many positives to offer the water cleared quickly, and our Amazing fishery got right back on track booking through Captains experiences we got to meet Kai and Zach, snook , redfish, and trout. We're all first for them, and they were up for the challenge. Fall patterns have concentrated our fish. And persistence has paid off with some of the nicest Snook of the year . and this past full moon has been stellar on resurging numbers of large speckled trout Get with Captains experiences and get your trips booked today

Scroll for more Close

Wade Osborne
Tampa, Florida
Reported: 1 year ago

Fall Has Finally Arrived Until recently, we hadn’t had any typical fall weather here in the Tampa Bay area, but it’s finally here. Most of November’s water temperatures remained in the mid-70’s. Usually, by now the water temperature on the grass flats is in the low 70’s to upper 60’s...

See Full Report & Photos >

Wade Osborne Tampa, Florida Reported: 1 year ago

Fall Has Finally Arrived Until recently, we hadn’t had any typical fall weather here in the Tampa Bay area, but it’s finally here. Most of November’s water temperatures remained in the mid-70’s. Usually, by now the water temperature on the grass flats is in the low 70’s to upper 60’s Snook are still open to harvest until the first of December, so you only have a couple of weeks to take advantage of it. My clients are still catching plenty of snook. Some are in the slot of 28 to 33 inches, but most are just under or over the keeper slot. Oscar Santana and Kinh Shiau fished with me earlier this month and Oscar caught and released a 34” snook unharmed. It turns out, Oscar had never fished before and this snook was the first fish he’d ever caught. Unbelievably, he continued to out fish Kinh during the rest of the charter. Talk about beginner’s luck, now Oscar is ruined for life… The redfish action continues to please. Schools of redfish are still plentiful, but now I’m encountering more rat reds. I don’t have a problem with that because they’re still fun to catch and if you never have, they’re a blast. Riley found that out himself recently when he caught his first redfish. When looking to take one home for dinner though, I move on in search of bigger fish. There are still larger fish around, I just have to do a little looking. Seatrout, out of all the inshore species, remain the most dependable, as far as, fish for dinner. It’s been a banner year for seatrout, and I look for that trend to continue right through the end of the year.

Scroll for more Close