Last week got unexpectedly busy with lots of fish biting!
Snook are in their annual spawn and fortunately for me it takes place right off the beach 🏖️, my wheelhouse. The snook are big and hungry and the most effective method of targeting them is sight fishing large live baits 🎣. It's a blast and most charters don't do this because it would be difficult to chase from a boat. They don't often use the same baits that I use because it's not a standard bait you can buy and absolutely wreaks havoc on big snook. My style offers a...
Last week got unexpectedly busy with lots of fish biting!
Snook are in their annual spawn and fortunately for me it takes place right off the beach 🏖️, my wheelhouse. The snook are big and hungry and the most effective method of targeting them is sight fishing large live baits 🎣. It's a blast and most charters don't do this because it would be difficult to chase from a boat. They don't often use the same baits that I use because it's not a standard bait you can buy and absolutely wreaks havoc on big snook. My style offers a unique and adventurous twist to guided fishing tours.
Other species like Seatrout, Black drum, Pompano, Sheepshead, whiting and ladyfish are also cooperating.
With the mid summer underway, I recommend getting out earlier like 8 or 8:30AM to beat the heat 🥵.
As things change to our Midsomer patterns. It’s all about the availability of the bait. That drives the fish bite. When we get the strong outgoing tides near the new and full moon, pass crabs are flushing out of Tampa Bay in big numbers. This is one of our favorite scenarios to catch Tarpon. It concentrates the fish and they are focused on those little crabs.
Also, the second hatch of sardines has exploded, and the flats are covered. The small Bait are exactly what the mangrove snapper are looking for solid catches of snapper daily now. We are still...
As things change to our Midsomer patterns. It’s all about the availability of the bait. That drives the fish bite. When we get the strong outgoing tides near the new and full moon, pass crabs are flushing out of Tampa Bay in big numbers. This is one of our favorite scenarios to catch Tarpon. It concentrates the fish and they are focused on those little crabs.
Also, the second hatch of sardines has exploded, and the flats are covered. The small Bait are exactly what the mangrove snapper are looking for solid catches of snapper daily now. We are still seeing our share of Snook. And redfish the over slot speckled trout have moved out to the edge of the grass flats and have been super cooperative anytime the tide is moving.
Captain Steven is the real deal. We had a party of 4 and none of us had been on an ocean charter before and we all wanted to catch some sharks. Steven put us on a load of bull sharks, we each caught a shark, the biggest of the 4 sharks being about 5.5ft long. He’s great at instructing and demonstrating everything, he’s great with novice fishermen, and he’s a fun guy to be around. He will put you on some fish.
He was awesome, was super accommodating to our group and made sure we left with a good catch. He was super personable and lets you reel in your catches, I will definitely be booking with him again!
The best fishing experience we could ask for as a family! Captain Charlie was the epitome of a pro guide. He catered to our group, worked hard to put us on fish, and made the entire experience awesome! We had a group with ages ranging from 10 to 60, with varying fishing experience and every one of them had one of the best experiences possible. We are certainly doing it again! If you’re in the Bradenton, St. Pete, Anna Maria area, you will have a blast!
Booked this trip for my bachelor trip and it did not disappoint from the time we booked to the day we got on the water. We had great guides that put us on the fish that day. The service was top tier especially dealing with 9 people on one boat which was very comfortable. 10/10 would recommend booking with Tommy’s fishing service, and will be back for some more action.
Captain Matt was great! We had a bit of bad luck with dolphins and such, but we still had so much fun! Caught a wide variety of species as well, despite being short on the size requirements for most. Couldn’t have asked for a better Captain! Highly recommend Reel Tactical with Captain Matt.
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