Holiday Fishing Reports (December 2025)

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

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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

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Ron Finger with Fish Hawk Charters
Tierra Verde, Florida
Reported: 11 months ago

gag grouper and most folks think ??? Offshore w/Federal Permits & Credentials No Problem - plenty of reefs and rocks in 60-plus feet of Gulf of Mexico waters hold progressively more and bigger fish, coastal rocks in 50-100 feet of water host impressive populations of adult gag grouper (many keeper...

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Ron Finger with Fish Hawk Charters Tierra Verde, Florida Reported: 11 months ago

gag grouper and most folks think ??? Offshore w/Federal Permits & Credentials No Problem - plenty of reefs and rocks in 60-plus feet of Gulf of Mexico waters hold progressively more and bigger fish, coastal rocks in 50-100 feet of water host impressive populations of adult gag grouper (many keeper size) that will absolutely blast a bait well within eyesight. Live offerings are easiest and our Pelagic TEAMs know that a well full of pinfish usually equates to a day of arm-stretching, eye-popping fun. Considering how an Offshore Angler’s first look at a gag grouper generally amounts to a whipped fish languishing at boat side, the Gulf water deal shows you the true beast the dwells within this fish.

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Tyson Wallerstein
Clearwater, Florida
Reported: 11 months ago

Artic air early this week will certainly cool off what’s been a hot wintertime bite. Unseasonably warm water temperatures over the past couple of weeks have helped to get all inshore fish moving around better, especially snook. A good snook bite can be hard to come by this time of...

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Tyson Wallerstein Clearwater, Florida Reported: 11 months ago

Artic air early this week will certainly cool off what’s been a hot wintertime bite. Unseasonably warm water temperatures over the past couple of weeks have helped to get all inshore fish moving around better, especially snook. A good snook bite can be hard to come by this time of year. however they are opportunists and if conditions are right they can feed aggressively especially in the afternoon. Redfish are much more cold tolerant than the snook and can be found shadowing mullet schools in both the Intercoastal waterway as well as the expansive flats of Tampa Bay. Target the first half of the incoming tide for redfish right now. The lower water will make it easier to spot the mullet schools and in turn put you where you need to be for the redfish. Chunk baits such as ladyfish and mullet work excellent under these conditions, allowing you to make extremely long casts to comfortable fish. Scaled sardines a.k.a. pilchards can still be cast netted in volume most days and have been the ticket for getting the snook fired up. The bait has moved deeper and can often be found near the bay bridges in deeper dredge holes. Look for high diving pelicans to give the bait away, typically the higher they dive the bigger the bait. Snook have been willing to creep out of backwater creeks over the last several days, but don’t expect them to venture too far from their safe zone. Target mangrove shoreline’s that have small feeder creeks along them on the later portion of the afternoon incoming tide

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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...

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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.

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Robert Denbo
Trinity, Florida
Reported: 11 months ago

Been killing the trout!!! Had few trips with 40+fish! Also sheep's head bite is 🔥!

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Robert Denbo Trinity, Florida Reported: 11 months ago

Been killing the trout!!! Had few trips with 40+fish! Also sheep's head bite is 🔥!

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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...

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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.

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Matt Karwoski
Belleair Bluffs, Florida
Reported: 11 months ago

One day, two charters.

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Matt Karwoski Belleair Bluffs, Florida Reported: 11 months ago

One day, two charters.

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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...

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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

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