St. Petersburg Fishing Reports (December 2025)

Hank Valencia
Seminole, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

After the record Christmas cold front the water here dropped over 10 degrees in a couple of days. But, the Red Tide dissipated and left cleaner water. The local reefs(and hard bottom areas withing a couple miles) have been best. Lots of Key West Grunts, along with a steady sheepshead...

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Hank Valencia Seminole, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

After the record Christmas cold front the water here dropped over 10 degrees in a couple of days. But, the Red Tide dissipated and left cleaner water. The local reefs(and hard bottom areas withing a couple miles) have been best. Lots of Key West Grunts, along with a steady sheepshead bite and occasional Redfish, Flounder and other stuff. The Sheepshead bite should only get better and the Flounder normally start going off as well. Should be a decent start to 2023 in terms of nearshore fishing over here out of Madeira Beach.

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James Gibson
Sarasota, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

e have had some cold mornings in Sarasota Florida and the water is cold! We ended the year with water temperatures in the 50's in some places. With these cold water temperatures our customers enjoyed targeting Sheepshead, Snappers and Grunts on our nearshore reefs. On our warmer days we focused...

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James Gibson Sarasota, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

e have had some cold mornings in Sarasota Florida and the water is cold! We ended the year with water temperatures in the 50's in some places. With these cold water temperatures our customers enjoyed targeting Sheepshead, Snappers and Grunts on our nearshore reefs. On our warmer days we focused on fishing the docks and rocks in areas that the water was warmer in Sarasota Bay and were able to find luck targeting Redfish and Snook! We also have found a few Pompano as well as schools of big Jack Crevalle in our back country creeks.

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Phil Pegley
Ruskin, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

December fishing in Tampa Bay presents plenty of opportunities for catching fish. As the water cools and then warms back up again between cold fronts, it can make the fish fairly predictable in their movements. With a consistently cooler water temperature algae dies and the water clears, making this is...

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Phil Pegley Ruskin, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

December fishing in Tampa Bay presents plenty of opportunities for catching fish. As the water cools and then warms back up again between cold fronts, it can make the fish fairly predictable in their movements.
With a consistently cooler water temperature algae dies and the water clears, making this is one of our favorite times of year to fish as it makes for some great site fishing opportunities, as the fish will get into the shallows to soak up some of that Florida sunshine. On the lower stages of the tide, redfish and trout have been hanging out in the potholes. On the flats, the kinship between rays and fish is on display this time of year. As the tide rises. The parade of rays and sharks is on, with the cruising southern stingrays, spotted eagle rays, and occasionally bull sharks. I’ve also had cobia, pompano, and jacks cruising with them. When that water that’s been heated up in the shallows, it starts to flow into the rivers and canals and it’s time to hit it up for snook, redfish and trout along the sea walls, and mangrove shorelines!

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James Gibson
Sarasota, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

We have had a windy couple of days which has kept us in the bay, but the snook fishing continues to be hot as they are making their move into the creeks and canals to find the warmer water. The trout fishing has picked up this week with fish starting...

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James Gibson Sarasota, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

We have had a windy couple of days which has kept us in the bay, but the snook fishing continues to be hot as they are making their move into the creeks and canals to find the warmer water. The trout fishing has picked up this week with fish starting to congregate along our shallow grass flats in Sarasota Bay.

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Matt Fueyo with Reel Tight Fishing Charters
Sarasota, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

Headline news here in Sarasota is that the red tide is gone!!

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Matt Fueyo with Reel Tight Fishing Charters Sarasota, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

Headline news here in Sarasota is that the red tide is gone!!

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Cody Williams
Sarasota, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

The water has been cooling off and starting to push fish up into the creeks. We have been getting on a lot of jacks, snook, and small tarpon. Bait has still been around and there are a lot of it. With the weather cooling off its making it beautiful out...

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Cody Williams Sarasota, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

The water has been cooling off and starting to push fish up into the creeks. We have been getting on a lot of jacks, snook, and small tarpon. Bait has still been around and there are a lot of it. With the weather cooling off its making it beautiful out to fish

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Roy Johnson
St. Petersburg, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

Fish mount of a monster snook from earlier this year

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Roy Johnson St. Petersburg, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

Fish mount of a monster snook from earlier this year

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Tyson Wallerstein
Clearwater, Florida
Reported: 3 years ago

Conditions have been perfect this week for targeting snook, trout and redfish. The bay water temperature has been in the upper 60’s in the morning and mid 70’s in the afternoon. As the afternoon tide rises along with the temperature, fish become more active on the flats. Live bait action...

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Tyson Wallerstein Clearwater, Florida Reported: 3 years ago

Conditions have been perfect this week for targeting snook, trout and redfish. The bay water temperature has been in the upper 60’s in the morning and mid 70’s in the afternoon. As the afternoon tide rises along with the temperature, fish become more active on the flats.
Live bait action has been spectacular in the afternoon. Concentrating efforts on flats that are holding mullet has been the key. Live chumming from an up-tide position will help you locate where the fish are holding. Patiently waiting for your free bees to swim down current into the fish will reveal boils and pops allowing you to see where to set up.
Free-line pilchards on medium light spinning gear spooled with 10-pound braid. The light braided line will not only help you sling your bait out to where the fish are, but also help you to feel any subtle bite you might have when fishing an open bail, a tactic that can be deadly effective.
Creeks that serve as wintering homes for snook are loading up with fish right now. As our next cold front passes more of the larger fish will enter the creeks. Fishing around sundown will typically give you the best opportunity to hook into some bigger fish. Live pilchards work great, and chumming will get the activity levels of the fish up, but don’t be afraid to send out a larger bait. Pinfish and or finger mullet will really get the attention of a big snook.

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