Sean Hagen

Shark Fishing in Tampa Bay & St Petersburg continues

to be productive. Black Tips & bonnet head sharks

are still being caught around local power plants.

Shrimp on a 1/4-5/8 oz. jig head is getting the job

done. Try dead sticking or a super slow retrieve for

best results. Black tips and bonnet head sharks are

ranging from 2.5-5ft. in length. Anglers can expect

to average over 20 or 30 sharks on a good day! Saturday

we had a young angler land a pregnant 4ft nurse shark

in a deepwater cut on the St Petersburg side of the

Skyway Bridge. Ogie Rice landed his first nurse shark

on ultra light tackle while fishing for spanish mackerel.

The Spanish mackerel are upon us! Tampa's Skyway is holding

large numbers of spanish mackerel. Anglers should have

no problem limiting out in a short period of time.

Spanish mackerel are feeding on white bait, shrimp,

and artificials. The macks varying from 1-4 lbs. Anglers

are allowed to harvest up to 15 spanish mackerel per

angler per day!

The flounder fishing has been nothing short of awesome!

On recent fishing charters with Shamrock clients they

have been averaging 12-15 flounder in under a two

hour period. The flounder are still on the small side,

but we have been managing 4-6 keepers per trip.

The redfish are everywhere. It has been the norm to boat

over 40 or 50 redfish per fishing charter. Unfortunately

most of the redfish fall in the rat red category with a

slot size redfish thrown in if your lucky! The good news

is I have never seen as many juvenile redfish in Tampa

Bay as I have in the last two years. These fish will

soon be adult fish and Tampa Bay red fishing is going to

be out of this world! Look for Big reds on the flats

around Fort De Soto and Weedon Island.

The Big black drum are here! These brutes are ranging

from 30-60lbs and are being taken on the deeper water

flats of Tampa Bay and St Pete. When black drum are in

spawn they can be sighted in big schools. These monster

black drum are hungry and are feeding on crustaceans and

artificials. Try fishing them on light tackle, it's a battle

you won't want to miss!

Sheepshead have been the disappointment of the month. The

sheepshead have not been seen spawning along the flats

deeper water cuts like years past. Perhaps it just didn't

get cold enough for them yet or they are spawning on the

bays artifical reefs. Don't give up hope, one good cold snap

might be all it takes for them to return to their usual spawnig

grounds.

Lastly the Speckled trout fishing has been good. Good numbers

of the larger trout have been taken on the flats down south.

The reports of gator trout in Sarasota as been on the rise this

year. In fact this has been the year for big trout through out

the Bay!

Fish Species: shark, flounder,spanish, mackerel,redfish,sheepshead,trout,black drum
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tampa nurse shark
tampa nurse shark

tampa sheepshead, flounder , redfish, mackerel, trout,black drum
tampa sheepshead, flounder , redfish, mackerel, trout,black drum


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Sean Hagen

About The Author: Captain Sean Hagen

Company: Shamrock Inshore Fishing charters

Area Reporting: tampa bay north and south shores

Bio: With over 30 years of fishing and guiding experience on Tampa Bay and South Florida waterways, landing trophy winning fish comes naturally to Captain Sean Hagen.

813 545-5639
Click Here For Past Fishing Reports by Captain Sean Hagen