Tampa Bay March Fishing Report
Eighty degree days, you can't beat that. The weather has been really nice this past week, a little breezy but not enough to hinder us much. The water temp has come up a lot; it was 75 degrees when I got off the water yesterday. Though I got rained out today it looks like we are going to be a little cooler this weekend at around 70.
Fishing has been pretty good this past week. Trout fishing has been superb and our largest was a solid 28 1/2incher and we had 3 others in the 26 inch class and several over 24. Those are monster Trout and a lot of fun when the big ones are biting.
The Sheepshead fishing is on fire right now. I didn't spend a lot of time fishing them, but the days I did we caught really nice ones at 2 to 6 pounds as fast as you can reel them in. Personally, next to Pompano, I think they are the best eating inshore fish there is.
The resident Tarpon bite is pretty good right now, first thing in the mornings. We had one day we hooked 5 in a couple of hours of fishing them.
Redfish are ok, I have been seeing a lot but they have been skittish on the flats. The Redfish around the docks are still biting pretty well but I think the deeper water Reds will bite better due to this weekend's cold front.
I also caught a few Snook this week. We haven't been targeting them but they have been jumping on the white bait when fishing for Trout and Reds.
I spent a few of my afternoon half days offshore this week and the catch and release Grouper have been biting as fast and you can reel them in. There are plenty of Key West Grunts mixed in with them to keep and eat. I haven't had a chance to get further out but I have heard the Amberjack and Mangrove Snapper are biting pretty well.
Well that's what we have going on now, shouldn't be too long before the Kingfish and Permit roll into town. I hope you have enjoyed my report.
Capt. Matt
www.captainmatt.com
941-447-9888
