Fishing Report by Captain Mike Turner, June 22, 2009
Most of the action this week was thanks to the fast and furious Snook fishing. The Snook are bunched up near the passes with one thing in mind, and that is making babies. In addition to romance they are also taking a liking to the shiners we are feeding them. To maximize the action with these fish I try to go after them when there is a strong tidal flow. Most of the Snook I have been fishing are most active on the outgoing tide. They seem to school a little tighter during this tide, probably because this is the tide in which the spawn takes place. Often, when the Snook are tightly schooled in three to six feet of water, you can actually see the whole school as a dark mass and cast up tide of the school; let the tide carry you shiner into the mass and hang on. Snook fishing is what I grew up doing more that anything and it is the fishing that I enjoy the most. Many of the locations I Snook fish now were the same places I fished as a child, and the pattern is the same after all these years. Snook season is closed until September, so all of the action is strictly catch and release.
The source of meat this week has been mostly Mangrove Snapper and Speckled Sea Trout with a few Mackerel, Flounder, Grouper, and Redfish mixed in. The Snapper fishing has been great and as you can see by the picture, they are not just here in numbers but they are large. All of the Snapper fishing I have done in the past few weeks has been inside of Tampa Bay and proves that there is not always a need to venture miles off shore to land big reef fish. The Grouper fishing has slowed a bit, but the increase in Snapper action has more than filled the void, and the exciting thing is the Snapper fishing will only get better over the next month or so. Trout fishing has been good as well, although there have been a few attempts for Trout that have been challenging. Most of my recent trips, when we spend enough time targeting Trout, we have been able to catch our limit.
Captain Mike Turner is a native of Palmetto and has spent many years fishing the area waters. Call Mike, book a charter with him and let him share his experience with you.
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