Mackerel are back in the area in good numbers. We are seeing quite a few around the bay and local fishing piers. However, we are seeing some around the jetties and along our beaches. There’s tons of bait around more and more moving out along the beach and in the passes and with them come plenty of concentrations of mackerel. However, if its in the bay or around the passes we are often seeing jack crevalle mixed in the bait schools often too. Once out on the beaches sometimes blue runners or bonita will be around. Great time to chase the mackerel and get on active schools of fun to catch fish right now as our fall run heats up with cooling waters. This should really hit its peak around the next few weeks as we get to that next full moon we should see the peak of mackerel and more big kings show up too with that moon phase.

Redfish action is also at it’s peak right now as we hit that time of year where they are more congregated, aggressive and moving around the flats, oyster bars, and mangrove islands. We are even seeing some in schools moving around the passes and beaches too! They should continue like this until we get some big fronts that will finally push the schools out to spawn near shore. That’s when we run into them moving near shore while fishing the 5 or 10 hour trips or on our near shore private fishing charters. While in the bay right now, look for schools at mid to low tide at the edges of the flats, oyster bars, or moving around the mangrove islands. At mid to higher tides the schools often spread out and get much more difficult to find as they can move up into the mangroves and really get more tricky.

Snook are on the move too and are nearly fully moved back into the back bay waters. We still have some around the pass at the early  morning hours and during the day, but the numbers have dwindled exponentially. They are going to be most active and prolific as you move away from the passes and work towards those flats back in the bays where water is warmer and more shallow. For example, around Johns pass around the bay pines VA area and the bridge moving back to the KOA area becomes a much better area this time of year as snook from the pass retreat back to these areas.

Trout action is going well right now around the area and we are seeing some active trout moving a bit more shallow. Around 3-5ft is more common for the trout and they are still looking pretty large overall. They are really keyed into the soft plastics and live white bait in the back bay area but around the passe live shrimp still working well.

Mangrove snapper are still pretty prolific around local structures despite it being the time of year they start to move back like the snook. However, it seems we have some good mangrove snapper action around the area persisting despite the changing of the time of year. They are still looking for small pieces of shrimp or white bait, but the bigger ones will take whole baits too.

Sheepshead are trying to push out the mangrove snapper from the hard structures of the area. We are seeing more and more of these guys around the docks, pier, bridge and jetties and that should only increase with the days shortening and cold fronts starting to roll. They love small pieces of shrimp, fiddler crabs and barnacles and we are expecting more and more to show up each day.

Triple tail action is heating up as we move into stone crab season. There will be more and more stone crab traps set out as we move into that season and that will bring with it more and more buoys and trap markers. These create more areas for the triple tail to hide and ambush passing baits.

Late season tarpon still persist around the passes, bridges and beaches. We have seen some nice ones caught lately from the beaches while shark fishing at night. Also a handful caught around the bridge at night too. Apparently around the skyway still plenty of action throughout the day and night!

 **REMEMBER, please help spread the word and knowledge on what to do if you hook or entangle a bird. NEVER CUT THE LINE, stay calm and reel in the bird and get all your line back and dehook them and release. Never leave any line in the water, if you accidentally hook a dock make sure to break the line off at the hook never cut your line. Seabirds in the area are more and more often showing up with line hanging off them and we are in danger of losing access to fishing areas due to this. While anytime a bird is in danger or having issues is concerning too, but a wave of support of closing areas to fishing due to negative bird interactions is extremely concerning to an already dwindling number of areas you can fish around Tampa Bay from a shoreline, dock, bridge or pier! Check out the NEW podcast we did with salt strong on this issue – https://www.saltstrong.com/articles/shutting-down-fishing-at-busy-pier/ **