Redfish are on the move and biting all over the Tampa Bay area

1. At Big Pier 60 in Clearwater, Spanish mackerel have been caught every day again this week. Speckled trout are also steady. Sheepshead are biting around the pilings. Whiting, Key West grunts and a few black sea bass have been caught. Plenty of jacks are biting, and a 3-foot hammerhead shark was caught, reports Big Pier 60 Bait & Tackle (727-462-6466).

2. At Madeira Beach, nearshore there’s plenty of Spanish mackerel and a few kingfish. Better numbers of hogfish are biting at a depth of 40 to 60 feet and that should get better with the cooler weather. The gag grouper bite is really good while trolling plugs as shallow as 25 feet. Live baits on the bottom are also producing some gags. Deeper offshore, big mangrove snapper, gag and scamp grouper, along with some vermillion and yellowtail snapper are biting. Decent numbers of amberjack and triggerfish are in the mix, reports Capt. Dylan Hubbard of Hubbard’s Marina (727-393-1947).

What's Biting: Redfish

The redfish bite remains good throughout the Tampa Bay area along with locations elsewhere. Both slot size and over slot, breeder size fish are being caught.

Strike Zones: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Elsewhere

3. At John's Pass, there’s still some snook around the bridge and dock lights at night and a few around the docks during the day. The cooler weather should push them inside the back bayous and creeks. The sheepshead bite is picking up around the docks and structure. Black drum are biting around the bridge and the jetty. The jetty is also producing Spanish mackerel, sheepshead, redfish and a few flounder, reports Hubbard

4. At Fort De Soto Park, at the marina and around the bridge, there’s big sheepshead and still some mangrove snapper. The south Bayway Bridge is producing blacktip and Atlantic sharpnose sharks. On the area flats, decent numbers of trout up to 16 inches are biting. Lower slot size redfish are biting around Jackass Key. Over slot redfish, pushing 40 inches, are biting around Conception Key and East Beach. Out at the pier, there’s plenty of Spanish mackerel and jack crevalle. Sheepshead and a few mangrove snapper are biting close to the pilings. Bunces Pass is producing mostly jacks, along with blacknose and sharpnose sharks, reports Capt. Claude Hinson of Tierra Verde Bait and Tackle (727-864-2108).

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5. Around the Sunshine Skyway and lower Tampa Bay, there’s plenty of bait on the grass flats around the Bulkhead area and at Emerson Point. Big speckled trout are showing up in numbers and eating live scaled sardines, freelined on the edge of the flats in 4 to 6 feet. The flats from Terra Ceia to Anna Maria Sound have been productive for good size trout. Snook are staging around the mouth of the Manatee River and the docks have been very productive, reports Capt. John Gunter of Palmetto (863-838-5096). There’s a lot of snook on the inside of the Manatee River and they are spread out along the docks and the ledge that runs on the south side of the river. The mouth of the river is also holding redfish and trout, reports Capt. Shawn Crawford of Florida Sport Fishing Outfitters (941-705-3160.

6. At Anna Maria, there’s plenty of redfish along the Seven Pines area and in Perico Bay. Schools of breeder-size redfish have been on some of the nearshore reefs just off Anna Maria Island, reports Gunter. Deeper grass flats of the sound, all the way south to Longboat Key, are producing redfish and trout and some of the docks are holding redfish, reports Capt. Shawn Crawford of Florida Sport Fishing Outfitters (941-705-3160.

7. At St. Petersburg, there’s a good snook bite in the creeks around Pinellas Point and the residential canals around Big and Little Bayou. Redfish are in the mix, especially around Coquina Key and Pinellas Point. Redfish are good around Weedon Island and the Gandy Bridge area flats. Redfish are also biting around Fort De Soto and the Arrowhead area there. Sheepshead are picking up the bridges, docks and other structure. Spanish mackerel are in the bay around the Skyway and the St. Pete Pier. Gag grouper numbers are picking up along the channel, around the Skyway and on the reefs in the bay. Check all the crab trap buoys for tripletail, reports Larry Mastry at Mastry’s Tackle (727-896-8889).

8. In the north end of Tampa Bay, there’s redfish on the flats around Picnic and Weedon islands, but many are starting to push north past the causeway and into the upper bay. Snook are transitioning into the canals and creeks. The speckled trout bite has been good early in the morning and late in the evening around Picnic Island and Ballast Point. Spanish mackerel are up in the bay and both the Frankland and Gandy bridges are holding good numbers of them. Black drum are also biting around the bridges over the bay. Sheepshead are stacking up around structure, the rock piles and bridges. Davis Islands is also good for sheepshead. Tripletail are on the markers, especially around MacDill, reports Gandy Bait & Tackle (813-839-5551).

Elsewhere

• At Homosassa, redfish continue to school on the high incoming tides. Live pinfish are the best baits. On the inside keys, a gold spoon like the Eppinger Rex, is also a good bait. Look for the speckled trout to start staging around the larger creek mouths with deeper water. Suspending baits like the MirrOlure MirrOdine will get the bite. The inshore gag grouper bite is picking up and cooler weather will push them closer to shore at a depth of about 6 to 8 feet. Shallow casting plugs will entice a strike over nearshore structure, reports Capt. William Toney of Homosassa Inshore Fishing Charters (352-621-9284).

• At Sebastian Inlet, the snook bite is off the chain in the inlet. They’re taking just about any live bait along with Hogy and NLBN swimbaits. Some redfish are also in the mix. A few pompano are biting in the surf. Jacks and bluefish are also biting along the beach. A few tarpon have been caught from the north jetty and in the surf there, reports Whitey’s Bait & Tackle (321-724-1440).

• At Fort Pierce, offshore it’s still pretty rough, but there’s mangrove and mutton snapper on the bottom at 80 feet. At the inlet, there’s whiting and a few pompano biting in the surf. Some bluefish also showed up this week, but there’s better numbers to the south of the inlet. Inside the inlet, snook are biting at night on live bait, Hogy swimbaits and Flair Hawk Jigs. With the mullet run, there’s redfish in the inlet. Inside around the bridges, mangrove snapper and black drum are steady. Snook are still biting at the spillway with the running water, reports Clint Walker at the Fishing Center of St. Lucie (772-465-7637).

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: In Tampa Bay and beyond, slot and over slot redfish are biting