ClayTarponMy name is Capt. Clay Eavenson and I am a FULL-TIME inshore fishing guide in the Tampa Bay Area. I specialize in Light Tackle, Inshore, Fishing Charters for Snook, Redfish, Trout, Tarpon, and More! I guide on the inshore waters of Tampa Bay, Clearwater, Tarpon Springs, St. Petersburg, and everywhere in between.

Tampa Bay, Tarpon Springs, Clearwater, and St. Petersburg are some of the most fertile, inshore fishing grounds in all of Florida. Beaches, mangrove shorelines, brackish creeks and rivers, and expansive grass flats are the settings for our inshore fishing charters. Snook, redfish, trout, and tarpon are our main targets but seasonally we also target grouper, sheephead, cobia, and more.


Post image for Tampa Bay Tarpon Fishing Charters – Best Dates for 2010!

So you have catching a tarpon on your bucket list huh? Well, a Tampa Bay tarpon fishing charter is your best bet and in this post I’ll tell you the best dates for you to get your chance at catching a Tampa Bay tarpon and I will also tell you why these dates are so special.

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Post image for Tarpon Springs Florida Fishing Report

Well, it’s been a wild winter… weather wise. It’s been tough to get out on the water due to the economy and record breaking cold weather but I finally had the chance to get out the last few days and the prognosis is good. Really good.

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Post image for 2010 Tampa Bay Area Fishing Charter Planning Guide

Looking to plan your fishing trip around catching a certain species of fish? Need to know where to stay? Want to know when the best time of year to catch just about everything is? Check out my 2010 Tampa Bay area Fishing Charter Planning Guide. Just about everything you need to know is here!

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The Promise of Fall

October 16, 2009
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The weather man says that fall weather is coming tomorrow. He said the same thing two weeks ago. I want to believe him this time but it’s hard to do considering the excessive heat we’ve had to deal with this past week. However, this time it looks like his prediction is for real. So, I’m [...]

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Fall Season Introduces Great Redfishing

September 23, 2009
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Well, today is the first day of Fall. It may not mean much to you but I’m excited about it. Fall is my favorite time of year to catch my favorite type of fish. Redfish. These strong fighters are starting to school up and that means that we’ll have plenty of opportunities to have double [...]

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The Hunt for Reds in September

September 13, 2009
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I love fishing for redfish. They are tough fighters and quite often willing participants in our fishing adventures. However, summertime can be very frustrating when targeting them here on the Suncoast. They seem to vanish at the drop of a hat and when you do have a good bead on their location they often seem [...]

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A Little Bit of Everything

July 21, 2009
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How’s this for variety? This month, so far, we’ve caught redfish, snook, trout, spanish mackerel, blacktip sharks, lemon sharks, bonita, ladyfish, tarpon, gag grouper, mangrove snapper, ladyfish and cobia. Summer time really is the time to see how many species of fish you can get in one day. The waters are alive with hatch-ling baits [...]

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Silver Blessings

June 10, 2009
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25 years ago the Hill family and my family became fast friends. I grew up spending my summers with Josh, Travis, Mandy and Lindsy Hill (the Hill children). 13 years ago the New York Yankees drafted me and I moved to Tampa to play baseball. Tampa Bay just so happened to be the Hill family’s [...]

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Tarpon Time!

May 5, 2009
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It took a good bit of work to get our first tarpon of the year this year but we did it this past weekend. We put some long hours in and after seeing everyone around us hook up all afternoon, we decided that there was just some kind of funk on the boat. We hadn’t [...]

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Things Are Heating Up!

April 27, 2009
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There’s no denying it now. Spring weather is here and Spring fishing has followed suit. Redfish have been the main targets as they are huge schools in the St. Petersburg area. Hitting them on high water with live sardines has been the key. We’ve had to show patience when looking for them when the tide [...]

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The Wind Keeps Blowing but the Fish Keep Biting

April 20, 2009
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It’s been a really windy spring thus far. It seems as though the wind just won’t quit. Windy days are usually bad fishing days and we’ve had to adapt to make sure that we succeed. Luckily for us, the fish haven’t been phased. We’ve been able to find fish in protected areas from the wind [...]

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Picture Worthy!

March 28, 2009
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What a wild last few weeks I’ve had. I’ve been to Cleveland Ohio for an outdoor show, averaged more than 1 charter per day when I was in town and watched Spring arrive down here while the fish started chewing the bottom out of the boat. I’ve got lots of pictures from the last few [...]

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Spring!

March 10, 2009
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I know that it isn’t technically spring time yet but you couldn’t have any better weather than we’ve been having the last several days. The fish are responding well to the recent warm trend. Trout are all over the place, redfish are schooled up and bait is everywhere as of today. This is going to [...]

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Jan/Feb 2009 Fishing Reports

February 28, 2009

2-18-2009 – Trout Limits and Redfish Schools
Unfortunately, I still don’t have my camera back but hopefully some of my clients will send in some of the pictures they took.
About a week ago the bite was hit or miss. Over the last several days though the trout ate really well. And today, finally, the redfish turned [...]

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Warm Weather, Hot Bites

February 27, 2009
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Wow, what a relief it has been over the past week! Warm weather! It almost felt like spring out there. There was just a slight nip in the air early each morning which gave way to upper 70 degree weather by mid day. The fish seem to be enjoying the weather as well as trout [...]

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2008 Fishing Report Archive

December 31, 2008

10-15-2008 – Good fall bite
It’s really been a cool feeling in the morning. Literally. Instead of getting into the boat at 6am to catch bait, already soaked with sweat, I’ve been putting on long sleeve shirts for the ride out. Sure it’s been getting warm in the afternoon but the cooler night time air temperatures [...]

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2007 Fishing Report Archive

December 31, 2007

12-31-2007 – Is this really the end of the year?
Jim couldn’t have picked a better day in December to go fishing. The weather forecast predicted high temperatures in the low 80’s and calm winds.  To top everything off, another guide friend of mine let me in on a little secret the other day. He [...]

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