Tarpon are the largest and most powerful of all inshore game fish in Florida. May through August, we target tarpon on fishing charters that leave out of St. Petersburg, Florida.

Click here to learn a little more about our tarpon fishing charters here in the Tampa Bay area. Tampa Bay Tarpon Fishing Charters

Click here to check out our general fishing charter information. Capt. Clay’s Frequently Asked Questions

If you’ve seen enough and your ready to catch the “Silver King”, click here for rates, availability, and our instant online reservation system.

Check out some photos to whet your appetite…

Share on Facebook

The bite has not been the same as years past, I think due to the mild winter, but it’s been good none the less. It took a few days to figure out what was going on because the fish aren’t acting like they normally do but once we found them, they have chewed real well.

The high water bite has been the best for us. Once the tide has come in, the trout and redfish have really turned on. We’ve been fishing trout on high water way in the back-country of Port Richey and Tarpon Spings and the redfish have been biting real well on the first of the leaving tide in some of their usual spring time haunts in St. Petersburg.

I did fish Tampa Bay one day this week and was surprised to find redfish just about everywhere. Weedon Island has some great mid slot redfish action as well as some snook fishing action on the leaving tide.

Be looking for the redfish, snook and trout to continue to be biting good as the spring progresses. But it won’t be long until tarpon start stealing the show. There are reports of tarpon already showing up in Tampa Bay and Boca Grande.

If you want to get in on the inshore action before the tarpon fishing heats up, you better hit me up as of this post, I only have 3 days open for the rest of March. Be sure to hit up my reservation calendar to see what’s available and to book your next trip! http://www.captainclay.com/reservations/

Share on Facebook

The good news is that once the water came up, the bite was on. New Port Richey, Tarpon Springs and even Fort Desoto (St. Petersburg) have all had great trout and redfish bites on charters this week… you just had to wait for the conditions to get right.

Bait has shown up in droves in the Hudson, New Port Richey and Tarpon Springs areas. the bait is really big as well which has really lent itself to getting bites from reallky big trout. The little guys are interested in the big baits so we aren’t catching any dinks right now.

Tarpon season is coming up fast and it is filling up fast as well. if you want to catch a Tarpon this summer in Boca Grande or St. Petersburg, you better give me a ring soon. Tarpon should be shoing us early this year due to the mild winter we had so the last two weeks of April look like they might be productive. Don;t wait though, the best dates are filling up fast.

Share on Facebook

There have been a couple of cold fronts that shut the bite down for a few days at a time but for the most part, this has been a really great winter as far as the fishing and the weather has gone.

The speckled sea trout fishing has been phenomenal. It’s absolutely amazing at how big our average fish has gotten since the red tide 7 years ago put a damper on things. The numbers are better than ever and the size is more impressive than I can remember. The best bite for trout has been on the really low tides around the new and full moons. They drop off into low troughs and cuts around Anclote key and make it easy for us to find them.

The redfish bite has has stayed strong, especially on the high tide from the Anclote river all the way up to Hudson. The areas just north of the Cotee river has really been productive. Most of the creeks and coves in these areas have held good keeper sized fish. Keep in mind that we need to hit these area on high water as the whole area is very shallow.

Snook are generally taking their normal break this time of year but we’ve had a few surprise catches of tarpon and cobia in the last week or so. The one tarpon we caught was caught on a live, free-lined shrimp and looked to weigh about 20lbs. It was a really cool surprise as we rarely ever catch tarpon this time of year.

Sheephead have invaded the flats and though we don’t target them much, we’ve had some great by-catches of 3-5lb fish. They taste great and are great fighters in shallow water.

Many people don’t realize what a great fishery we have here in the winter time. The trout fishing on our coast is some of the best in the whole country. I’m often asked, “I know it’s winter, but, is there anything to catch this time of year?” I answer with an emphatic, “Yes!” This is the only time if year where we have days of catching 75-100 trout; all keeper size or better. The redfish are still cooperating and you never no what other surprise might be awaiting at the next fishing spot! This is an awesome time of year to fish here. Don’t mis your chance to get out on the flats during this mild winter! Be sure to give me a ring to discuss your next fishing adventure.

Share on Facebook

The bait situation in this area has gotten really good as well. The stilt houses just outside the Cotee River in the New Port Richey area has been consistent for over 3 weeks now and bait on the edge of the inside flat around Anclote Key has really gotten easy in the 3-4 foot depth over the past week. All you have to do is chum with a little bit of canned jack mackerel to get it balled up behind the boat to cast net a livewell full of scaled sardines in less than 20 minutes.

I took several repeat clients this week. One of which was Ty and his father from Orlando. The last time I took them, it was in the dead of winter and all we could do was try to stay warm during their first trip. This time around however, we caught redfish, snook, trout and grouper. The weather was beautiful and the fish were biting. Although the numbers of fish weren’t as high as previous trips this week, we got into several really nice sized reds and a trout about 22″ long. Ty got a slam (technically… dad hooked Ty’s red but Ty reeled it in). Ty caught hos own snook and his own trout that day so I’m saying he got an inshore slam at 7 years old. Great work Ty!

Earlier in the week, we got in to large numbers of trout. The keepers came less frequently as the week progressed but earlier in the week, we had days where we could have limited the boat out 4 times over.

The redfish are up on the flats. Look for the mullet. One day we caught all our reds within 10′ of shore and that’s where the mullet were also. Later in the week, the mullet seemed to be 30-75 yards off the shore and that’s where we found the redfish then. If you’re not fishing around the mullet schools, you may be missing the redfish right now.

The trout mostly came on the edge of flats near the passes between the barrier islands. Look on the grass flats inside the passes near Honeymoon Island, Anclote Key, and Three Rooker Bar. You should find enough keepers to fill your limit as well as get into a few monster spanish mackerel.

We have a cold front passing through tonight. The bite could change… in fact, I expect it to. Wind speed and wind direction plays a huge part in both bait catching as well as catching fish. Pay attention to the weather forecasts. West winds will dirty up the water in exposed areas in the NPR/Tarpon Springs areas. Look for the fish in areas of clean water. Especially trout. Trout don’t seam to like the dirty water near the passes during and shortly after these fronts dirty up the water there. Look for places nearby that are protected from the wind and still has clean water.

Redfish are beginning to group up the the New Port Richey and tarpon springs areas. Fish around mullet school and your should get plenty of shots on reds.

Lay off the snook if you can but you shouldn’t be surprised if you get into some good ones around the Gulf Harbor areas. Edges of channels and docks are producing the best snook bites. Also be sure to check creek mouths and just inside the creeks on a leaving tide.

Check out some pictures from recent trips and be sure to hit me up is you have any questions you’d like to have answered on the air during this week’s radio show.

Share on Facebook

Claire loves to be on the water and today was her lucky day. She got her first “Inshore Slam”. I don’t think she knows what a big deal that is but she loved doing it none the less. I tried to tell her that there are adults who live and fish here and have never caught a redfish, snook, and trout all in the same day. But all she could think about was how “big” her fish were. She later told mommy that “today was the best day she ever had”. Made me grin REAL big.

Cade loves fishing. He’s been on “family fun” fishing trips and one other fishing trip with just dad before. And, we have spent countless hours bass fishing in the neighborhood lakes. But, it’s looking like he’s getting so into fishing that I could take him on most of my scouting trips, no problem.

Anyway, on to the fishing. Bait was extremely easy to get. It’s has started to show up every where in the central Pasco area and I threw the net 3 times and had between 800 and 1000 sardines. We decide to sit right there in the bait spot for a few minutes and the kids wore out the ladyfish and a few trout.

But, the reason for the trip was to check on some red, snook and trout spots so after bending a pole on ladyfish, we headed south. The first spot didn’t take long to produce. Both kids got hooked up on some medium sized snook pretty quickly. Shortly after that, they each got a few redfish. Then they really enjoyed catching the 5lb jacks that came through. Cade said he thought they fought like tarpon. I didn’t argue with him.

So after catching several snook and redfish and putting our limit of redfish in the boat, I told them we should head home. To my surprise (after 4 hours of fishing) they weren’t real happy about quitting fishing but we headed that direction anyway. When we got near the Cotee river, I asked them if they wanted to try to get some keeper trout before we actually head in? They both gave me an emphatic headshake and “yes”.

So we headed over to a spot that had a lot of milling mullet around and we pitched our sardines out towards the mullet school. It wasn’t long before Claire got another red. then cade got another redfish. Then Claire got the Trout of the day, measuring 22″ long.

By then, it was 3:30pm and dad was getting tired so we headed back to the dock. The fishing is really getting good. The water is cooling off (feels cool to the touch) and the weather is really gorgeous. If you’re looking to get into some redfish, snook, and trout. Right now, and the next couple of months, will all be a great time to get out there. Be sure to give me a call for your next fishing charter. 813-300-2147

Share on Facebook