North Pinellas: Stewart Ames

The fall bite is beginning to materialize and will only get better.  The first kingfish of the year showed up about two weeks ago and, mixed in with these were jumbo mackerel and large bonita.  Some anglers may feel that fishing for grouper and snapper will produce a better dinner, and rightfully so, but catching a mixed bag of 20 – 30 fish where the smallest is 3 lbs and the largest is 15-20 lbs is hard to beat from the entertainment perspective. With that said, near shore gag grouper are still available here and there, as are the snapper.  As of the writing of this report, a cold front has just arrived with another to follow shortly.  The winds associated with these fronts will upset the fishing in the near term but expect the fishing to be even better once things have settled down.
Running back inshore on the last few charters has produced consistent catches of redfish (of all sizes), small to medium snook and a few large sea trout.  The redfishing should hold up for a while, the snook will become more difficult once the real cold weather gets here, but the big seatrout will arrive in abundance….likely in very good numbers based on the lack of harvest of this species over the last few years.  Good luck and good fishing.

Captain Stewart Ames
GONE FISHING CHARTERS
P.O. Box 541
Crystal Beach, Florida 34681
727 421-5291
https://Tampa-Fishing-Charter.com