Fall is in the air and the fish can sense it's time to feed because "winter is coming".  The water temps have dropped about 8 degrees in the past two weeks and the weather is much milder as Summer comes to a close.  

The bite has been fantastic for Snook, Trout, and the Redfish are starting the migration into upper Tampa Bay.  Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you view it, all these species are out of season due to the horrific Red Tide we experienced in 2018 that devastated all three species along the west coast of Florida.  They are scheduled to reopen in 2020.  We were very lucky in Tampa Bay as the Red Tide never made it up into the bay and it stayed off the coast and along the beaches.  We had a very rainy period during that bout of Red Tide and I believe that kept Red Tide out of Tampa Bay.  So, with the newly implemented "closed season" the fishing has been excellent.

Mangrove Snapper, Grouper, Flounder, Mackerel, and Cobia are all in season if you are looking for some fish to put on the table.  Personally, I only keep what I can eat fresh and I encourage my clients to do the same.  Fresh fish is so much better and it's a great way to do your part in conserving the resource.

 This past Sunday (October 13th) I took another busman's holiday and went off shore with some friends to try and catch some Red Snapper.  We left at 3am and 26 miles off shore we spotted a red flare .... we alerted the Coast Guard that there was a man aboard the distressed vessel that needed medical attention. ** If you see someone in distress you need to help them - it may be you the next time.**  We were asked to stay with the vessel until they arrived.  The USCG  arrived an hour later in a "small boat" and we headed to our Red Snapper spot.  Three hours off our planned arrival time we dropped our lines at 10:30am at our first spot.  I caught an 80lb Cobia (see below!) and we caught and released several undersized Red Snapper.  We hit a few other spots but the seas were high and we made the best of the day.  We finished up with Lane Snapper, Yellowtail Snapper, and Mangrove Snapper but no keeper Red Snapper.  We think they were in deeper water but with the day getting late and the sea conditions we had to head back to shore before dark.