Last Updated on April 8, 2026 by Capt. Bucky
Well, it’s Spring time here in Tampa Florida and the fishing couldn’t be any better. Everything seems to be firing off, but like typical, the wind blows. It is that time of year that nature uses the wind to disperse the seeds from the trees to mark the start of new growth. Unfortunately, that means we can get some pretty nice breezes, especially later in the day. Right now, I am writing this post after cancelling today and tomorrow’s trips, because its blowing 20 to 25 mph. It’s usually not that windy, but when it is, it really sucks. Small craft advisories make it not safe to operate our vessels, and on top of that, if something were to happen, it voids our warranties and insurance. Better safe than sorry.
I have been out 5 of the last 7 days and fishing couldn’t be more consistent. I haven’t been making long runs in case the winds pick up. Typically, I am fishing the creeks mouths and getting out on the flats in skinny water and working areas really hard as the tides come in. Higher tides are usually later in the day and early evenings. I am trying to maximize fishing time and limiting runtime.
Bait has finally started showing up on the grass flats and that’s a good thing besides having the clean up afterwards. Scaled sardine and pinfish have been plentiful, but will soon be widespread as the waters keep warming up. Water temps are in the mid-70s and that’s great for this time of year. I have been working the flats stretch by stretch. Fish and area and then move up a bit, fish and area and scoot up. Most of my redfish and snook have come this way. I like to power pole down. Throw out some live pinfish and chum a handful of white bait in intervals to see what starts happening. Being patient and waiting it out for 15 to 20 mins seems to be the trick. If something starts hitting the chummers, I throw one out in the direction of the blow up.
I have been starting my days in the creek mouths focusing on speckled sea trout. The bite has been excellent, both on white bait and paddled/curly tailed jigs. Smaller white bait has been better for the trout coupled with a small split shot. Trout have been in the 14 to 20” range, easily catching our limits if desired. I am going to focus on my last charter to give you an idea of how it has been going!
Monday, I had Aaron and his 15-year-old son, Harrison from California, out for an epic day. They wanted to mix up artificial and live bait fishing so we started the day throwing jigs for trout. Claiming they are experienced fishermen. I took the first cast to show them how to work the jig ad I hook up with a nice 17-inch trout. Took them about 5 casts each and a little coaching to get it down and work it properly, but once they did, they landed 30 or so trout. When that bite slowed down, we switched to live bait and they caught another 30 plus trout. Biggest came in at around 19 inches. Switching gears, we went to target snook and reds at another spot in the creek. Harrison caught his first redfish at around 25-inches, but nothing much was happening.
We picked up and went to the flat that I have been working hard and got to work. When we got there, I shut down and started trolling motoring across the flats until I started to see signs of mullet. Once we did, we stopped and started fishing. Nothing much was happening so we picked up and moved another 100 yards and again we started to work the area. I chucked out three nice pinfish and occasionally threw out white bait chummers. Aaron was up first since he also had never caught a redfish. I told them to leave the rods in the rod holders and let “Rodney” do the work. Rodney the rod holder, he never panics. They were reluctant at first until the first rod doubled over and Aaron landed his first redfish at around 29-inches. Meanwhile, while fighting that redfish, the second rod goes off and Harrison has on a decent little snook.
After that it was on. We were catching singles and a few double headers of reds or reds and snook combined. I believe we landed 7 or 8 reds and just as many snook. The catfish were filling in the gaps between bites. Now the highlight of the day was when Aaron hooked up to a nice red and then a second pinfish absolutely got crushed. Harrison quickly grabbed the rod for an epic battle with a 34” redfish. Going to be hard to beat that one.
The rest of the day went on like that with a consistent bite. Most of my days have been going along much like Monday’s trip. Being patient and working areas hard. Fish are moving around a lot this time of year and instead of chasing them down, wait for them to come to you. Find areas on the flats that have plenty of active life around. Lots of stingray, besides the mullet are good indicators that there is food in the area that redfish love to eat. We ended the day on a quality snook for Harrison!
My April is almost completely booked up for what I can take and still allow my wife to get her hours in at her job, which I have to say is a bit more important than my charter business. Fishing doesn’t come with a steady pay checks and benefits, just the benefit of doing what I love and sharing it with others to create memories that will last a lifetime. If you are looking to book a trip please don’t hesitate to call. Calling and booking with me directly will save you money from online booking fees. Looking forward to our next adventure here in beautiful Tampa Bay!
Capt. Bucky Goldman of Bag’Em Fishing Charters. 407-977-7650
