Tampa Bay has incredible opportunities for both fishing and diving. Inshore we have snook, redfish, trout, flounder, sheepshead, black drum, tripletail, cobia, tarpon, bluefish and more. Offshore anglers have access to a variety of snapper and grouper species, hogfish and permit. Of course, you can also catch virtually any shark that you want as well. You can dive for scallops or go spearfishing for any of the aforementioned offshore species. There is just so much to take advantage of in Tampa Bay.
About Tampa Bay
A little bit of background before I launch into my adventure. The Tampa Bay watershed covers approximately 2,200 square miles (5,700 square kilometers) and includes parts of several counties in west-central Florida. The watershed encompasses:
- Hillsborough County
- Pinellas County
- Pasco County
- Manatee County
- A small portion of Sarasota County
Major Components
- Tampa Bay Estuary: The central feature of the watershed, Tampa Bay is the largest open-water estuary in Florida, covering about 400 square miles. It serves as a critical habitat for various marine species and a key area for recreational and commercial activities.
- Rivers and Streams:
- Hillsborough River: A major tributary that flows into the northern part of Tampa Bay.
- Alafia River: Another significant river flowing into the southern part of the bay.
- Little Manatee River: Also contributes to the watershed and flows into the southern bay area.
- Other smaller rivers and streams: Including the Pasco County streams and creeks that flow into Tampa Bay
Hitting the Water for Scallops
This year, Pasco County has been given an extra 10 days of bay scallop season which started on July 10th. The limit is 2 gallons of unshucked scallops per person, per day. Thus far, it has been a good year with people getting limits easily. We were able to get three gallons, for two people. This was plenty of scallops for two, which is great since I hate cleaning them.
I will skip past the ins and outs of scalloping, but if you want to learn more about it, you can read my piece on that here.
Cooking them was simple. They were delicious morsels on the half-shell, the cleaned meat was placed back into the washed-out shell with garlic, shallot, olive oil, butter, and breadcrumbs and topped with cheese, then baked in the oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.
Fishing for Tampa Bay Redfish and Snook
The next day I met up with my friend Chris Sexton to go chase reds and snook in his Maverick skiff.
We began stealthily polling a shoreline in a secluded corner of the bay, and after going about 50 feet, I spied a snook floating on the surface at the edge of the treeline that was completely unbothered by our presence. I made my false casts and landed the fly a few feet in front of the fish, I then proceeded with quick, short ticks to bring the fly and intercept the fish’s line of site. He was more than happy to oblige.
After this we each traded rat reds that crushed our offerings within five feet of the front of the boat. What’s even cooler is the fact that we were doing this with six-weight rods, which made the fight much sportier.
We continued polling on and had many more “almost eats” where fish chased flies to the boat and then turned off at the last second. However, we came around a bend where Chris sighted a big red sitting in a cut in the mangroves. My cast was on point and he zoomed immediately to the fly, eating it before it even sank! The fight was electric as he continuously tried to take me into the bushes, however, I was able to turn him and end up fighting him in deeper water, safely away from obstructions.
As we stealthily moved through the flat, eventually we came upon our quarry once again. Chris called out a fish a few feet off the bow, I silently laid my cast a few feet in front of the belly-crawling fish. As the fish drew closer to the fly, at the last second I gave it one bump to “jump” the fly and the fish pounced on it immediately. It wasn’t the biggest redfish, but he was pretty healthy and put up a great fight in shallow water.
In Conclusion
The bay has faced some hardships in its time, most recently the Piney Point incident, and the downtown area and shipping channels unfortunately seem to be loaded with floating trash at times. However, for the most part, the bay has been healthy, with lots of great fish to be caught, bait all over the place, and a TON of scallops in the northern part of the region. You can read another blog about this sportsman’s paradise here.
If you’re interested in how you can help the bay stay healthy, Tampa Bay Waterkeeper and Tampa Bay Watch are two great organizations that do a great job of protecting, monitoring, cleaning up and working to create an even brighter future for this amazing estuary.
Until next time, tight lines!
