June Flats Fishing in Tampa Bay

The full moon was still hanging low in the western sky on an early June morning as I left the dock in my Carolina Skiff J16 to fish the flats of Tampa Bay. I took a quick run to the Terra Verde bridge and with a few casts of my Cracker bait net I filled the baitwell with threadfins and pilchards. Just in time for the first light of morning to begin illuminating the horizon.

I headed to an immense grass flat, keeping my eyes pealed for schools of mullet. It didn't take long to see them. Covering an area nearly the size of a football field was a huge school of mullet. I motored upwind and drifted through the school casting a gold jig that resembles a shrimp. The first two casts landed two large trout. Lately I've been killing the trout first thing in the morning when I can find the schools of mullet out on the open flats in three to four feet of water. The trout will follow the mullet feeding on shrimp and baitfish the mullet stir up. The sun was just starting to rise by the time I had three fat trout in the cooler.

Next stop, redfish. I cruised around a mangrove island to a deep channel that runs against a mangrove edge with a dock house that looks completely out of place on this remote stretch. I cut up a ladyfish I had caught while trout fishing and put a chunk on my jig head. Tossing it up under the shade of the dock it was only a matter of minutes before I was wrestling a big fat redfish around the dock pilings. Thanks to PowerPro line I was able to pull it around a piling and into the boat, a beautiful 24 inch redfish. I would have stayed for more but I had ambitious thoughts of keeping a limit of trout and redfish and then going for a grandslam with a snook and a tarpon.

Earlier in the week I had hooked a big snook on a ladyfish while fishing a small jetty near the Skyway bridge. I motored back out to the deeper flat to catch a fourth trout and hopefully a small ladyfish for snook bait. The trout came easy enough but I couldn't find a ladyfish to save my life. It's funny how that works, usually I catch them all day long but when I'm trying for them they are illusive. After catching a bunch more trout, I decided I would have to settle for threadfins and pilchards in my quest for a snook and tarpon. I burnt the rest of the morning fishing the Skyway with only a shark to show for my efforts. So much for the vision of completing my first grandslam. I realized I was having more fun on the flats so I went back.


The tide was now all the way in so I started at the dock where I had caught the redfish and pulled my way along the mangroves, throwing a white jig against the line of submerged roots. It wasn't long before I connected with a pretty little redfish. As I came around a corner I realized that I wasn't the only one working this edge. A group of dolphins were coming towards me, ambushing mullet stacked up against the mangroves on the high tide. They would explode on the fish, often throwing mullet ten feet in the air before eating them. It was cool to watch but didn't help the fishing much.

The sun was now high and the wind was kicking up so I decided it was time to go home and see what the family was up to. My little boys were excited to see my catch, Judah always likes handing me each fish before I filet it. After getting everything cleaned up I asked what they wanted to do, "Go fishing!" was their reply. Not feeling up to hooking the boat back up, I took them down to Joe's Creek and helped them dig up a bucket of worms. They slayed the little bass, catching well over a dozen of em' along with some bluegills. Like father like sons!