Tampa bay fishing focuses on snook in the spring and early summer months, however the highly revered game fish is available to be caught during about 8 months of the year. These fish prefer water temperatures of seventy degrees or above so once water reaches down into the mid sixties, anglers best target other species. The beautiful specimen pictured above was actually caught in October and secured first place in a local fishing tournament. The lady angler, who had never before caught a snook, played this large fish like a pro and had it boat side within about 5 or 6 minutes. As the fish was "over-slot", it was quickly photographed and released. Snook can only be kept during five months of the year and also have a slot limit of 28 to 33 inches, so an angler must really hit the bulls eye if they want to take home a fine tasting snook for dinner.

This Tampa Bay fishing excursion started with the captain searching high and low for a nice redfish. Although several quality fish were sighted, none chose to eat. As the clock ticked toward mid day, the captain realized that it was time to go catch a snook…not just because one was needed for the tournament…but because that's when the snook were biting. Due to some advance scouting, the captain knew that several large snook had been holding behind a spoil island on the inter-coastal waterway and had been feeding just before the high tide. As is typical in Tampa Bay fishing for snook, large live baits were deployed for the three anglers in the boat. These baits were cast and free-lined through the same area repeatedly. After about fifteen minutes, there was a huge boil off the bow, and the fight was on. Ironically, a small redfish and several sea trout were also caught at this location which, when combined with the snook, won the overall combined length prize as well.

The key lesson to be learned from this trip is that there is a definite methodology to Tampa Bay fishing for snook. Get out on the water, find the snook and then fish to them until they eat. Most important of all, once they eat, record the exact phase of the tide at which they ate as, nine times out of ten, they will eat at this same tide time every day until either the fish move to a new location or the weather changes significantly. Having a group of snook "dialed in" is a Tampa Fishing Guide's dream, because, as long as it lasts, he knows he will have happy customers.