Recently, I took a new member of the Freedom Boat Club out for an introductory fishing tour of Tampa Bay. We spent the morning at the Bahia Reef fishing at the bottom with live shrimp. The fireworks began 15 minutes later with both of us catching snook. By noon, we had caught 10 Snook (20-24″ which we released) and a number of Sheepshead. Gary, who has been an avid fisherman all his life, turned to me and said, “That was the best day of fishing I’ve ever had.” I wish I could say that everyone who goes fishing with me has the same response. Suffice it to say, we live in one of the best places to fish in the country.
It’s different than fishing in lakes and rivers that most of us are use to but there are plenty of folks willing to share what they’ve learned. There are lots of fishing clubs you can join. One of my favorites is the Freedom Fishing Club that meets on the 3rd Tuesday of every month at the Elks Club in Ruskin (7 pm). The Cast Away Anglers is another favorite in the same area. There are others all around Tampa Bay. Most have websites that are full of useful information to help you in your journey to be a great fisherman.
Another good source of information is from the professional charter captains in our area. They give regular reports on their websites about what’s biting and how to catch them. Cyberanglers is a great website that has a link collating all of their information. Click here to see what they are saying.
