Tampa Bay Area May 12-14, 2016

[BryanC]

My brother Brett flew down from Minnesota last Thursday, May 12 for a couple days of fishing.  His plane touched down at 1:29 pm.  We departed the Tampa airport shortly before 2:00, drove 25 min back to my house, loaded up the boat, headed to the ramp, and were on the water at 3:15.  We ran out to a wreck west of Anclote Key in 65' to try for amberjack on vertical jigs.  The fish were all over the wreck, and we got plenty.  I ended up with the biggest of the day, at about 38-39".  My tape measure decal only goes to 36", but it was at least a couple inches past that.  My brother caught more fish than me though.  After getting a few on jigs, he switched over to a popper and ended up catching two at one time on a Frenzy popper.  After having enough action with the AJs, we spent a little time trying to get a red grouper, but did not find them.  Brett did catch a red snapper, which was released.


Me with a 38-39" AJ


Two at a time on one popper!


Red snapper (released)

The next day (Friday), my buddy Tommy joined us and our main target was snapper.  We were also hoping for some red grouper, but didn't end up finding them (again).  We kept a total of 12 snapper: 6 yellowtail & 6 mangrove.  I'm not sure who caught the most, but Brett got the biggest of each snapper species.  The minimum size for yellowtail snapper is 12", but we decided at the outset that we wouldn't keep any under 14".  We released about 15-20 that were in the 12-14" range, so perhaps we could have had a snapper limit (10 per person, 30 total) if we had kept the little ones, but I prefer to release those.  We also went to a wreck in 55' with hopes of finding some permit.  We did not find them, but we did get a couple more amberjack, including a big one by Tommy @ 43", which is rather unusual that shallow in our area.


Mangrove snapper


Yellowtail snapper


43" AJ

On Saturday, my son Luke joined Brett and me.  The seas had kicked up compared to the previous two days, and we had already put enough meat in the freezer, so we decided to knock around the bay for some low-key fun fishing.  Luke caught a couple jack crevalle, and I got a large black drum, and we all got a few other "trash" fish.  We enjoy catching them, even if they aren't highly desirable species.


Luke with a jack crevalle


Black drum

[Dominick]

That's the way to do it.  Dominick

[Steve-O]

Nice!

Bet that drum was hog to pull in.

Thanks for sharing.

[ChileRelleno]

Now THAT is a Big Ugly! 

Looks like some fun fishing and great times with family.