Snapper and Snook Among Many Tampa Fishing Options

Vince Tice of T A Mahoney Co. in Tampa said anglers are reporting a nice speckled trout bite in the Fort DeSoto area and along the South Shore.

He was the no-motor zones of Wheedon Island also has been on fire for snook and redfish.

"Also, all along the east shore of Tampa Bay from Picnic Island north, there is a lot of bait with some trout and cobia," Tice said.

North of the Howard Frankland Bridge, he reported good bites of snook and redfish; waters south of the bridge has reportedly held cobia.

Tice said there were reports of some big snook in the creeks north of the Courtney Campbell Causeway.

Also, he said there have been on-and-off tarpon and pompano bites at the Gandy Bridge and tarpon at the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

"The grouper bite has been good offshore -- trolling or bottom fishing," Tice said. "The amberjack are strong, too. And if you go deep enough -- say, 95 feet of water and deeper -- there are mangrove snapper and a few yellowtail snapper. But the gag bite has been off the hook."

Gag grouper season in state waters (within 9 nautical miles offshore) is scheduled to close June 1.

Anglers can keep two gags no less than 22 inches long.For more information about state fishing regulations visit http://myfwc.com

In freshwater, Tice said the best bite has been on bass on all the freshwater lakes in the Tampa area.