Fishing Report Anna Maria Island – 7/31/24
With the water temps in the Gulf of Mexico and the bays reaching upwards of 90 degrees, Anna Maria Island anglers are fishing early to beat the heat and find fish that will bite. Targeting and hooking spotted seatrout, redfish and catch-and-release snook is requiring a little patience — to say the least.
Timing your fishing trips during early mornings to correspond with moving tides is advantageous as we move into August. If that doesn’t fit your schedule, you better plan on fishing deeper water where consistently cooler temperatures exist on the bottom.
Fishing structure in depths of 30-50 feet is an option. And snapper are beginning to infest our nearshore waters, which provides anglers with some good action on medium-spinning gear as well as some tasty fillets to be later fried in hot oil.
Other species such as lane snapper, Key West grunts and juvenile grouper can be found in these depths, which adds some variety to the bite.
Fishing baits toward the surface may also entice Spanish mackerel if you’re looking for more action. Chumming with live shiners is effective to see if any macks are in the vicinity.
Offshore, mangrove snapper and yellowtail snapper are the main focus now that American red snapper season has ended. Both species are being caught with frequency. In fact, limits of both are being reported. And, with the opening of amberjack season in the Gulf, you can bet it’ll be time to start breaking out the heavy spinning gear to commence battle with these bruisers as they patrol the reefs and wrecks in search of a meal.
On my Just Reel charters, I’m seeing action on a variety of species. Spotted seatrout are cooperating during the faster part of the tides with all sizes of trout being caught by my clients.
Deeper grass flats are holding the better concentrations of fish, although most are 13-16 inches. Larger examples are being found on structure in depths of up to 20 feet.
We are catching decent numbers of mangrove snapper, with most catches measuring 12-14 inches, although some up to 18 inches are being caught by lucky anglers.
Fishing mangrove shorelines for snook and redfish is requiring some patience as water temps are on the high side. In fact, the better snook bite is occurring along the beaches and passes. As for the reds, mangrove shorelines are holding fish that are hiding in the shade under the bushes.
