Just Reel Fishing Charters Fishing Report – Anna Maria Island 8/28/24
With yet another round of heavy thunderstorms this past week, Anna Maria Island anglers are not only having trouble navigating on the island but being out on the open water.
The vast amounts of rainwater funneling out of the Manatee River is keeping our inshore waters resembling the color of iced tea, making the clarity of the water impossible to see through, as well as lowering salinity levels which is making inshore fishing challenging.
The best bet this week is to focus on redfish and spotted seatrout.
Anglers using live bait such as shiners or pinfish are finding redfish along mangrove shorelines and around residential docks. Cut baits such as ladyfish or mullet are yielding results, which can come in handy if finding shiners is difficult.
As for the trout, many reports are claiming trout are spread out in large areas. This being said, casting artificials, such as soft plastics on a jig head is a great approach, as one can cover a large area drifting and jigging. If a school of trout is located, casting live shiners as bait is working, but those large schools of fish are hard to come by so casting artificials can be advantageous.
Moving into the Gulf of Mexico to target bottom species such a snappers, grunts and hogfish is slightly more consistent than the inshore bite. Using live shrimp or live shiners as bait is yielding a variety of species when fishing the nearshore reefs and ledges.
And for those willing to go the distance to fish the offshore waters in 100-plus feet reports of red snapper are a frequent catch. Limits can be caught as well as other snappers including yellowtail and mangrove.
On my Just Reel charters, I’m keeping busy while fishing the inshore waters around Anna Maria Island.
Limits of spotted seatrout are being caught although I’m having to make quite a few moves to get those limits. Many small trout and ladyfish are filling the gaps between catches of keeper-size trout. Fishing along mangrove shorelines is yielding action on both catch-and-release snook and redfish, but again, frequently switching spots is required to keep the bite going.
Finally, blacktip sharks are being found on the grass flats which adds some variety to the bite as well as some intense battles on medium spinning gear.
