Fishing Report – Anna Maria Island 7/17/24
With water temps in the upper 80s, Anna Maria Island anglers are finding themselves trying to get in on the early bite to achieve the most action while fishing the inshore waters of Tampa Bay southward to Sarasota Bay.
Targeting snook and redfish along mangrove shorelines and oyster bars is proving to be good, although in many instances anglers are reporting that as the waters heat up throughout the day, the bite is diminishing. In fact, most action or peaks in the fishing are occurring before 10 in the morning. On overcast days, the bite is lasting longer but as a rule if the sun is out the bite is early.
This being said, many anglers are making efforts to catch bait as early as possible to try to get a few of hours of fishing in before the heat of the day sets in.
Anglers that remain out throughout the day are migrating to slightly deeper water after the shallow waters on the flats reach temperatures which discourage the fish to bite as frequently as normal.
Targeting spotted seatrout on deeper flats is an option. In depths of 8-10 feet, trout can take refuge from the warm water by staying deep where the temperatures are slightly cooler. Many trout in these areas are readily taking baits as they are not feeling the heat of the day.
Another option is targeting mangrove snapper. Finding wrecks, reefs or other structure in depths of 10-30 feet is resulting in snapper bites. Small live shiners as bait, combined with a weighted rig to get the bait near the bottom, is resulting in numerous catches of these popular fish.
And, as we approach the full moon on July 21, we should see greater numbers of snapper showing up throughout our inshore waters, making them targetable for all anglers.
So try to get out on the water early for best results. Getting out early and in early are your best approach for fishing inshore in July around Anna Maria.
On my Just Reel charters, I am spending a lot of mornings targeting spotted seatrout as they remain to be the most consistent bite throughout the inland waters.
Fishing deeper grass flats in Tampa Bay during the first few hours of the day is providing the best action with some mornings yielding as many as 20-30 trout being reeled to the boat. Many trout are falling short of the 15-inch minimum although limits of slot-size fish up to 19 inches are making their way into the cooler for anglers who desire to have a fish dinner.
Catch-and-release snook fishing is also going well during the first few hours after sunrise — as long as a good tide corresponds with the cooler morning temperatures. Using small shiners or hatch bait is working best for the snook as they seem to prefer the smaller baits instead of larger. Most snook catches measuring 20-30 inches.
Lastly, I’m catching mangrove snapper around wrecks and other structure, although the true numbers of snapper have yet to arrive.
