Fishing Report

The warm-up this past week brought local snook to life inshore, with just a few degrees making a big change in their behavior and feeding patterns. Meanwhile, hogfish have been very active near shore, along with red grouper.

Slowly moving your bait is helpful for almost any inshore species right now due to those cooler water temperatures, says Captain Dylan Hubbard.

When that water is stagnant and cold, fish aren?t really moving around as much inshore, but if you look for the wind-protected, sun-baked shorelines and that?s where fish are hanging out, trying to stay warm.

The best time to get out there would be between fronts, such as Friday or right behind the front?s weather on Sunday to take advantage of the moving barometer and stronger tidal flows before things get settled in for the week, says Captain Dylan Hubbard of Hubbard?s Marina. Sheepshead and redfish were biting this past week.

Cold air from Canada will push through the Bay Area?s Gulf coast this weekend and have a big effect on our local fisheries, says Captain Dylan Hubbard of Hubbard?s Marina. Fish will migrate into Tampa Bay as far as they can, looking for dark mud to stay warm. Hopefully, they do move, especially the snook, which are more of a tropical species and don?t do well in the prolonged cold. The post-cold front bite should get better mid-week while near shore, especially.

Black drum were more active feeding this past week around the local docks, piers, jetties, seawalls, oyster bars, and some flats. They are similar to sheepshead in the fact that the dirty, muddy, stirred-up conditions seem to turn them on feeding-wise, says Captain Dylan Hubbard of Hubbard's Marina.

Mangrove snapper action is fired up offshore right now. We are seeing some monster mangrove snapper in a big overall size while fishing deeper offshore waters, says Captain Dylan Hubbard of Hubbard's Marina.

Red grouper season is open and off to the races. We aren?t seeing a ton of them near shore right now with cooler waters, but you are able to find them when fishing the deeper near shore areas, explained Capt. Dylan Hubbard of Hubbard's Marina.

Captain Dylan Hubbard says redfish are abundant in back bay areas and residential canals as we kick off 2022. He also says anglers should also be able to find plenty of flounder, snook, trout and sheepshead.

Lane snapper finally re-opened near shore in federal waters. It?s a little early Christmas present for those fishing near shore, where lane snapper are plentiful starting around 40-50 feet and up to 100-110 feet deep, says Captain Dylan Hubbard of Hubbard's Marina.