Snook harvest season reopened on the Gulf coast September 1, and the timing is right: the bay is full of bait, redfish are ganging up on the flats, and water temperatures are just starting to ease off the summer peak. This is the front edge of the fall run on Tampa Bay, and the next six weeks are the best fishing of the year.
What’s Hitting
This week it is snook and redfish in equal measure. Snook are on the mangrove points, the passes, and the bridge lights, and they are eating with the season open and the bait thick. Redfish schools of 20 to 100 fish are working the flats around Weedon Island, Fort De Soto, and the upper bay grass flats on the higher stages of the tide. Spotted seatrout are best at dawn on the deeper grass. Mangrove snapper are still thick on every rock pile and bridge piling, and there are tarpon rolling in the bay near the Skyway and the shipping channel edges.
Where to Find Them
Fish the mangrove shorelines of Weedon Island and the Cockroach Bay area on the incoming tide for snook, then move to the flats as the water floods for redfish. Fort De Soto and the Pinellas Point flats are holding schooling reds. The Skyway Bridge pilings and the Gandy and Howard Frankland bridges are producing snapper and snook. Tarpon are along the Egmont Channel edges and off the Skyway at first light.
Tides & Conditions
Bay temps remain in the upper 80s, so the fish are active early and late and sulk through the middle of the day. The strongest incoming tides this week push clean Gulf water up the bay and pull redfish up onto the flats to feed. Storms build inland by early afternoon and drift toward the coast; the mornings have been calm. Watch for any tropical disturbance moving into the Gulf.
Tackle & Tactics
Live pilchards or scaled sardines are the currency of Tampa Bay in September. Chum a spot with a handful of live bait, then free-line one on a 1/0 circle hook and 30-pound fluorocarbon. For schooling reds, a gold spoon or a paddle-tail on a light jig head lets you cast ahead of the school without spooking it. Night snook at the bridges want a white flair hawk or a swimming plug worked against the current.
Local Intel This Week
Public ramps: the Fort De Soto ramp, the Gandy Bridge ramp in St. Petersburg, the Williams Park ramp in Riverview, and Cockroach Bay ramp in Ruskin all put you on productive water. Fish are concentrating on the mangrove edges and upper-bay flats, with the passes holding snook on the outgoing tide. Snook season is open with a slot and a one-fish bag, and a snook permit is required — check current FWC regulations before keeping any fish.
This Week’s Tip
When you find a redfish school on the flat, resist the urge to run the boat up on it. Stake out or pole to 60 feet ahead of its line of travel and let the school come to you. One good approach beats ten blown casts.
More Tampa Bay Resources
All Tampa Bay fishing reports · Seasonal fishing calendars · Submit your own report
Planning a trip to Tampa/St. Pete?
This report tells you what happened. ReelAI tells you what to do about it — a briefing for your date, your target species and how you're fishing, built from our reports plus live NOAA and USGS data.
Powered by ReelAI — fishing.digital's intelligence layer. Answers are generated from fishing.digital reports and public NOAA, NWS and USGS data, and may be incomplete or out of date. Regulations and marine safety information are summaries only; always confirm with the responsible authority before you fish.