‘I’ve never seen so many.’ There’s more snapper than ever in Tampa Bay, anglers say.
Captain John Gunter has been fishing Tampa Bay for more than 25 years, and this year has provided something he’s never seen before.
He specializes in mangrove snapper and gag grouper around the bay, but a few surprises have him and other captains providing a unique opportunity.
“I’ve talked with several other veteran captains and they’ve never seen it like this either,” the Palmetto-based Gunter said. “Every buoy, crab trap, debris, marker… pretty much any structure or floating thing seems to have a tripletail on it.”
Over the past month, mangrove snapper have been the main species Gunter has targeted with his anglers, and that has been as good as it gets.
During the past week, each of his trips had limits of snapper — with big ones in the mix — fishing the edges of the shipping channel.
“It’s been insane. Some days they’re eating everything when the conditions are right. Using a 1/8-ounce jig head, I couldn’t put a big enough pinfish on. Some of the snapper have been bigger than 20 inches in the bay,” explained Gunter.
“I talked with divers who said they are swarming and there’s more snapper than he’s ever seen on any spot right now in the bay. I haven’t been chumming because that brings the dolphins in, and when the dolphins come in we might as well move.”
After catching snapper, that’s when Gunter does a little searching. Standing high atop the tower of his 26-foot Andros he has been checking every piece of structure he sees and as a result the tripletail are near.
“Running between the Skyway and Manatee River there was a styrofoam cup floating in the water so I went by. There were three tripletail on it. The biggest was 22 inches and the others were 17 and 18 inches. We’ve been catching a lot of fish just under the 18 inch size limit, but a lot of keepers too. Usually we can target tripletail when the stone crab traps hit the water in October, but this time of year I’ve never seen so many.”
For tackle, Gunter has been using the same bait and rigging for tripletail as he has mangrove snapper. He gets his anglers up wind to make a cast in front of the eager prehistoric looking fish that love to float on the surface near structure.
“Small pinfish on a jig head,” he said. “If the current is slow and they’re on the surface, you’ve got to put it right on them and they’ll find it. The tripletail are super aggressive and fast growers so seem to eat everything.”
Captain John Gunter can be reached at +1 863-838-5096.