Why a rainy Tampa Bay is the ‘absolute best fishing conditions we might get all year’

A rainy start to September and low pressure in the Gulf of Mexico has sent rounds of rain to the west coast of Florida for most of the month.

Every morning, the radar colorfully lights up with strong storms, but relatively light winds have made the ability to fish very doable. And these are the absolute best fishing conditions we might get all year.

When summertime low pressure occurs, it can often send fish into a feeding frenzy. Combined with the mostly overcast skies and rain-cooled waters, we have been experiencing a recipe for easy fishing.

In the past week, I’ve experienced a bit of this epic fishing across the flats. When I talk about epic fishing, I mean the ability to catch a variety of species because they all want to eat.

The biggest snook I watched caught this week swam into our spot only about 20 feet away from the boat. It ate the first bait, but missed the hook when it jumped. Another bait pitched behind it was then also eaten! But once again, it spit the hook.

Finally a third bait didn’t last long in front of the snook as it ate once again. This time the hook stuck and a 32-inch line sider was landed! This has occurred again and again over the past few rainy weeks.

Each trip has started with easy bait, albeit small and needing a 1/4-inch mesh cast net to not gill, but perfect for a few throws and then ready to fish with a full live well.

When bait is acquired, the debate becomes what to target. I keep 2000-4000 size spinning reels rigged with light braided line and 20-pound fluorocarbon leader and size 2 Owner circle hooks. Smaller hooks are needed to allow small baits to swim naturally.

Snook seem to be on nearly every oyster bar, pothole and shoreline with moving water. With a few rounds of chum, they don’t stop eating.

On one day, we caught 30 on a dock in 45 minutes. The next day, we landed 20 on an island — with one being 31 inches — in less than an hour. The following day, an earlier trip meant a lower tide, but fishing deep holes beside an island resulted in another 40 snook in just over an hour while leaving them biting.

Then there was the snapper. Many captains have noted this has been one of the best years they can remember for mangrove snapper while fishing in Tampa Bay. But recently, they have taken over the flats, and that seems to happen when hatch bait appears in the summertime.

We almost landed limits of mangrove snapper each trip without even trying to catch them. They were up in the mangroves and on oyster bars mixed in with the snook and redfish, something that only happens this time of year.

Most fish are in the 10- to 13-inch range, and catching a handful makes a great meal.

And finally after getting “bored” of catching snook and snapper, there is the crown jewel of the fall flats fishing. Big schools of redfish have made their way inshore, part of the yearly migration from the Gulf of Mexico when the nearshore salinity drops.

There were a few landed each trip while fishing up near the mangroves. But searching the edges of flats is where the big, breeding fish are schooling. Keeping a keen eye for water movement can lead to a pot of red gold.

When the sun finally came out, allowing more visibility, I went in search of redfish before coming across a school of probably 600 fish!

When this happened, I unloaded the live well as small bait rain for their lives and redfish came crashing all around the boat. These schools fish move fast, so getting them to stick around can be difficult.

Having a gold spoon or plastic jig ready can allow for a long cast and is often the easiest method for getting into a school that can disappear by the time a live bait is rigged.

The biggest we were able to land were fish around 35 inches, extremely fun on light tackle!

No matter what you want to target, fishing right now is as good as it gets. Don’t let the threat of rain keep you away from the water. More often than not it makes fishing even better!