Anna Maria Island Fishing Report – December 2017

Anna Maria Island Fishing Guide
Captain Aaron Lowman – December, 2017
Grouper, Hogfish, Snapper

—What a month here on Anna Maria Island. December of 2017 was one for the books. Near perfect fishing weather most of the month allowed me to escape the confines of Tampa Bay, and plow some of the the nearshore reefs and ledges.

—This can be some of the most fast and furious fishing you’ve ever seen, with bites every drop, within seconds of the bait hitting bottom. I’m fishing areas of natural “live bottom”, which is just an area of limestone bedrock that has become exposed above the surrounding sands. This rock then becomes pock-marked and undercut in areas by the currents. Sponges, soft corals and many different algeas colonize these areas as well. This makes the perfect territory for hogfish, mangrove snapper, different groupers, porgies, grunts, king mackeral, sharks and more.