Fishing Anna Maria Island-February 2019

  Fishing around Tampa Bay and Anna Maria Island this time of February can really be a challenge when the cold winds are whipping. I had to re-schedule some trips over the last couple weeks but all in all we have been able to catch nice fish in the backwater areas. On the cold, windy days, fishing around docks in the Intracoastal Waterway or Holmes Beach and Longboat Key canals has been very productive for sheepshead, black drum and redfish.

   On nicer days, in addition to dock fishing,  we have been fishing deeper grassflats from Terra Ceia Bay to Sarasota Bay, concentrating on trout but also finding some pompano. The artificial reefs in Sarasota Bay and Tampa Bay have been good fishing for sheepshead, black drum and mangrove snapper.

   A few days so far this month were calm enough to venture out into the Gulf to try our hand at bottom fishing for snapper, and hogfish. We used both live shrimp and frozen shiners for bait and caught a nice mess of fish each time.

   Looking forward to spring weather. It’s right around the corner!