June 2018-Summer Fishing Anna Maria Island

—The weather, and fishing, here on Anna Maria Island has been phenomenal throughout the month of June.
—Calm seas and clear skies, have allowed my clients and me the opportunity to spend some time fishing near shore (up to 9 miles offshore) in the Gulf of Mexico. Out there, I’m looking for spanish mackerel, mangrove snapper, gag grouper, permit and cobia.
—And the inshore fishing scene has also been hot, (literally)!  The snook and seatrout bite has been real good. We’ve been starting very early in the morning because it starts to get pretty hot and muggy back in the Bay by late morning.
—Afternoon tarpon and permit trips are a great way to “beat the heat,” and try something different and exciting.  It’s usually much more comfortable than the morning trips, due to the sea breeze later in the day. Both tarpon and permit love to eat pass crabs. Pass crabs are a silver-dollar sized swimming crab, that can be caught on-site, when conditions are right.
—I start out these trips by scooping up plenty of these crabs as they get flushed out of the bay on strong outgoing tides. Then it’s a short ride to a few local near shore wrecks and reefs, to find permit.
Tarpon can be found right where the crabs are being swept out of our local passes including Egmont Key, Bean Point, Longboat Pass and New Pass.

Summer snook.

Hot tarpon action!

Tasty permit