Winter 2020 Fishing Around Anna Maria Island

—What a weather roller coaster ride, here on Anna Maria Island, in January! We started out January 2020 with record setting heat, only to plunge into the 50°’s on most days, during the latter half of the month! 

—I started out the month fishing many of the same areas that I was frequenting in December.

Anna Maria Fishing Report-January 2019

—Late January usually finds some pretty good sheepshead fishing here around Anna Maria Island and Tampa Bay, and 2019 is no exception. Sheepshead are a great winter-time target. They will feed aggressively when most of our other local species are sluggish from the cold water. Sheepshead are also fantastic on the plate, sporting firm, white, flaky fillets.

Anna Maria Island Fishing Report – January 2018

Anna Maria Island Fishing Guide
Captain Aaron Lowman – January, 2018
Tripletail

—January in Cortez, Florida is the height of stone crab season. The commercial fisherman who make a living catching stone crabs usually have several hundred, to several thousand traps in the water at any given time. Each of these traps is marked with a unique identifying float. These floats are what I am interested in.

Anna Maria Island Fishing Guide – January 26, 2016

Anna Maria Island Fishing Guide
Captain Aaron Lowman – January 26, 2016
Tampa Bay, Sarasota Bay, Anna Maria Island Waters
Sheepshead, Mangrove Snapper, Redfish

 
This latest cold snap has finally started to push the big sheepshead into the bay. I’ve found them this week between 5 to 20 feet on docks, rock piles, reefs, wrecks, and edges. Live shrimp on a light knocker rig or jig head has been the ticket for hooking the tricky sheepshead. While looking for sheepshead, we are also catching mangrove snapper, flounder, and grouper. Plenty of action and good eats out in the bay this month, book a trip while it’s happening!
 

Anna Maria Island Fishing Guide – January 9, 2016

Anna Maria Island Fishing Guide
Captain Aaron Lowman – January 9, 2015
Tampa Bay, Sarasota Bay, Anna Maria Island Waters
Hog Snapper, Grouper, Pompano

 
—Hope that everybody had a great New Year! Despite the poor weather lately, fishing has been good. Redfish and sheepshead have begun to show around docks and structure. Shrimp or fiddler crabs are a killer sheepshead bait, and when paired with shiners or small pinfish, you should be able to catch quite a few of both species. Pompano are also trickling in, and can be caught near sandy areas using jigs or shrimp.

—Offshore fishing has been productive, and we have been catching red and gag grouper, hog and mangrove snapper, sheepshead, and an occasional cobia or kingfish. Sharks are also still around, and are usually eager to eat a dead bait.
 

Anna Maria Island Fishing Report – Captain Aaron Lowman -01-25-15

Anna Maria Island Fishing Report
Grouper/Snapper
Captain Aaron Lowman – Fishing Report – January 24, 2015
Captain Aaron – (941) 465-8932

Anna Maria Island Fishing Report: Captain Aaron Lowman-01-29-2014

Anna Maria Island Fishing Report-Pompano
Captain Aaron Lowman – Fishing Report – February 5, 2014
Captain Aaron – (941)-465-8932