Welcome to our Tampa Bay, FL Area Fishing Home Page
The Tampa Bay area and its beaches provides tourists with a nice variety of entertainment and recreation. The mild winter temperatures, tropical summers, beautiful beaches and stunning sunsets keep people coming back.
The fishing can be excellent with many inshore and offshore opportunities. Anglers can catch a variety of different fish such as redfish, sea trout, tarpon, grouper, snapper, sheepshead, sharks and more. If you can’t get on a boat, there is still some excellent surf and pier fishing available throughout this area.
Inshore Fishing
The Tampa Bay area is one of the most popular inshore fishing destinations in all of Florida. With all of the water here, it can definitely be overwhelming to a first timer, so you may want to hire a fishing charter your first time out. There are several bridges, bays, docks, canals, mangroves and numerous flats to fish in this area. Some of the popular fish to catch inshore are snook, redfish, sea trout and tarpon. However, there are so many more fish that you can catch here. The tides play a huge role in whether or not you will catch fish inshore. Moving water is key for most species of fish and the slack tide usually provides the worst fishing conditions for most fish.
Nearshore Fishing
The nearshore fishing is very good in the Tampa Bay area. Whether you head just outside the bay or run along the beaches, there are a variety of fish that you can target here in the nearshore waters. Some of the popular fish to catch are tarpon, grouper, snapper, kingfish, cobia, goliath grouper and several others depending on the season. The time of year will dictate what fish will be more prevalent, but you can catch fish nearshore year-round in the Tampa Bay area.
Deep Sea / Offshore Fishing
The fishing is very good offshore in the Tampa Bay area. This area is very popular and there are so many deep sea fishing charters here to take you out on a fishing trip. The target species will vary depending on the seasons, but this area will provide plenty of action for something year-round. The popular fish that are targeted here are grouper, snapper, cobia, king mackerel, permit, amberjack, mahi mahi, tuna, barracuda and goliath grouper, but there are so many other species of fish that you can catch.
Surf & Pier Fishing
The surf & pier anglers have so many options in the Tampa Bay area. This area is huge, so there are several miles of beaches to fish, piers, bridges and even some inshore areas where you can wade the shallows waters as you target redfish, sea trout, snook and many other species of fish.
Fishing the Beaches of Tampa Bay
The beaches of Tampa Bay area are home to one of the most popular beach destinations in all of Florida. Even with all the people during the peak travel seasons, there are still plenty of places to fish. From the surf, most anglers usually fish for whiting, pompano and redfish, but depending on the season, you may also be able to catch Spanish mackerel, black drum, flounder, sheepshead, sharks and other species of fish.
Fishing the Piers of Tampa Bay
The Tampa Bay area has some excellent fishing piers and bridges to fish. This area may be the best in the entire state of Florida for anglers that want to fish from a pier. The Skyway Piers are very popular and your best bet for access to deeper water. Anglers catch snook, grouper, mangrove snapper, pompano and pretty much everything in between.
Popular Shore Fishing Spots
Long Pier (Redington Shores, FL)
Merry Pier (St. Pete Beach, FL)
Pier 60 (Clearwater Beach, FL)
