Tampa Bay inshore fishing is great year round but the early stages of Spring always provide great action for anglers who enjoy using artificial baits. The bait on the flats is hard to find and the fish are super hungry, aggressive and eager to strike anything thrown in front of them. Jason Wightman from GrandeTarpon.Com, Alex Burnett (my website developer) and myself linked up for a last minute fun fishing trip my first week back home from guiding in the Low Country of South Carolina for the last seven years. Jason, myself and Alex have been fishing together for close to fifteen years, so this was more about having fun. Being back for only a few days, I never made a trip to the tackle shop to get soft plastics I use for inshore fishing in the Tampa Bay. With that being said, my East Cape Fury was only equipped with soft plastics I had been using in Charleston South Carolina, colors and patterns that I have never used in Tampa. Our go-to-bait on this day was the Trout Trick made by Z man baits paired up with an eighth ounce mission fishing jig head tied on to a 6 foot 15 lb fluorocarbon leader ( i like long leaders in clear water or dirty, I’ve just always tied super long leaders). Before Jason showed up to Kingfish boat ramp on Anna Maria Island, Alex and I push poled each other around a pristine grassy flat with gin clear water site casting snook that were staged up in sand holes waiting for something to cross their paths. I believe we caught about 5-6 Snook ranging from 20-28 inches before Jason finally showed up, mind you he is also a full time inshore guide, artist and father to two kids so him sneaking away for a fishing trip on Wednesday afternoon is not always feasible. Once Jason was on the boat, we ran south of Cortez Florida to a large grass flat that is known to few for being a great estuary for Trout, if you haven’t caught a large Speckled Trout on artificial bait you are truly missing out! They hit a soft plastic like a freight train and provide a lot of action and rod bending fun! While catching Trout and missing a few( A famous guide always told me you miss 50 percent of the Trout you actually catch which is very true!) the big Jack Crevalle’s showed up and put on quite the show while exploding on bait we casted into the water. One thing I forgot to mention is how I like to find my Trout. I will start up current or up wind, depending on which is stronger and make long drifts while casting until I start getting hits and or landing fish. At this point I will anchor or power pole down and fish that area until the fish are finished eating or you have caught all of that fish in that area. If you find a big enough flat, you can do this for hours and catch upwards of a hundred trout on a good day. Back to our day of fishing, although we did not get the Tampa Bay inshore slam or catch 40 inch Snook, it was a great day spent with some of my best friends. Rods were bent, jokes were made and we learned that Snook in the Tampa Bay really like purple worms! 
