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It’s Hot in Tampa Bay… But July Fishing is Hotter! By Capt. Joshua Taylor | Salty Scales Fishing Charters July fishing comes to a close. If there is one word to describe the fishing throughout Tampa Bay at the end of July, it would simply be productive. While many anglers assume the Florida summer heat slows the fishing down, Mother Nature has thrown us a curveball this year. The steady afternoon thunderstorms and frequent rainfall across Florida’s west coast have cooled water temperatures just enough to create some phenomenal fishing conditions throughout Tampa Bay. Over the past several weeks, every trip has offered something different, but one thing has remained constant, the action has been outstanding. Whether we’re targeting speckled trout on the shallow grass flats at sunrise, easing into the mangroves for aggressive redfish, or anchoring over structure to fill the cooler with mangrove snapper, the fish have been cooperating in a big way. We’ve even been surprised by a few cobia crashing the party and some quality flounder adding variety to the day’s catch. As a full-time guide, I spend nearly every day on the water, and these are the conditions we wait for. The combination of abundant baitfish, cooler

Tampa Bay Mangrove Snapper Fishing Is Red Hot as the Full Moon Approaches If you’ve been waiting for the perfect time to target Tampa Bay mangrove snapper, now is the time. The past several days have produced some of the best  Tampa Bay mangrove snapper fishing we’ve seen this summer, and today’s trip was another perfect example of how productive late June can be when everything comes together. With a waxing gibbous moon sitting at roughly 91 percent illumination and the full moon only a few days away, tidal movement has increased dramatically throughout Tampa Bay. That stronger current has fish feeding aggressively around bridges, reefs, ledges, channel edges, and rock piles. This morning, I headed out at daybreak with one client aboard the Salty Scales Fishing Charters boat. Since there were only two of us fishing, we only needed one angler’s limit of five keeper mangrove snapper. The goal wasn’t to catch numbers—it was to catch quality fish quickly and spend the rest of the morning exploring other opportunities around Tampa Bay. Starting the Morning on the Grass Flats Like many successful summer fishing trips, the day started with bait. Before ever making the run offshore, we stopped on