The view is breathtaking; the Sunshine Skyway Bridge spans 5.5 miles long over Tampa Bay in Florida from St. Petersburg to Terra Ceia. It was constructed from nub steel and concrete and cost $244 million to build. The bridge was opened up to traffic on February 7, 1987. While the massive bridge towers overhead, it’s only a back drop to the real breathtaking giant that lives in the emerald-green Gulf waters below.
A long line of anglers were lining up and boarding the 85-foot “Two Georges” party boat that was getting ready to depart. The group of anglers was a collective mix of young, old, couples, and groups of friends. Anticipation was running high among the anglers hoping to catch and keep a grouper since the season was closing the following day. The captain and owner of Dolphin Deep Sea Fishing, Jesse Zuban, was taking Two Georges offshore to some deep water reefs that were loaded up with grouper. Before leaving the dock, a bait man came around selling live pinfish; a tasty treat grouper love to eat. With everyone on board, we were going offshore deep sea fishing.
The view was breathtaking from the 5th floor balcony. The sun was setting and rays of light were fading as a rainbow of red, purple, and orange beams bouncing off the Gulf emerald-green waters. Below, the boats waved gently back and forth in the cool breeze. The Village Marina at Little Harbor was filling up with boats. The well protected harbor across the bay from St. Petersburg serves as a docking marina year round, renting slips for transit boaters or guests of the Resort at Little Harbor who brings their boat down during their stay; it’s open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week. These slips have all the amenities any boater would need including power, water, high speed internet, phone service, and cable TV. With over 90 fixed Brazilian Ipe wooden docks that can fit up to 60-foot boats. Finding the Village Marina at The Resort and Club at Little Harbor is easy since its right next to the resorts bayside condominiumand located off I-75 at the Ruskin exit.
Anglers fishing for Big Bass can catch them in a number of ways from artificial to live bait. If you wanted to catch a giant bass on a big trout imitating swimbait you would go to Lake Castaic in California; if you wanted to catch a monster bass on a live wild golden shiner you would go to Florida. There are a number of lakes where monster bass get caught every year on live wild golden shiners in Florida. Lake Okeechobee or the St. Johns come to mind, but these lakes are inundated with anglers, even during the week. One lake consistently overlooked is Lake Tarpon located next to Tarpon Springs, Florida, just north of the St. Petersburg and Clearwater area. The 2,500 acre reservoir holds the unofficial state largemouth record at 19.6-pounds. Lake Tarpon is always ranked in the top ten best fishing reservoirs in Florida. If an angler is not catching giant bass, they are probably catching fish in the 14-inch to 22-inch slot limit. On Lake Tarpon an angler is only allow to keep one bass over the 22-inch slot limit.
It’s been said that catching fish on topwater lures is the ultimate way of catching fish. If so, then fishing on the flats is the ultimate extreme, the X-Games of topwater fishing. Flats like the thousand of acres located around Tampa Bay in Florida has an abundance of redfish, snook, tarpon, and sea trout all willing to smash a topwater lure with vengeance. In fact, it’s not that unusual for an angler to catch an inshore slam, which is a sea trout, redfish, and snook all in one day. It becomes an addiction to catching fish this way. Jason Stock, who lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, is a professional angler, fishing guide, and expert at backwater fishing for any species of fish swimming in Tampa Bay or coastal waters. Stock owns and operates Jm Snooky Kayak Charters out of the Tampa Bay area.
“Look, do you see them?” “They’re right there; three of them circling your bait,” Snooky Bear growled in anticipation of the strike, “just hold your rod steady and when they start swimming off with it, give it a soft hook set and start reeling.” That should be easy I thought, anticipation was at its peak, Captain Art Paiva, aka Snooky Bear, of Ruskin, Florida, had already put my fishing buddy, Ed Chapko, on the first shark he caught. Circling in tight, the shark kept making smaller and smaller circles till WHAM! The shark picked up the bait and started swimming off with it; carefully following directions I reeled in fast tightening the line and set the hook. BAM! Within seconds, and I do mean seconds, 40 yards of my fishing line had burned off my reel and through my rod guides. Wow! It was an unbelievable surge of power and shear strength. I had my first shark ever on, then the line went limp; crap, I figured I had lost it, my line had broke, or the shark had sliced right through the leader. So, I slowly began reeling in the slack line. “Reel, reel, that shark is still on,” Captain Paiva shouted, “look at your line, its way over there.” Sure enough, my line had gone 180 degrees and was now on the other side of the boat. I started reeling in as fast as I could, but the shark was swimming faster past me. Finally, I caught up with it, only to have this powerful Bonnethead shark make four more powerful surges before surrendering. After taking a couple photos, the Bonnethead shark was released back into the shallow water where it was caught.
Destinations
Anglers fishing for Big Bass can catch them in a number of ways from artificial to live bait. If you wanted to catch a giant bass on a big trout imitating swimbait you would go to Lake Castaic in California; if you wanted to catch a monster bass on a live wild golden shiner you would go to Florida. There are a number of lakes where monster bass get caught every year on live wild golden shiners in Florida. Lake Okeechobee or the St. Johns come to mind, but these lakes are inundated with anglers, even during the week. One lake consistently overlooked is Lake Tarpon located next 
to Tarpon Springs, Florida, just north of the St. Petersburg and Clearwater area. The 2,500 acre reservoir holds the unofficial state largemouth record at 19.6-pounds. Lake Tarpon is always ranked in the top ten best fishing reservoirs in Florida. If an angler is not catching giant bass, they are probably catching fish in the 14-inch to 22-inch slot limit. On Lake Tarpon an angler is only allow to keep one bass over the 22-inch slot limit.
It’s been said that catching fish on topwater lures is the ultimate way of catching fish. If so, then fishing on the flats is the ultimate extreme, the X-Games of topwater fishing. Flats like the thousand of acres located around Tampa Bay in Florida has an abundance of redfish, snook, tarpon, and sea trout all willing to smash a topwater lure with vengeance. In fact, it’s not that unusual for an angler to catch an inshore slam, which is a sea trout, redfish, and snook all in one day. It becomes an addiction to catching fish this way. Jason Stock, who lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, is a professional angler, fishing guide, and expert at backwater fishing for any species of fish swimming in Tampa Bay or coastal waters. Stock owns and operates Jm Snooky Kayak Charters out of the Tampa Bay area.
“Look, do you see them?” “They’re right there; three of them circling your bait,” Snooky Bear growled in anticipation of the strike, “just hold your rod steady and when they start swimming off with it, give it a soft hook set and start reeling.” That should be easy I thought, anticipation was at its peak, Captain Art Paiva, aka Snooky Bear, of Ruskin, Florida, had already put my fishing buddy, Ed Chapko, on the first shark he caught. Circling in tight, the shark kept making smaller and smaller circles till WHAM! The shark picked up the bait and started swimming off with it; carefully following directions I reeled in fast tightening the line and set the hook. BAM! Within seconds, and I do mean seconds, 40 yards of my fishing line had burned off my reel and through my rod guides. Wow! It was an unbelievable surge of power and shear strength. I had my first shark ever on, then the line went limp; crap, I figured I had lost it, my line had broke, or the shark had sliced right through the leader. So, I slowly began reeling in the slack line. “Reel, reel, that shark is still on,” Captain Paiva shouted, “look at your line, its way over there.” Sure enough, my line had gone 180 degrees and was now on the other side of the boat. I started reeling in as fast as I could, but the shark was swimming faster past me. Finally, I caught up with it, only to have this powerful Bonnethead shark make four more powerful surges before surrendering. After taking a couple photos, the Bonnethead shark was released back into the shallow water where it was caught.