The pristine waters of Egmont Key in Tampa Bay offer some of the best fishing around. Maurading schools of snook, redfish, trout and jacks are common. Tarpon can be found all up and down the beach in the summer. Of course, don’t forget the myriad sharks always on the prowl chasing these gamefish.
I joined Coast Del Mar on their One Coast Tour, which has been traveling all up and down Florida’s West Coast cleaning up the coast in the wake of hurricanes Helene and Milton. Working for the IGFA, with Costa as our partner, I was called upon to help.
Cleaning Up Egmont Key
While many areas have been cleaned up or are being attended to, Egmont represents a unique challenge. The recent hurricanes have deposited all manner of debris on the island, and since it is only reachable by boat, the cleanup has been less than ideal. Partnering with Captain David White, we hopped on his boat and took off to the island to find some trash trophies.
We found a ton of building debris, which we unfortunately couldn’t move without heavy equipment. However, we removed many miscellaneous items such as couch cushions, paint cans, plastic trash and more.
Egmont Key FishingÂ
After we had a successful day of gathering trash, we decided to take advantage of the great tide that was taking place and go catch some fish. Catching fish is an understatement, we slayed.
Captain Dave had two livewells blacked out with choice greenbacks as well as a fly rod rigged and ready to go.
Thanks to several handfuls of live chummers, the bite quickly turned on. Jacks and trout began aggressively crashing baits on the surface. Every bait casted was crushed, of course jacks, reds and trout happily took flies as well.
After working through the trout, reds and jacks, the snook started chewing.
The snook and large trout (20+ inch fish with one being 25) were simply relentless. Multiple slams came in the boat – we must’ve caught 50 fish.
In ConclusionÂ
Egmont Key has some of the best fishing in the bay. It is a beautiful, nature preserve that’s just a little bit cleaner, thanks to the IGFA and Costa Del Mar.
Be sure to support these two great organizations, and also, give captain David White a call for some awesome inshore fishing action.
Until next time, tight lines.
