The Egmont Ship channel has been active this week. Lots of bait is around the markers and predatory fish are there feeding on the bait.

Brandon Cochran, fishing with Larry Mastry, caught a 45 pound amberjack slow trolling big green backs around the bait schools. It took Cochran 45 minutes to subdue the giant amberjack on 20 lb. test line. Amberjack are normally caught around wrecks and high structure farther offshore, so this was a surprise for all on board.Also included in the catch with the amberjack was a 35 lb. kingfish and 5 others in the 20 lb. class.

Spanish mackerel, big jack crevalles and sharks in the 100 pound range are also feeding in the ship channel.

Permit and big amberjack was the catch of the day for Capt. Tony Cellamare and party. Live crabs did the trick on the permit, while live pinfish and blue runners fooled the AJ’s. Cellamare was fishing wrecks and structure in the 90-100 foot range.

Capt. Billy Miller is limiting out on big keeper grouper just about every trip in the 35- 40 foot depths off St. Pete. Miller likes to anchor over rocky ledges and live chum for 10-15 minutes before dropping a live white bait or green back to the bottom. Lately the wait has not been that long as the grouper came to the top chasing the live chummers signaling it was time to fish. An unweighted top line also caught kingfish along with hungry grouper.

Shark fishing is red hot in Tampa Bay. Capt. Joel Brandenburg hosted the “Hooked on Fishing” film crew and baseball Hall of Famer Wade Boggs on a daytime shark fishing trip this week. Using fresh cut mackerel and 30 pound class spinning rods, we released 4 big black tips sharks in the 6 foot range in a mornings fishing.