Manatee River - Manatee, FL Fishing Report on 23rd May, 2026

Aaron Miller was my guest on Saturday. Our goal was to jump a Tarpon or as many as possible in an afternoon. We tried different methods, live bait, catfish chunks and dead bait. We did a lot of boat riding, hitting all the usual spots. The Skyway Bridge on the lower Tampa Bay, Egmont Key north and south passages and Anna Maria Island. I told Aaron we should run down to Longboat Key Pass. His reply was are you tired of burning gas? Sorry when I have a goal it is not about the fuel expense. It's about the hook up! We fished a couple of old school known spots in the river and struck out. It was getting late in the afternoon at the last stop. I flipped a live bait up against the trussell then bam! There was a boat driving by. I saw a jump but did not identify the fish. I said DANG Aaron this is a monster Snook. We have caught some big Snook in the river over the years. Aaron said no we accomplished our goal. That's a Tarpon. We were light line fishing with twenty pound brain and 20 pound fluorocarbon. Then the break off. I said man that was awesome. Then Aaron hooked up and broke off on the jump. We put on hooks to jump another Tarpon and a break off. I said, I am going to put on 30 pound fluorocarbon leader. In 30 minutes we had five bites, five jumps and one leader touch breaking off on 30 pound test line. What a long day but what a day! Not to mention the 25" Gag and 20" plus inch Sea Trout we caught earlier in the day! That's Fishing!