- Access
- By boat or from shore
- Best months
- March to June, September to November
- Species
- Spotted seatrout, Redfish (red drum), Snook, Sheepshead, Mangrove (gray) snapper, Tarpon
State Road 60's causeway across upper Old Tampa Bay between Clearwater and Tampa, with shallow flats along both sides and a charted bridge span. Hillsborough County runs a four-lane public ramp on the causeway. FWC lists the Courtney Campbell reef, concrete placed in 1991 in about 16 feet, about 1 km south of the causeway bridge. NOAA publishes current predictions at the Courtney Campbell Parkway.
How to fish it
Wade or kayak the causeway flats with soft plastics or a float rig for trout and redfish when the water is up. Fish the bridge span on moving water at night for snook and, in summer, tarpon, and the reef rubble for sheepshead in late winter and early spring.
Watch out for: Exposed open water and very shallow flats. There are seasonal slow-speed manatee zones north of the causeway on both the Pinellas and Hillsborough sides.
Rules here: Check the posted manatee zones and FWC's Old Tampa Bay boating-zone map. The rules to check in Tampa Bay inshore waters