We will be staying in Clearwater / Indian Rocks beach for a week at the beginning of August for vacation.

We did a shorter trip last year, and enjoyed the hell out of it.

Charter fishing sucked, but we caught a wide variety of fish from shore/sandbar everyday. We'll be fishing from the beach again as much as we can - if you have a lure or rig you'd recommend for targeting larger species it would be appreciated.


We checked out a few of the local restaurants and bars, and general area - but didn't get into much of the museums/attractions/touristy stuff.

My wife and I *might leave the 2 year old with his grandparents, and check out Disney for the day.

Additionally, me and the FIL *might* get a wild hair and drive down to Islamorada to check it out and possibly go fishing.

Any local hotspots or things not to miss? We don't mind driving a little ways to hit an attraction.

Thanks in advance!

You can hit the salvador dali museum..  Interesting character.  http://thedali.org

Breakfast at Maggie Mae's on Sand Key.

Try the Corned Beef Hash.



http://maggie-maes.com/



Spend some time at Fort Desoto.

Fort Desoto had lots of,good wade fishing.

It's hot as blazes,,so get there early.  

As far a lures, a light jig head 1/8 or so with a paddle,tail DOA lure. Maybe green or,darker,with a little sparkle.  

Lots of snook stacked up right now.  Tons of reds.  

Fishing has been great

Take a trip on the Sea Sceamer.  My kids went on it for a field and it's a blast.  

Florida Aquarium is good too.  

I wouldn't recommend Disney in August.  You'll  roast over there.  

The keys are awesome, but it's a freakin haul down there.  Plenty of good fishing around Tampa Bay.

Appreciate you guys concerned about us roasting... But I'm coming from working construction in Houston, and my wife works on roofs sometimes

Super Power Building, Ft. Harrison Hotel, Sand Castle.

The flats around the Skyway are great. Make sure to have one rod for using cut pins or ladyfish.
Another great place is the flats between the Howard Franklin and the Gandy.

Also...you can rent a kayak for $35 a day from Canoe Country in St Pete on 54th Ave.

If you want to catch snook until you are tired of them book a trip with The Mad Snooker Captain Dave Pomerleau.

Busch gardens in Tampa is a heck of a lot closer than Disney.

The Ft Harrison in downtown Clearwater is hq for Scientology, hell half of downtown is owned by them.

You can get a kayak fishing trip set up right near IRB at Hubbards marina in johns pass.

And if you really want to hit the keys, the key west express boat is an option.  You would still have to drive south an hour or two to catch it.

If you want to do some offshore fishing, my buddy has a charter business out of Clearwater and is reasonable and will put you on fish

2 Shea Charters

Has 3 nice offshore boats.