Hillsborough River: Great Fishing Challenges for Snook, Bass and More

Mike Conneen was having himself a time. “Look at all the fish down there!” he exclaimed, while a fat, hooked bass leaped into the air, then tried to burrow into the branches of a fallen tree. His rod was bent, his drag complaining. “There must be ten or twelve more of them behind this tree!”

It was our first trip to the Hillsborough River, and even with the obstacles we had to work our way around and through, it was going well. I’ve been back several times since then, and it has been more or less the same every time but the last one.

The Hillsborough River, an Outstanding Florida Waterway, comes out of the Green Swamp, flowing mostly south (with a hitch to the west) for about 55 miles before sharing its water with Tampa Bay. The river flows through a rapidly developing area, receives water from numerous springs (the largest of which is Crystal Spring), flows over rapids through Hillsborough River State Park, gets dammed and so forms a lake (Hillsborough River Reservoir) that supplies most of Tampa’s drinking water, and then flows through “root-stabilized riverbanks (that) modulate slowly into erosion-mitigating piles of rocks and masonry blocks, and finally into the cement seawalls that contain the river as it passes through what a journalist once described as the ‘densely packed canyons of commerce’ of downtown Tampa,” according to writer Thom Foley. There are also canals associated with the lower river.

More on the Hillsborough River

The Hillsborough watershed covers roughly 675 square miles. Most Florida rivers flowing out of swamps are called blackwater rivers due to the high levels of tannins in the water. Technically, the Hillsborough deserves this name. But all those springs add so much spring water that the river looks quite a bit lighter in color than most other blackwater rivers. Until recently, a six-mile stretch of river downstream of the state park, known as 17 Runs, was unmaintained, a paddler’s obstacle course. Trees fell into the river and stayed there (the unmaintained part), creating impassible obstacles for all but hand-powered boats. Even for paddlers, it was an exceptionally difficult stretch that folks not uncommonly got lost in. Need I mention that all that lumber in the water provided superior fish habitat?

Due to the flooding from Hurricane Milton (Oct. 2024), the state went into that stretch with heavy equipment and cleared it out. Some bean-counter felt that the obstructions in the river contributed to the flooding. What actually contributed to the flooding was paving so much of the watershed—water can’t permeate concrete and asphalt, and so rapidly runs off. Homeowners demanded that politicians “do something” about the flooding, and cleaning out this stretch of river is what they did. It will flood again, the next time a Milton-sized storm arrives.

Recreation on the River

There are lots of fish in the Hillsborough River! According to FWC Fisheries Administrator Eric Johnson, “The river can be broken into two main sections: the stretch above the dam and waters flowing below. Above the dam, you can catch a bunch of different types of freshwater fish like Florida bass, black crappie, gar, bowfin, channel catfish, brown bullhead, bluegill, redear sunfish, redbreast sunfish, spotted sunfish, warmouth, and several other small fishes. For panfish species, you can’t go wrong with ultralight gear and small jigs, beetlespins or just plain old worms/crickets on a hook fished around cover like tree roots, snags, deep holes and vegetation.

“Florida bass can get very large in the river, so the appropriate bass tackle is often needed with a stout rod/reel and heavy line. Biologists have sampled bass up to nine pounds in some sections of the river using electrofishing gear. For bass, fish the main river and side canals/cuts with topwater lures like frogs/rats as well as spinnerbaits, spoons, jerk baits and rubber worms.

“Where the river becomes a reservoir above the dam, fish it like a typical Florida lake and look for underwater structure and vegetation along the banks to target fish. Anglers flip heavy vegetation mats with crawfish/bug type rubber lures and catch some nice bass.”

From Snook to Bass

Eric goes on to say, “Below the dam the river becomes more brackish and tidally influenced. You can catch freshwater species there not far below the dam but the further you go downstream, the more saltwater species you will encounter. Anglers catch lots of snook, tarpon, seatrout, jack crevalle, ladyfish and sheepshead amongst other species like saltwater catfish and sharks. Basically anything that can swim up in the river out of Tampa Bay is subject to being caught. I’m sure docks, bridges and seawalls around downtown Tampa are good spots to fish.”

The biggest bass I’ve seen here have been in deep holes in the state park. While you can’t run the rapids here (unless you don’t mind being arrested), the park has three kayak launches. There are plenty of other limestone outcroppings besides the rapids in this stretch, with deep holes between them. The big fish love the deeper water, especially now that all the logs have been cleared out.

Hillsborough River State Park offers camping, glamping, hiking, biking, picnicking, paddling (rentals available), wildlife viewing, and more. Explorers and history buffs can find the re-creation of a Seminole War fort on the property.

For paddlers, a 30-mile designated Paddling Trail runs from Hillsborough River State Park to Rowlett Park in Tampa, and it’s fishable the entire distance. The middle section of the Trail is the most popular for paddling and during the cooler months especially, offers some of the best wildlife viewing in the State. And of course in the larger, deeper sections of the river, motor vessels work well, too.

• A detailed map of the river can be found here

Some Hillsborough River History

The history of anyplace in Florida starts with pre-Columbian history. So far as we can tell from geological evidence, the river has been flowing for about 25,000 years. Humans began living here about 12,000 years ago. Those first people were paddlers, hunters, fishermen. When you fish from a paddle vessel here, you are merely continuing a tradition that has been passed on through millennia.

There is evidence that the Green Swamp served as a major transportation hub for all the pre-Columbian people of Florida. Today, it’s mostly overgrown, but four rivers begin their journeys here. With slightly higher water levels (and Florida had not yet been ditched) and some maintenance, all of these waterways could have been connected through the swamp, allowing paddlers to travel literally up, down, and across the peninsula.

Tampa Bay and the mouth of the Hillsborough were some of the first places in Florida explored by the Spanish. Once the Spanish arrived, the Timucua people who lived here then didn’t last long, due to slaving and disease. It’s believed that deSoto’s ill-fated expedition crossed the river around 1540. The first logging started in 1757, when Don Franciso Maria Celi surveyed the Hillsborough River up to the current Temple Terrace area seeking pine to make masts for his ships.

The Indians we call Seminoles began moving into Florida during the late 1700s. They were mostly survivors and renegades from other southeastern tribes who had been defeated and/or forced to move. The Seminoles welcomed runaway slaves into their ranks, making them even more unpopular with the white settlers than they would have otherwise been. The Army was called in to remove them. It proved a difficult task.

In 1836, Fort Foster was built to guard the Hillsborough River crossing of the Fort King Trail, a road of strategic importance to the Army and the settlers during the Seminole Wars. The road connected Fort Brook in Tampa to the Seminole Agency at Fort King (Ocala). The Army built a bridge over the river. Although the Seminoles attacked the fort (several times), and tried to burn down the bridge, they could not maintain their hold on the area and retreated farther south. A recreation of the fort, the Fort Foster Historic Site, can be found in the state park.

During the Civil War, some blockade runners used the river to hide their vessels. Because only small cargoes were able to slip past the blockade and because the blockade runners risked imprisonment and total loss of assets, only a few dared try the blockade-running business. But those that did it successfully became some of the wealthiest men in Tampa. A dam was built on the river in 1895 to supply hydroelectricity to Tampa. Local cattle barons, unimpressed and upset by the loss of grazing land, dynamited the dam a few years later.

In the late 1800’s the valley of the Hillsborough River was a land covered by a rich, old-growth forest. Majestic bald cypress trees soared several hundred feet into the air. Some of these trees were more than 3,000 years old.

Lumber companies perfected a way to get these trees out of the swamps, and by 1920 most of the valuable trees had been removed. The harvesting of the old cypresses altered the ecosystems they dominated. Trees such as water ash and water locust were able to quickly grow in the sunlit spaces created when the cypress was removed. The riverine swamp forest we see today has quite a different ecology than the original which had existed along the Hillsborough for ten to fifteen thousand years. Although cypress trees are making a comeback, it might be a few thousand more years before that old growth forest is re-established.

In 1923 a water treatment plant was built near the dam (which had been repaired) to utilize the water supply for drinking. In 1935 Hillsborough River State Park opened, preserving some of the land in the valley from development. In 1961, in response to both population growth and widespread flooding caused by Hurricane Donna, the State of Florida created the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD), an independent special district of the state of Florida.

Environmental Issues Facing the River

In many ways, the Hillsborough River is much better off than some other Florida streams—the Miami, Kissimmee, St. Lucie, and Caloosahatchee Rivers come to mind. It’s certainly not all peaches and cream on the Hillsborough, though. Upstream of the state park, an onslaught of residential building is happening south of Zephyrhills. At the time of this writing, where all the stormwater from these projects will go is not known, but untreated stormwater, containing all the sediment and chemicals from roofs, lawns, roads, and parking lots, has ruined many a stream.

Anyone who has visited Tampa can see lots of stormwater finds its way into the river. Most of that Tampa construction happened before it was realized how polluted stormwater could be. All the concrete that replaced the original marshes doesn’t filter that stormwater, at all.

After Hurricane Donna’s floods, the new SWFWMD and the Army Corps of Engineers came up with a plan (the Four River Basins Project) to tame four major rivers of the Green Swamp: the Hillsborough, Ocklawaha, Withlacoochee, and Peace Rivers, as well as their extended river basin areas, an area of nearly 6,000 square miles. The Tampa Bypass Canal was the only portion of the Four Rivers project to be completed.

The first section of the canal was completed in 1968. The essential “moat” around Tampa was finished in the early 1970s, and the final section was completed in 1983. Water from the Bypass Canal has been used to augment the city’s reservoir during dry seasons.

Polluted runoff from industrial sites on both sides of the canal became concentrated and swiftly moved into McKay Bay, where circulation problems had existed since the 1920s. Circulation problems were exacerbated when Palm River was channelized for the Bypass Canal project. The Tampa Tribune reported in 2005 that the Bypass Canal contains sediment laced with carcinogenic materials such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and two pesticides considered toxic to bottom-dwelling creatures.

Pollution had long been synonymous with the community of Orient Park, situated along the west bank of the former Palm River, now the channelized Bypass Canal. With both rail and port access, the area evolved into an industrial zone, and came to be considered home to one of the largest clusters of toxic waste sites in the state. Runoff from these sites gets into the Bypass Canal, which is then sometimes used to augment Tampa’s drinking water supply, hardly an ideal situation.

I found this information (which I highly condensed) online in a very well-researched document written by Thom Foley in the Hillsborough County Water Atlas, a wealth of information about Hillsborough County waters. Readers wanting more information should read “Taming of the Hillsborough River” by Mr. Foley.

On my most recent trip to the Hillsborough River, I was shocked and dismayed that all the fallen trees had been removed. As I paddled upstream from Sargeant Park, the bottom looked flat and featureless in the early morning light. I paddled for over an hour, looking for the lumber, before I finally (and sadly) concluded it was all gone. Then I started fishing my way back, concentration on sunfish.

The Hillsborough may well be the best stumpknocker river on the planet. When I switched from a bluegill bug to a bass bug, I kept getting stumpies! How such a small fish can get such a big hook in their mouth remains a mystery to me.

As the sun got higher I switched to spin tackle and soft plastic—more stumpies, along with numerous modest-sized bass. And with better light I realized that there were still holes. The river bottom still had fish-attracting topography. Since I don’t live nearby, I was unable to learn much about it. The big bass are still there someplace. I lacked the time and patience to look for them.

Writing this piece made me realize that this river has a lot more area for me to explore! The river and its adjacent wetlands are incredibly beautiful, and most of the pollution problems are well downstream in the urban areas. The Hillsborough River remains a true Florida gem.

Hillsborough River Access

From the state park downstream there’s plenty of access. Upstream? Not so much.

• Hillsborough River State Park, A canoe/kayak launch is available at parking lot #4.
• Dead River Park, 15098 Dead River Rd., Thonotosassa. A canoe/kayak launch is available.
• John B. Sargeant Memorial Park, 12702 US 301 N, Thonotosassa. Concrete ramp capable of handling boats to up to 20 feet. Canoe Escape offers paddle vessels for rent here, too. 813-986-2067
• Morris Bridge Park, 13630 Morris Bridge Rd., Thonotosassa. The ramp is a concrete slab designed for small boats, canoes and kayaks.
• Trout Creek Park, 12550 Morris Bridge Rd., Thonotosassa. Paddle vessels only.
• Lettuce Lake Park, 6920 E Fletcher Ave., Tampa. Paddle vessels only. The park has canoes/kayaks available for rent.
• Rotary Park, 8000 E. Fowler Ave., Temple Terrace. Concrete ramp capable of handling mid-sized boats.
• Riverhills Park, 329 S. Riverhills Dr., Tampa. Ungrooved concrete slab capable of handling boats up to twenty feet in length.
• Rowlett Park, 2401 E. Yukon St., Tampa. Adjacent to a major dam that spans the river. Paddle vessels only.

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This article was featured as a “Florida Gem” in the August-September issue of Florida Sportsman magazine. Click to subscribe.

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