Saturday, June 27. 2009
The Tarpon bite in Boca Grande has slowed a bit this past week, but that is not the case here in Tampa. Area guides Capt. Harry Connor and Capt. Rodney Martin both report having a great week working the Sunshine Skyway bridge and all along the beaches both north and south of Egmont. Freelined crabs and big threadfin herring are your best bets for steady action. Capt. Shawn Crawford out of the Bradenton area reports in that he and his clients had an exceptional week of Snapper fishing in the bay. Anchoring up on several different rock piles near the south end of the bay, they easily limited out everyday this week. These same rock piles also produced a couple of nice keeper sized Grouper. I spent most of my week preparing for this weekends IFA Pro Redfish tournament out of Englewood. Prefishing the Fort DeSoto and Sarasota areas very hard looking for that perfect school of 26 ¾ inch 7 pound bronze bombers. Plenty of big schools around and lots of action early but as the tides got high and so did the sun my bite slowed. So as is usually the case this time of year fish early or late for best results. This doesn’t always line up the tides right but it remains a good rule of thumb. Plenty of big Snook along the beaches but remember to handle with care as they are catch and release only this time of year. The Spanish Mackeral bite is also still in full swing all over the bay. Catch Capt. Michael Anderson and Capt. Billy Nobles every Saturday morning on News CH8 at 6:30am and Sundays at 11:00am for the Reel Animals Fishing Show and Sunday mornings on AM1040 for Reel Animals Radio 8am to 10am or to book a trip call 1-866-Gamefish.
Tuesday, June 23. 2009
Well the tarpon bite in Boca Grande this week just plain got weird. They didn’t really want to chew the first part of the week but according to Capt. Mike Thursday was pretty good in the harbor, the best all week. For the past couple of week’s threadfin herring has been the bait of choice up there which is weird because we all know that tarpon come to Boca to spawn and eat crabs, go figure. Off shore was pretty insane on Thursday as well. We fished Jim and Kim Crawford of Kansas City, MO our first stop yielded Amberjacks up to 40 pounds. Jim kept on getting robbed or school girled (which ever you prefer) by a huge Jew fish every time he’d hook a grouper. One of the smaller Amberjacks came up and looked like he’d be through an electric scaler our Volkswagen sized friend tried to eat but it didn’t work out for him but it did for us. The next stop brought more AJ’s, Scamp, Yellowtail Snapper, Lesser Amberjacks, Mutton Snapper, Mangrove Snapper and Vermillion Snapper. Earlier we had caught plenty of American Reds on this spot but I guess someone told them the season was open. Captain Gunner Gause is absolutely hammering the big snook on the beaches with his client’s wade fishing using live green backs with fish over the forty inch mark. It’s pretty much that time of year when you can do it all.
I spoke with Captain Rodney Martin of Tampa and he reports that the tarpon fishing in the bay is quote, “Off The Hook!” fishing the sky way they’re catching plenty of tarpon mixed in with cobia, king mackerel, and grouper. The cool thing about fishing there is as hot as it is you get to sit in the shade until your line gets tight. But according to Rodney there hasn’t been much sitting in the shade with all the hot action.
Thursday, June 4. 2009
As you know Captain Mike and I are down south in Boca Grande until the end on this month and maybe a little into July. The tarpon are everywhere; I have never seen so many fish on the beach in my 15 years of making the annual pilgrimage to the tarpon capital of the world. The fishing last week was unreal. I fished Ray Thill, Nate “The Whooper” and Dominic Cendric with one of the best trips thus far this year. These guys hooked up a whopping 23 tarpon. I think the slept good that night. We even had a close call with a 17 foot giant hammerhead, a black behemoth, and captured the whole thing on video. The secret to catching these fish on the beach and up in the harbor is to get by yourself, don’t pull in and get in the crowd. It seems that when the fish are on the hill the pass mentality sets in and the pods of fish get over run with boats and fishermen that just don’t know better. There is a big difference between 50 feet of water and 10.
Off shore Capt. Mike’s been whaling on the Kingfish up to 40 pounds. I think his smallest is 25 with several 30-35 pounders. It seems that every wreck is holding permit with different size fish on different wrecks. For example on wreck will hold 10-15 pounders another 20-30’s and some 40 pounders. The farther wrecks are holding great numbers of greater amberjack and lesser amberjack, scamp, black and red grouper, and snapper.
Our typical day is tarpon in the morning, interrupted midday for the offshore stuff and then one last rally with the silver king in the afternoon.
Be sure to check us out on Saturday mornings on Channel 8 WFLA at 6:30 am and Sunday’s at 11 am. Call in your fishing reports on Sunday’s from 8-10am on ESPN Radio 1040AM and until next week, “Do yourself a favor and take a kid fishin’
Friday, May 29. 2009
The Tarpon and Permit bites are both still on fire down here in Boca Grande. Billy and I have both had a tremendous week of fishing. The usual Tarpon frenzy is in full gear. The jig bite is very good first thing in the morning with the fish moving up on the hill by mid morning and the bite switching to crabs and threadfin herring being the baits of choice. Low light conditions or cloudy days they seem to favor the threadfins as I believe they are a little easier for them to see as they have a lot more flash to them. The boat traffic is fairly heavy with everyone wanting to take a shot at the Silver King but patience and a slow quite approach works best. The bite was so good this week that even my good friend Terry Collins from Pepin Distributing landed a nice Tarpon by 7:30 in the morning on Wednesday. We also had a solid afternoon of Permit fishing on Tuesday with Patrick Catone and the boys from Buffalo Wild Wings scoring some nice slot sized Permit. We found a nice school of about a hundred or so fish working the swash channel right along the beach in front of Cayo Costa. Every crab we could get in them got ate immediately. Few fish put up the shallow water light tackle fight of a permit. I use 30lb Ultracast Invisabraid with a 20 or 25lb flourocarbon leader max. Permit have quite keen eye sight and in shallow water can get a little spooked if your tackle is to heavy. Small pass or blue crabs are the ticket to catching these feisty fish. The bite on Tampa Bay is also going strong with Tarpon stacked up heavy at the Sunshine Skyway pier. The crew from TA Mahoney Co. reports steady action from dust till dawn as long as the water is moving. Check out more of Capt. Michael Anderson and Capt. Billy Nobles every Saturday morning at 6:30am and Sundays at 11:00am for The Reel Animals Fishing Show or catch them on the radio every Sunday morning 8:00 to 10:00am for Reel Animals Radio. To book a charter call 1866GAMEFISH
Friday, May 15. 2009
Tarpon, Snook, Redfish, Trout, Spanish Mackleral, King fish, you want it you got it. Almost all the Bay area species are on the target list. The Sunshine Skyway bridge is loaded up with big Tarpon that are very cooperative when it comes to eating your baits. Big Threadfin Herring drifted back into the tide seem to work best. Sometimes adding a small split shot to get the bait down will help as well. Don’t forget your anchor ball as these fish require fast reaction time if your hoping to land a Silver King. The Big Snook are also staging up nicely along the bay area beaches. Again big Threadfin Herring drifted to them with the tide seems to be hard for them to turn down. A lot of these fish are over the slot limit which means they are almost all females so be very careful when releasing these fish as they are our crossroads to fish for tomorrow. There are also still several big schools of oversized Redfish running around the bay area flats. We caught several on every trip this week with only one fish coming in under the 27 inch slot limit. The fishery is as strong as I can ever remember and has made for an awesome spring of fishing. The Trout bite has been steady as well with most days bringing in a good limit of 17 to 20 inch fish. We have also had several fish over the 20 inch mark which is so good to see in this fishery again. The Bay area bridges and piers are also loaded up with lots of Spanish Mackeral and the Kingfish bite remains steady. Catch Capt. Michael Anderson and Capt. Billy Nobles every Saturday morning on News CH8 at 6:30am and Sundays at 11:00am for the Reel Animals Fishing Show and Sunday mornings on AM1040 for Reel Animals Radio 8am to 10am or to book a trip call 1-866-Gamefish.
Saturday, May 2. 2009
For those of you who love the spring kingfish run, it is in full swing just in time for the King of the Beach tourney. Billy and I made our way offshore twice this week in hopes of finding some steady kingfish action. We loaded up with a live well full of sardines, and we didn't have to venture very far out to find a steady bite. We started about 3 miles out on a bait ball that we spotted where you could actually see the kings rocketing out of the water to devour the baits. Every bait that hit the water was instantly crushed by a schoolie-sized king. Most of the fish we caught were in the 8- to 15-pound range. We fished all the way out to 12 miles, with very steady results. On the inshore scene, redfish remain a steady target, as several schools have shown up down around Joe's Island and Bishop Harbor. Live greenbacks free-lined seem to work best, with the more stubborn fish taking a live pinfish under a cork. There are schools of both keeper-sized and oversized fish available. The trout bite has also been good, with several big fish being caught this week in the shallows first thing in the morning. I received reports of two trout more than 30 inches long being caught this week along the outside bar of Cockroach Bay. Whether it's inshore or offshore, the spring bite is good with kingfish, redfish, trout and tarpon all available on Tampa Bay waters.
Saturday, April 25. 2009
It would be easier for me to tell ya'll what's not biting rather than what is. There are huge schools of redfish around the mouth of the bay, spanish all in the bay, snook in every pass around the bay, kingfish on fire along the beaches, cobia and permit on the nearshore wrecks, trout on the flats, snapper on docks, tarpon in the bay, huge sharks, what do you want. On Thursday I fished long time client Tom Shiber, Wade Faircloth and Tom's son Drew. I started fishing Drew when he was only five years old, he is now twelve. I have watched this young man grow over the years and his passion for fishing has only grown each and every year. On our trip we went permit fishing Drew caught and landed a twenty five pounder and a thirteen pounder respectively with our big fish weighing twenty eight pounds. There were several cobia there as well we had one follow the twenty eight pounder that weighed sixty pounds if he was and ounce. There was another charter captain on the spot, his name was Tom and sorry I can't remember his last name, but he and his clients landed an eight two pound cobia.
Mike has been working the bay area docks catching over the slot snook and snapper up to four pounds along with hundreds of redfish. If you see him just pull up right beside him he loves that, tell him I told you it's OK. Just kidding. But seriously if you see someone working a school of reds or anything please be courteous and show them the same respect that you would like them to show you.
Bait is at all the area bridges and piers and has show up in droves on the flats. In the deeper water marking them on the bottom machine has worked the best for me. On the flats you can chum them up pretty easily or rodeo them (idle until you see them then throw the net). Be sure to check us out on Saturday's at 6:30 am and Sunday's at 11 am Channel 8 WFLA on The Reel Animals Fishing Show and call in on Sunday's from 8-10 1040am ESPN radio as our guest this week is Art Paiva AKA Snooky Bear to win some cool fish stuff.
Sunday, April 19. 2009
The big snook are definitely on the move and feeding on the way. They are headed towards the passes and beaches eating everything on their way. I had Luke Collins and the boys from Ashberry Water out this week and they got to witness first hand that the big girls were chewing. They had fish of 31, 32 and 34 inches off of just one dock and two other mid thirty’s fish in one of my creeks. Along with some nice big Trout it made for a great day. The bait of choice is 3 to 4 inch green backs freelined right up to the edge of the deep-water docks. Remember these fish are big for a reason. They are smart and strong so approach quietly and be sure your tackle is up to the task. 10-pound braid won’t cut it. You need at least some 20lb braid with 40lb fluorocarbon leader on a medium heavy to heavy rod. The action can be unreal. There still are plenty of Redfish to be found although the big schools of a couple of weeks ago have moved on due to last week’s moon. There will be plenty of new schools coming in to take their place. The Spanish Mackerel bite remains steady near the mouth of the bay and all along the Sky Way fishing piers. Use a long shank hook along with some 40 or 50 pound fluorocarbon leader to increase your hook ups and decrease cut offs. The Trout bite has also been solid with good numbers of fish coming on both live and artificial baits.
Sunday, April 12. 2009
In the Tampa Saint Pete area there are well over 2,000 licensed boat captains/fishing guides. Out of these there is only a handful of "CHARTER CAPTAINS" in the area. Let me tell you about our week as Captain Mike and myself are filming for the television show.
On Monday we were unsure if we would be able to film because of weather, we were scheduled to fish with Captain Doug Hemmer. At four a.m. the wind was blowing only 11 knots, I called the troops and we were to meet seven a.m. At seven the wind was howling about 20 knots and a front was bearing down scheduled to arrive around noon. Folks we were in the 30' Dorado and it was too rough to get bait at the skyway. Doug says,"Artificial it is" and we were off. I didn't think we'd catch a fish but a true professional at his craft, Hemmer managed to put together a great string of trout for us just as the front arrived and the winds were approaching 30 knotsand blew us off the water.
On Thursday we were scheduled to fish with Captain Jamie Goodwin, we were to meet at 11:00am as the tide would not be high enough until then. Jamie and Mike went out early caught bait and scouted around a bit before picking up myself and the crew. We went and checked out a spot or two on the way to the redfish Jamie had been catching earlier in the week. As we get there the tide is almost dead high so the fish were finicky and Capt. Goodwin has us throwing live bait, dead bait, half dead bait and on jig heads, hooks with split shots and just hooks. Every combination caught fish but no more than one fish each. When the tide turned to run out as our friend Captain Tommy LaOronge would say, "Oh Mylanta!!" it was like a switched flipped with double and triple hook ups on over slot and slot sized redfish. It was so crazy the Mike (having take a fly fishing class) caught his first fish on a fly rod. Jamie looked at me and said,"Come on it's your turn." Guys the extent of my fly rod experience is as a kid using one as if it were a cane pole, suffice to say I ain't no Flip Pallot by any stretch. With about 10 seconds of instruction from Jamie, I'm attempted to fly fish, but was accused of building a dream catcher. I had two fish chase the fly as I was frantically stripping the line and the third time was the charm, FISH ON!!!! We landed the fish and she was around the 29" mark.
I guess the point of all of this is here are two guys that make there living on the water. The first, Captain Doug Hemmer, didn't have a lot to work with weather wise, and worked hard and made it happen in spite of the conditions he was delt. The second, Captain Jamie Goodwin, started out with no moving water, made the fish eat anyway, and when the fish went crazy, turned Mike and myself onto a whole new realm of fishing with the fly rod. I tell you both of these gentlemen are not fishing guides. THEY ARE CHARTER CAPTAINS.
Saturday, March 28. 2009
The wind this week has made fishing tough. I have not ventured offshore, but I fished inshore on Wednesday, and it was howling. We were on a ton of fish, but we couldn’t really get them biting like they were before the funky weather pattern sat in. Captain Mike and I got to do something really cool on Tuesday. We went and shot an episode of “The Reel Animals Fishing Show” in Orlando. And yes I know there is no saltwater in Orlando.
We went to Disney and fished for bass on the resort lakes with guide Carrie Bronson. I was excited, because all of us have seen the Disney lakes on television with the BASS tournaments and all of the other fishing events that have been filmed there. Let me tell you, that is quite a fishery they have there. They have tons of fish in the 2- to 5-pound range. Carrie said the largest she has pulled out weighed 14 pounds, but she said they are more the exception than the rule. The guides offer live bait fishing for families of up to five, or you can run a strictly artificial trip. That’s what Mike and I did. I thought we were special for being able to fish Disney, but then I found out that anyone can fish there anytime. You don’t even have to stay at the resort. All you have to do is call to book your trip, then show up and catch some bass, then go home. I hope all of you fishermen are home today, as the forecast is calling for winds up to 30 knots. It’s a good time to get your house and boat in order. On April 6 at Tight Lines Tackle at 6924 N. Armenia Ave. in Tampa, Vance Tice, The Reel Animals and a host of well-known charter captains and lure manufacturers are hosting the first class of The Reel Animals Fishing Academy. We will be covering everything, from knots to offshore spreads and anything in between.
Sunday, March 15. 2009
Spring has sprung can I get an amen! Boy the bite is on fire from the snook and trout on the flats to the Spanish mackerel in the middle of the bay, to snapper and AJ's offshore. The bite turned on for me reel hot on Monday of . this week. The snook we had this week were nothing short of spectacular. Our clients landed 6 fish over 40 inches which is in the 20 pound class, several keepers and over slot fish. The trout are very cooperative with limits coming in within an hour or so.
On thing happened last Friday, we fished one or our greatest clients, James "Bubba" Turner and his friend .John Calfee Bubba and John had caught several trout when all of a sudden BAM big snook on Bubba's line. When we started catching the trout we had a pod of about 6 porpoises come in and just hanging out. Well when the snook hit a porpoise decided to eat him and got the whole shooting match hook and all. The thing looked like a Blue Marlin grey hounding across the flats. I have never seen such a thing inshore but have had it happen several times when trolling for grouper or catching snapper along the shipping channel.
Don't worry about flipper after running out a few hundred yards the hook gave way and we retrieve everything but the snook. I think he may have given up on stealing fish inshore as I have fished that area everyday since and have not seen hide nor hair of the pod of porpoise anywhere on that flat.
With the weather forecast calling for the warm weather to continue its time to get out there because it's only going to get better. This weekend should be great inshore and offshore alike. Remember grouper season is closed as is American Red Snapper.
Sunday, March 8. 2009
Is spring finally here? Boy I sure hope so with the water temps still in the upper 50's life as a charter captain is well just plain tuff. Earlier in the week I took Robert Taylor of BBI Foods and a couple of his clients out I think it was on Wednesday. Bait was pretty tuff but we got it then we sat up on a school of redfish taking our time working the area where they have been and sure enough we found them we must have had a hundred individuals swimming around the boat and only one ate a bait but he only barley grabbed it, you know short struck it not inhaling it like redfish normally do. We worked these fish for a good hour and nothing. Then we went to where I thought some snook should be for the conditions and sure enough they were there, same thing. We sat a while then chummed and only had one roll on a bait. Thank the Lord above for trout in harsh conditions. The redfish have moved into the bay in several locations I think they just need some time to settle in. The snook are definitely on the move with the warmer temps in the latter part of the week today should start things off. Look for the redfish and snook action to really heat up as the water heats up. Offshore the snapper and especially the amberjack bite is off the hook as well as grouper but remember that grouper season is closed. Remember when fishing off shore in the gulf always run a flat line out because you never know when that unsuspected cobia, king or tuna is going to come by. I know this is a sad thing to bring up but with the fellow fishermen that lost their lives earlier in the week in the gulf don't let their deaths be in vein always check the weather forecast before heading out if there is a front coming as soon as that wind switches to the NNW head in and know the limits of you boat don't try to push it. I ask all of you to say a prayer for them and their families they will be missed.
Saturday, February 28. 2009
On your mark, get set GO! Tonight at 12:01am SNOOK SEASON STARTS Yoo Hoo! As a charter captain, fisherman, angler, sportsman, story teller this is what I live for. You know there is something sacred about opening day you just can't put your finger on it. As the water temps have began to rise the days are starting to get a little longer each and every day the snook know that time to make baby snook is drawing near and they need to strap on the feed bag for the exhausting task just waiting around the corner. The typical day starts out looking for white bait. To a snook fisherman it's more valuable than diamonds or gold. I am not happy until the 100 gallon live well on the 30 Dorado looks like a can of sardines holding about 2000 pieces of snook candy. You can use shrimp, pinfish, artificals but pilchards, greenbacks or sardines what ever you wish to call them is the ticket. After this chore is done we are off what I like to do is based on my fish logs determine the tide and wind and figure out where's the best bet for the given conditions. If you want to catch that big dawg stealth is everything. Come in quiet and slow, use the wind to drift in when possible. Over the years fish especially snook have gotten use to the power chumming technique. So at first don't chum by this don't throw out freebies to stimulate the fish in to feeding at first. I can't tell you how many times I have chummed a spot and KABOOM Big Mama explodes never to be seen again. Using that I can't tell you how many huge snook we have caught on the first cast on a hole.. Bear in mind you are not the only one out snook fishing so treat every one the way you want to be treated. I know there are some so called Professional "Fishing-Guides" that are anything but professional by the way the treat others on the water. Try to teach by example as our bay gets more and more crowed it's only going to get worse and we all need to get along and respect each others rights as we want ours respected as well. Be sure to check us out on Saturday Mornings @ 6:30am on WFLA NBC and call in Sunday's from 8-10am on 1040 AM ESPN Radio or stop by the Outdoor Expo and say Hi to Mike and Myself we'll be giving seminars as well as in our booth selling Reel Animal's Tee Shirts. Hope to see ya there and until next time do yourself a favor and take a kid fishin'.
Friday, February 20. 2009
The early part of the week was exceptional on the Trout side. My clients had steady action all day long down around Fort DeSoto and Tierre Verde flats. Most of the bigger fish seemed to be hanging in the  31/2 to 4 foot of water range. The smaller fish in the 13 to 16 inch range seemed to be hanging closer to the 5 foot mark. Again Berkley Gulp shrimp in natural and new penny were very hard to beat. The key is to remember to work the baits slowly. The water temps are still not great. We also did fairly well on live shrimp under a cork. Capt. Billy did well on the Silver Trout this week fishing up near Apollo Beach. His clients were free lining shrimp in 8 to 10 foot of water and had lots of action.
We also got a great report from Capt. Mike Gore fishing up around Clearwater. His clients were having a hard time catching a limit due to so many of the fish being over the 20 inch limit. A nice problem to have! He was having great success with live shrimp and Berkley Gulp Shrimp.
Further to the south we are getting great reports of big Trout in the Sarasota Bay area as well. Capt. Shawn Crawford says they are getting their limits daily with plenty of slot fish and even some shots at some monsters.
Saturday, February 14. 2009
This weeks weather has been pretty good ,and it allowed us to get out and do some pretty cool things. Monday morning Billy and I made our way over to Cape Canaveral for a little offshore trip with our friend Capt. Jeff Brown. Even with a big bright moon the night before we still managed a nice catch of American Red Snapper, Lane Snapper, Flounder and even mixed in a nice Cobia for good measure. We were fishing in 125 feet of water about 18 miles off shore. Bottom fishing with 10 ounce leads and 6 to 8 inch live cigar minnows seemed to work best. Considering this incredible fishery is only a 2 hour drive from Tampa be sure to add it to your list of places to try.
The Tampa Bay bite was also fairly decent later in the week as warmer days meant warmer bay temps and an increased appetite for our Redfish and Trout. Big schools of Redfish have moved in on this last moon and taken over the flats in the Fort DeSoto, Tierra Cia, and Sarasota Bay areas.
Our best catches are coming on Berkley Gulp Shrimp and or live shrimp under a cork. The early morning topwater bite has also been solid. The Mirrolure Top Pup has been the top producer. Capt. Mark Thomas fishing the south shore of Tampa Bay reports great Sheepshead fishing especially on the negative low tides fishing the deeper holes in the back country from his airboat. Freelined Shrimp seemed to work best.
Capt. Sergio Atanes also checked in with a great deep water Sheepshead bite out along the shipping channel edge. He caught several fish in the 4 to 6 pound range by just soaking some live shrimp near the bottom.
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