Sunday, July 20. 2008
By 10:30 in the morning it’s roasting. The good news is, so are the fish.  At the beginning of the week, I took longtime friend Doug Butler of Riverview out for a couple of hours. Here I am the pro fishing guide, and Doug sells tomatoes, and he kicks my head in.
We pull to the first spot - as it turns out the only spot - catching several mangrove snapper. Then I hear the drag scream, hear the launch and automatically my brain says, “Doug’s got a tarpon.” The tarpon I have been getting on this spot are the little 10- to 15-pounders. Doug’s is 50 pounds if it’s an ounce, and to boot on 10-pound-test line. Then there are a few more snapper, a couple of snook and goliath grouper. Then I hear that sound again, Doug’s got another, thank goodness this one’s only 30 pounds. Then there are a few more snapper and my line sings - I think it’s about time. You guessed it, mine’s a whopping 6 pounds. Not bad for a couple of hours - thanks for the schooling. Look for mangroves on any rock pile in the bay. They are literally everywhere, and bait is not a problem as there are tons of the little 1- to 2-inch baits all over the place. Just look for the birds for an indicator of where the bait is. Spanish mackerel continue to be thick along the ship channel in deeper water around the range markers. Be ready with a larger rod, as there are plenty of sharks to be had as well. Wayne Edmonds of Apollo Beach told me that live ladyfish is the ticket for the larger sharks. He said they had a couple they just couldn’t turn on a 4/0 reel. It seems that with the heat and water temperatures approaching 90 degrees, the best bite is early in the morning.
Friday, July 11. 2008
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the Mangrove Snapper bite that was going on and had one of our readers call and book a trip. I told Steve that we could run offshore or stay inshore but the fish would not be as large. He told me inshore was what he wanted as he was bringing three kids. Well they took their trip this Wednesday. I picked up Steve and his three sons, Cameron, Steve, and John at 7:00 am in Apollo Beach. On our way out we stopped for three cast of the net for bait and we were off. Folks let me tell ya these kids were a blast they made short work of catching a limit of snapper, and few jacks. Big Steve even caught a small grouper and John a Goliath Grouper. Watching this father, no dad with his boys could not help but to make me think of my dad when I was a kid taking the time with me just to go fishing. Steve is in real estate and all of us know what the economy is like, but he told me sometimes you have to say the heck with it I'm taking my boys fishing. I just wanted to say thank you for a great day and a memorable experience for me. The snapper bite is in full swing on and offshore. The tarpon are still here in good numbers. A friend of mine William Woodruff took his wife, Liz, out for a few hours jumping five and landing 4 and I understand Liz landed three of the four. There are also plenty of juveniles in the 10-20 pound range to be had as well. Spanish mackerel and sharks are abundant all along the ship channel just look for the big schools of bait.
Sunday, July 6. 2008
If offshore is your game, I have 2 simple words for you. GO DEEP! Billy and I did just that early this past week, and had an unbelievable trip.  Fishing with area Middle Grounds guru Capt. Tommy Laronge we ventured out of Salt Rock Grille about 75 miles due west of Clearwater pass, fishing in 150 feet of water. Big Gag Grouper in the 20 to 30 lb range, American Red Snapper up to 15 pounds and plenty of them. I also caught a nice Smoker King fish in the 35 lb range.
The bite and the amount of fish out there is absolutely ridiculous. You have to be sure to gear up for such a trip.
We were using 100 lb test line on Penn 114h Reels and still there were some fish Billy could not move off the bottom. We also marked a lot of fish in the 40 mile range in 90 to 110 feet of water. Remember with the water temps around 85 degrees your big Grouper are heading for Deeper water! It is also a good idea to take some friends along in another boat. Offshore is not a great place to be without friends.
Around Tampa Bay things are pretty much the same as last week with plenty of Spanish Mackeral to be had. The big Snook are still roaming the Beaches and we are catching some really nice Trout, fishing the deep edges of the flats down around the Skyway Bridge. Fish the early morning and late afternoon for best results.
Sunday, June 29. 2008
Since you were a kid you have always heard the new moon in June. As far as that goes the full moon in June and July can only mean one thing in west central Florida, Snapper. Traditionally I wait until July and August to mess with these fish but when we got the call from our Boca Grande Crab Connection, Jimmy Porter it was game on. Jimmy was going out to one of his favorite snapper spots and killing it. Don't tell anyone but I'll tell ya how to do it. First you need to get a chum bag. I prefer the Pro Fish Chum, it's effective and not messy one bit. Then you need a 48 quart cooler full of what I call net wrecker baits. You know the ones that gill up in a ¼" bait net, they need not be alive. Then you need the 30 pound spinning gear and hang on. The idea is to chum the fish to the surface, so you anchor up current, deploy the chum block, then start throwing hand fulls of net wreckers and see what happens. Right before this last moon on the tide change from high tide and the first bit of the out going it was STUPID. No kiddin' on one side of the boat there were about 300 Mangrove Snapper and another 300 on the other. Using 6" mutton minnows for bait it is quite fun. Get the fish chummed up to the surface, pitch back the larger live bait if you see a smaller fish go for it simply take it away and wait for the big guy to inhale it, you'll see the whole thing happen right by the boat and it doesn't get any better than that. You gotta try it. It's fun, it's fast, and it's simple, what more could you ask for. It's also that time of year for the bay to be covered in large Spanish Mackerel and there are still plenty of tarpon to be played with. The mackerel bite is great for kids. When fishing for the Macs cut one in half put it on a big rod and send her down for some cool shark action as there is no shortage of sharks in Tampa Bay.
Saturday, June 21. 2008
If you have never had the opportunity to catch Reel Big beach Snook in June, I suggest a trip to Charlotte Harbor and a charter with Capt. Ozzie Fischer. Billy and I were fortunate to get an opportunity to do so this week. We were filming an episode of Reel Animals with Ozzie and could not have had better results. Ozzie opened our morning with a 39 inch 20lb bruiser. The fish were stacked on a shoreline on the north end of Captiva. Billy and Ozzie were putting on an absolute clinic and making sure I new it. Both of them caught and released several big fish in the 10 to 12lb range. I could only manage a couple of 25 to 26 inch fish. Reaching in the live well I found a very large pinfish and decided if I was going to have a shot at beating Ozzie’s beast I better bring out the big bait. Almost immediately upon placing the big pinfish up on shore it was on. I new instantly that it was one of the bigger Snook that I have ever hooked. It ran at least 100 yards up the beach. My heart was beating like it was going to jump out of my chest. When we finally were able to land her she measured 40 inches and 23lbs. A truly awesome experience. The beach is a great place to finally land your fish of a lifetime as so many of us often hook these fish in heavy cover. Docks, bridges and mangrove shorelines can make for some broken hearts. This is primetime to hit the beaches of central Florida looking for your fish of a lifetime. Remember to take special care when handling these fish as our childrens children will surely want to enjoy the same experience I did this week.
Friday, June 6. 2008
Alright maybe it’s not that good, But it’s awfully close. T he Tarpon bite in Boca this week was as you would expect on the new moon in June. Off the chain. We started our week with my good friend David Voyken nearly jumping an 80lb Tarpon into my boat. If you’ve never been that close to a grumpy 80lb fish, you have to try it. We were drifting crabs on the out going tide and could hardly keep our lines in the water without somebody hooking a fish. The key to drifting crabs in a strong current is attaching a #3 split shot just up from the hook. This will allow your crab to get down into the feeding fish. It also works well when fishing the Skyway or Gandy Bridges with crabs or big threadfins. We probably caught and released close to 25 big Tarpon this week from 80 to 170 pounds and had several more fish on that jumped off. The real treat of the week came from an incredible Permit bite. We started by drifting across a little wreck we found down here that seems to be holding about 2000 permit in the 10 to 20 pound range. The bite and pure energy of these fish is like nothing I have ever experienced from any other fish. Even the small 10 pounders were just unbelievable. We were broken off several times, but every fight seems to be better than the last. We caught 27 total and everyone of them was awesome. Capt. Chad Manning reports that he also had a great week of permit fishing on the nearshore wrecks just outside and just inside of Egmont Key. These wrecks should be on your bottom machine. All you need is some small crabs and a 3/0 hook drifted back over the wreck and hold on!!!!
Monday, June 2. 2008
PTTS double header once again treats us poorly. No fish for you!! We had a couple of oppurtunities and could not convert. That's fishing. We will give it another go next week. Hopefully we can pull something out our ass...Maybe our Heads???? Little tired and cranky, can you tell?
Monday, May 26. 2008
Well at least we are on the board. We managed a leader release and also had another big fish on and were cut off by one of the less experienced Capt's in the tourney. Next week should be the week we make some noise. Stay Tuned!! Double Header week!!!
Friday, May 23. 2008
West and Southwest winds in the 15 to 20 mile per hour range are not ideal for Jig fishing in Boca Grande Pass. Besides the obviously rough conditions, the Tarpon just don’t like it. They were pretty much scattered all over the place for most of the week. They did cooperate better on the afternoon hill tides, once the crabs started to flush. But even the hill tides weren’t what we normally expect. There has been some fish along the beach but with the west winds they have been almost unfishable. This should make these fish good targets for the weekend as they haven’t had any pressure on them. Just be sure not to chase these fish. Take your time, get in front of them and wait to take your shots. Patience is the key. All of our fish this week came on live crabs. Although I did see Capt. Van Hubbard hook up on Threadfins under a Cork. Capt. Danny Gaurino reports he had a steady Trout bite this week along with several nice redfish while fishing the southshore of Tampa Bay. Capt. Greg McCullough reports that the Redfish bite is still going strong at Fort DeSoto. The best bite is coming on the incoming tides using live baits under a cork. Capt. Greg has also been enjoying a steady dose of Spanish Mackerel. The offshore scene has been tough this week but Capt. Harry Connor reports a very good permit bite just 5 miles out. He was using small crabs drifted with the tide. Capt. Harry also tells me that the Tampa Bay Tarpon bite was also off a little this week. This should change as we come out of this weather pattern and roll into Memorial Day Weekend. Good Fishing Everybody.
Monday, May 19. 2008
Our first run at the 2008 Pro Tarpon Tournament Series did not go quite as well as we had hoped. Although there were not alot of fish caught or hooked for that matter. We still would have liked to had a little better showing. The fish were a little cracked out which is not that unusual around the full moon. The water temp seems to be good, so maybe we will have better luck as we move forward into the schedule. We'll keep you posted. Fingers crossed. The Reel Animals will get it figured out.
Saturday, May 17. 2008
 I will say this up front, I am not a bottom digging fish lover. I don't get a thrill out of pulling fish from the depths like Grouper. I would rather fight Redfish, Snook or Trout on light tackle and listening to line scream from the reel. I am the Web Producer for the Reel Animals Team and it is Mike and Billy that have taught me to fish over the past few years. That said, I would go Tarpon fishing any day after having done it this past week with Captain Mike in Boca Grande Pass. The experience in Boca is kinda like a wild carnival ride. Think of bumper cars except replace them with about 50 boats of varying sizes and put them in rough waters with a playing field the size of about 3 football fields stacked side by side and the goal is NOT to run into each other, but stay as close together as possible. As the captain scans his radar for fish, he must also dodge other boats, be wary of boats with hooked fish and try to assist his crew in hooking fish. It was kinda like a merry-go-round of boats bobbing and weaving. Or better yet, if you are familiar with driving in Boston, think of the first time you had to drive into one of the roundabouts with cars whizzing round in circles and you just have to ease your way into the flow and go with it. There is no chance for second guessing in this mixture of boats and churning water. For Captain Mike, you could tell he is a seasoned pro at it as he guided his Dorado 23 in and out of spots without banging sides and constantly carrying on a chatter with other captains that make this part of a May-July ritual. I would think it would be as much fun to just sit outside the drift and watch the ballet of captains guide there boats like an orchestrated dance back and forth to follow the school of Tarpon swirling around the Pass. Once you get a Tarpon hooked (ya gotta have fast hands when ya feel the thunk of the hit) it is "wobble" to the chair and hold on. Ideally the Captain works to get the fish out of the pack of boats and it takes a team effort to make sure the Captain knows where the fish is as you are at the mercy of the fish as he goes left, then right, then back and then might take off straight ahead. The anticipation of finally seeing your fish come to the surface is the biggest thrill to me. You don't know what you have or how big it is until it comes to the surface to roll for a breath of air or in a flash, it breaks the water with a sudden burst of energy, shaking it's mighty head trying to throw the hook. Forty minutes can fly by as you are pulling back and reeling down and the pain in your forearms is a foregone conclusion that you just choose to ignore as you will the fish to tire and let you get it to the boat. Your rod is bent like an upside down J for most of the battle and you just hope it doesn't snap like a toothpick. I was able to wrangle my 160 pounder (that is what Mike said) to the surface several times and got to see a spectacular leap right off the bow of the boat. As we tried to get her next to the boat the line broke right after Mike got a hold of the leader and in a second she was gone. No pictures but it will be emblazoned in my brain for years to come as one of the biggest thrills in my fishing escapades. If ya haven't done this, ya gotta splurge one time and give it a try. You will not regret it. Get three buddies and go down and split the costs and I guarantee you will be swapping stories over beers for years to come, I am hoping that the ache in my left forearm will go away in the next day or so, but each little twinge reminds me of one of the greatest days on the water - ever! -Huskie
Friday, May 16. 2008
Well a couple of weeks ago we told you what we were going to be doing. I am happy to report that we are doing just that. This year, for the fifth year running, the first drop in Boca Grande Pass yeilded a tarpon. This is always a good omen of things to come. The tarpon are hear thick thick thick as are the sharks. The past two weeks it has really been tough to land a fish because of all of the shark action. A large tiger shark was spotted on a near by wreck just a few miles south of the world famous pass along with all the usual suspects bulls and giant hammerheads. Captain Mike fished Mike Smith, the new Lightning Goalie along with Capt. Chad Manning. Let us just say Smitty is now a real tarpon fan and got the full show complete with giant hammerhead attack along side of the boat. The beach has been picking up as well with large schools of fish migrating up from the south. I had the pleasure of taking Mrs. Mary Porter of Englewood, permit fishing earlier in the week getting her first permit weight in at just shy of 30 pounds. This fish took a while to land as it resembles a garbage can lid. I spoke with her son Jimmy a few days later and he said his mom's arms and hands were still sore with a huge smile on her face. Also Hitler (the shark) is alive and well. A buddy of mine told me that Bucky Dennis, the fisherman that caught the 1485 pound hammerhead last year has his sights set on a larger hammer this year and the fish has been spotted several times already this year. I'm tell you if you are reading this and you don't take part in this May June ritual you are really cheating yourself on one of God's great blessings on the great state of Florida. Boca Grande, the best fishin' hole on the planet.
Friday, May 9. 2008
It has been a great week of fishing on Tampa Bay. Almost everything that swims seems to be eating. The mackerel — Spanish and king — are fast and steady. Captain Mark Thomas reports the kingfish are reliable all along the Egmont Channel out toward the Gulf, either slow trolling or anchored up and chumming baits back with the tide.
The Spanish mackerel bite is about as dependable as anything in the Bay right now. Anchor up near almost any of the range markers along the south shore and put out a bag of Profish Chum — it didn’t seem to matter if the baits were free-lined or put under a cork. We had several Spanish this week in the 20- to 30-inch range and they are a great fight. Remember to grab some long shank hooks before going out. You’ll need them. The redfish bite was also very good along the south shore as well as in the Fort DeSoto area as there were plenty of slot-sized fish to be had. Be sure to work very close to the mangroves on the higher tides as they seemed to be pushing back into the shade. The snook bite was steady, with our biggest fish coming on dead bait soaked on the bottom. As we all know, this is tarpon time, and they did not disappoint. Nobles reports having great action in Boca Grande pass and we lit them up all week at the Skyway bridge and at Egmont Key using big threadfins.
Saturday, May 3. 2008
Usually we are writing fishing reports about what has happened in the past week. This week I'm going to tell you what's going to be happening in the next two months. If you haven't guessed it's that time of year where most of the top charter captains on the west coast make their annual pilgrimage to Boca Grande, Florida also know as The Tarpon Capitol of the World. We start our mornings at 5:00am loading the boat with tackle and crabs by 6:00 we are underway heading out of Stump Pass traveling south to Boca Grande Pass. Most mornings we don't even make it past Don Pedro State Park and we are hooked up to the Silver King. We continue toward the World Famous Pass jumping several more Tarpon along the way. Then the pass is in sight, boat bumping and grinding, and fish a flying'. This is what we call controlled chaos. Depending on our clients desires we will either fish the pass using jigs or continue on down the beach in front of Cayo Costa. Lunch is now near and we'll either go to Cabbage Key, where Jimmy Buffet reportedly wrote "Cheese Burger in Paradise" or to North Captiva to Barnacle Phil's. Warning secure your coolers. North Captiva has PIRATES! Little brown furry ones. That's right otters that will raid your boat of food, bait, and most anything they can get their hands on. After lunch it's a run offshore for permit up to 50 pounds and goliath grouper over 600 pounds. Around 3:00 we start heading for the pass to catch crabs and wait for the tarpon to begin their feast that has been a tradition for thousands of years. When the tarpon begin to gorge themselves on these crabs it is Katie Bar The Door with tarpon everywhere and every one hooking up it is truly one of natures phenomenon that you have to see to believe. So if you ain't scared come on down and do battle with the Silver King we'd love to have you. Be sure to check us out on WFLA Channel 8 Saturday mornings @ 6:30 am and Sunday's @ 11:00am and call in Sunday Mornings to our radio show on ESPN Radio 1470am and give us your reports. Until next week, "Do yourself a favor and take a kid fishin'."
Sunday, April 27. 2008
TARPON ARE IN BOCA GRANDE AND I'M HEADING THERE THIS WEEK! Can't wait. The Tarpon are here as well but there's just something about the mystic of Boca. Caught some nice Cobia this week as well as great Snook. Redfish are everywhere look for the bait on the flats I'm just sooooooooo happy to be off the south shore for a while I don't know what to dooo. Come down and see us. We're there May and June. If you have not done it you don't know what you are missing.
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