The bite is on!
Double and tripple hookups on the boat several times lately

4-28-2008 - My Boat Should Have Holes in it!

 Because the fish tried their hardest to chew the bottom out of it! Some of the best fishing of the year (thus far) was done on the last 4 Tarpon Springs and Clearwater Fishing charters.  These charters boated 30+ redfish, 30+ trout, and a few snook on average. All I can say is wow. Once the water warmed up after the last cold front, the fish went nuts. It really was an awesome week.

 

It's springtime and the fish tend to move from one spot to another at the drop of a hat. This happened on Thursday. I worked my way slowly into a spot that had been very productive for 2 weeks straight and when we got there the fish were gone. Instead of just leaving and going to spot "B" I asked my clients if they could be patient and let me look for these fish before we give up on the area. I stayed on the trolling motor for almost a 1/4 mile and just when I was ready to give up, I saw them. They were sitting on the sandy edge of a mangrove shoreline. It was a mix of redfish and snook. We used the Power Pole to stake out and almost immediately started catching fish. The best part about this particular area is that we've been able to fish it for 4 days and even through the busy weekend, when everyone who owns a boat is out on the water, we were still enjoying the fish all by ourselves.

 

Bait has been plentiful and that has really helped turn otherwise average days in to extraordinary days. We use the excess bait to chum the waters and really get the bite going. We're catching these fish on a shallow flat with no deep water within 1/2  mile. No structure or anything noticeable to hold these fish here. I think it's just a stretch of shoreline that get's good tidal flow and happens to be loaded with bait.

 

The three most notable hook ups of the week were when Jim, Eric, Orin, and Henry all hooked up on redfish at the same time, when 12 year old Bridget landed a 32" snook all by herself, and when I took my family out after my Sunday charter my son hooked and landed his 2nd ever redfish by himself. 

 

I expect the fishing to stay good all through the beginning of summer. Spring time really is an awesome time to fish here in the Tarpon Springs and Clearwater areas. Bait is everywhere and fish are hungry for it. The weather is usually very mild and the sun isn't scalding. It's the perfect time of year to catch fish.

 

 

 

4-23-2008 - "You're covered in blood and you stink!"

 

"You're covered in blood and you stink!" That's what my poor wife told me the other night when I got home from a very successful Tarpon Springs fishing charter. I told her, "That's what happens when your clients catch a lot of fish that taste good. Somebody has got to 'clean' them" I still don't know why they call it "cleaning fish". I make a mess when I'm "preparing" fish for for my clients. There's nothing "clean" about it.  Anyway... on to the fishing report...

 

I had 6 fishing charters in 5 days last week. I've been in Apollo Beach, Ruskin, Tampa Bay, Clearwater, and Tarpon Springs. The fish have been in all of those places too. We had different types of fishing and caught different types of fish with each area we fished this past week. It seems like we caught every kind of inshore fish available. Snook, redfish, trout, cobia, spanish mackerel, bluefish, sharks, and one day we even ventured a couple of miles offshore and caught some grouper and mangrove snapper.

 

The only lull in the action we had was for a couple of days following a cold front last week. We still managed to catch some nice fish but the bite was noticeably off.  By the end of the week the water temperature in Tarpon Springs was back up to 75 degrees and the bite was back to normal.

 

Having a livewell full of greenbacks gave us an opportunity every day to do some heavy chumming and it proved to be the key to success each trip. Lately, instead of throwing out live greenbacks for chum, we've been cutting them up. This way the chum won't swim away and have the fish follow it. By cutting them up and throwing them out, the chum stays in one spot and so do the fish. This has been especially helpful with the redfish.

 

Later in the week we were able to sight fish for cobia. One day we saw 10 cobia and we managed to hook 4 of them and land 2. They were following large stingrays in very shallow water. If you pitched a bait anywhere close to them, they were all over it. They were so aggressive that on one occasion a cobia ate the bobber before it ate the bait.

 

The rest of this week should be great. We've got good weather forecasted and the tides are pretty good. The flats and beaches are alive with fish and bait activity. All we have to do is get out there and get 'em.

 

 

 

 

4-15-08 - Game On!

 

The fish are in a full time feeding frenzy in the Tarpon Springs and Clearwater areas right now. We've had a few fishing charters this week that have boated 50+ redfish! On top of that we've been able to get a few snook and several nice trout. Spring is in full swing and the weather, for the most part, has been awesome.

 

Tom and his wife Robin joined me for a fishing charter last week. They wanted to bring their daughter but unfortunately she wasn't feeling well. We'll get her out there next time. The fishing was great and Tom and Robin boated several nice keeper redfish.

 

Then on Friday I was invited to guide a group for the Grand Slam Charity tournament in Tampa Bay. The day started out slow but we did end up doing pretty well with an "inshore slam" that totaled 66". Our trout and redfish were really nice but our snook was on the small side and that kept us from having a shot at winning the tournament.

 

On Saturday, Phil and his son Nathan, joined me for a father son outing in Tarpon Springs. What a fish catching bonanza that was. We started the day catching bait. I had told them to meet me early and we'd catch bait together. That's something I rarely do (I usually catch bait prior to pick up) but bait had been so easy every other day last week that I told them if they came along that we'd be done catching bait in 15 minutes and we could get an early start on the fish catching. Boy was I wrong... bait took 2 hours to catch. They were patient and I told them that anytime bait is that hard that the fishing is bound to be great. And it was.

 

Nathan put on a redfishing clinic. I don't think we could have kept track of how many fish he caught even if we tried. Phil caught his fair share as well and after they boated about the 30th fish I told them I wanted to catch 1. So I baited up, threw out, and hooked a fish almost instantly. I unhooked the fish, put the rod up, and watched them continue to catch more redfish. Nathan did end up with a really nice snook that he caught on a cut greenback but by that time my camera had died so I didn't get a pic of it. Hopefully they send me the pics they took with their camera.

 

Anyway, I love spring time. We had one small cold front that passed by yesterday and I can only imagine that it must be our last one of the year. The fishing should continue to be great the rest of the month. The keys to success right now are making sure you have a lot of bait, fishing where their moving water, and fishing around mullet schools. If you can find that you're bound to be into some good fishing action.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4-5-2008 -"Red" Hot Fishing in Tarpon Springs Florida

 

Apart from the few "good" days we've had lately, the rest of them have been "great" We've had 20+ redfish days with 20+ trout days and a few snook and cobia brought to the boat over the past week. Fishing Charters in Tarpon Springs and Clearwater have been blessed this past week with great weather and even better fish catching.

 

It's been a long week and I was booked for almost all of it so you'll have to forgive me for not being able to remember everyone's names. But early in the week Jeff and his son redeemed a gift certificate for a fishing charter and it was fun to watch his son catch his first redfish. I think we got another young one hooked on fishing. The best bite this day was early and it was fast and furious as our first several baits were consumed by hungry redfish. Things slowed down a little but we managed a few bites throughout the rest of the day.

 

Then Steven peacock and some of his buddies from work decided to have a "corporate meeting" on the water. It was a good decision as much was accomplished. The group managed to fill the cooler with large sea trout and their limit of redfish. They even landed their limit of redfish several times over and released 1 cobia and snook. That's what I call a business meeting worth attending.

 

On Thursday, I was part of a group charter set up by my good friend Capt. Greg DeVault. I had the opportunity to fish with Tony, Mike, and Vinny. We slaughtered redfish that day and lost two MONSTER snook to the mangroves. We made a good decision not to leave a spot too early. We almost left before the bite started but decided to stay 5 more minutes. That made all the difference as once the bite started it was redfish after redfish for 2 hours. There were lots of smile on the boat that day and lots of drag screaming action. Some times it pays of big time to be patient with a productive spot.

 

Then yesterday was the one exception to the week. It was slow. But we fished an area I hadn't been to in a few weeks so I knew it was going to be tough because we'd have to search for fish. Chuck and I go way back. When I first finished playing baseball with the Yankees Chuck hired me to coach private baseball lessons for his son's baseball team. He's really gotten into fishing and he found out I was a full time fishing guide through another guide and gave me a call. I showed him several spots in St. Pete but the high winds and my lack of fishing time down there lately had me a little off my game. We still caught fish but just not the numbers I would have liked.

 

All in all it was an awesome week. The fishing continues to get better and better and the weather continues to get better as well. Yesterday when I was near the Sunshine Skyway I could swear I smelled tarpon in the air. I know there are a few around and that they will be here in full force soon. I can't wait. I'll be chasing down 150lb fish before I know it. Hopefully you'll be on the front of the boat, holding onto the rod for dear life as the "silver king" tries to drag us to Mexico. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Phone: 813.300.2147
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