Great fish is now.
Capt. Van Hubbard
April 2, 2008
Boca Grande - Saltwater Fishing Report
Spring is here and fishing is great.
Our weather is beautiful and fish are most biting. Snook and reds are still not up to par but kingfish, cobia, and mackerel are hot. Some tarpon are showing up and will be early as I expected. They are not thick yet but will show up before the end of April in mass. Snook will pick up as it continues to warm up but it will be crowded.
Yesterday Charlie Rhett and his fireman friend Ron decided to try their luck snook fishing; they booked a half day trip. We found plenty of snook but they had lock jaw. I caught some fine minnows and picked em up at Little Gasparilla Island shortly after 8AM. We tried several spots and idled over plenty of fish after we had cast to the areas for more than an hour. The fish had there chances to eat our minnows. We did get a few smaller ones and some jacks but no slot fish this time. Great guys and we did manage to enjoy the fine weather and crystal clear waters of Charlotte Harbor.
Monday was much more productive. I got a call from Jeff" the wing king" Crider of Charlotte N.C... He wanted to catch some fish. He has a wing restaurant in Charlotte and was down for a weeks fishing. Jeff guides stripers up his way and wanted to see what we had to offer. My neighbor Wally also wanted to get outside and catch a big one so I put the guys together and off we went. I was nervous about the breeze AM but things settled down mid day and we had fun. We found a school of cobia and anchored down to enjoy the action. They caught more than I could keep track off 9 or 10. All were slightly too short 31- 32"s and we needed 33"s to the fork of their tail. We did see some cudas and lucked into several keeper gag groupers to bring home for dinner. We ate good and caught plenty of fish.
While I was putting this together Wednesday AM, I got a call that some folks from Canada were at the dock and their guide was not; we tracked him down and found out he was not going to make it. They had a 12 year old ready for his birthday fishing trip and I packed my 23 Dorado and speed to the ramp to help them out. We started off in the big pass but no takers. So we dropped offshore and found beautiful blue but empty waters. I went back to my honey hole and found some cudas to play with. We then got interrupted by two big, 25 & 28 pound kingfish. It made our trip and they landed both at the same time. Two big fish screaming off line at one time got everyone's juices flowing after a slow start. Life was good. Finally we saw some cobia but had the hook pull on the first one. TJ landed a keeper 34 inches to the fork and then Trevor his dad got a short one to finish off the day. Grandpa Don got one of the kings and Mom got the big one. I told the folks that the kids and ladies are lucky.
I was so tiered I forgot to mention how well my Minn Kota trolling motors helped us on Saturdays trip. We were able to slip around quietly on the calm surface and fish schools of cobia and jacks with out disturbing the fish. It's nice to save some gas too. My Yamaha 150 four stroke is quiet and trolls perfect but the electrics are even better when it's calm. We frequently get larger kings on my downrigger line. I usually set it about half way down to the bottom for kings. I like bright fluorescent lines for visibility on our flat lines and clear for the downrigger lines. I use several 4x treble hooks on the really big blue runner to grab the short bites. It seems to help to use slightly heaver wire on my stinger hooks but keep the main leader light to hide wire from big eyed kings. Fishing is great and the weather looks like it will warm up fast. I do have one or two days a week open if you think you might enjoy a day of great fishing. Let's Go Fishin', Captain Van Hubbard.
Boca Grande Fishing Forecast:
king mackerel are around Boca Grande area now and should continue to improve for the next month. some tarpon are showing up and I expect to start catching some by mid month if anglers want to target em. snook ahve been slow but should improve as waters continue to warm up. baitfish are challenging right now but should improve also.
Target Species:
kingfish and cobia outside; snook inside.
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