Boca Grande and Charlotte Harbor

Capt. Van Hubbard
April 2, 2006
Boca Grande - Saltwater Fishing Report

Spring fishing is here!

Report for 4-2-06

Fishing and weather were great this past week.

Plenty of fish and baitfish have moved into our area. Snook are improving daily with a slot fish or two, plus some trout and reds to make our “Grande Slams” on most trips. The king mackerel are adding excitement if we poke out into the near shore Gulf waters. The weather has been perfect spring days. Not to hot or cool with mild breezes most of the time. Life can hardly get better.

Monday I joined fried Brad Rutherford to have fun and check out his new E-Teck outboard. We road around and found some nice baitfish minnows on the south side of the harbor. We had to work at it with the cooler waters from last week front but we got a nice well full and went looking. We located some nice snook and played with hem for about an hour. We had several bites but our guest Jay was the man catching most of the snook. We got one slot fish and several smaller ones. Things slowed down and we went to another school of snook. Jay took us to school again landing a beautiful 30-inch snook first cast. Brad and I tried to hard but Jay pulled one even nicer one before we headed on. The rig worked fine and was quieter than most other engines. We went home with dinner and smiles.

Tuesday Robert and son Wayne Thomas of Tampa joined me for a day on Charlotte Harbor waters. We looked around Lemon Bay after departing Stump Pass Marina but could not get any action on the small minnows I caught off of Devilfish Key at daylight. We decide to take a ride outside to look for tripletail on our way south to Pine Island Sound. The ride was nice but no fish were encountered on the buoys. We stopped and cast netted more, larger minnows around Useppa Island and went to catch some snook. Even thought it was warming up each day the snook were not hungry until lunchtime. We landed a bunch of under the slot snook, had fun talking and looked around on the ride back north. We found manatees, dolphin, eagles and everything but hungry big snook. It was much better than a day at work for the guys and that’s why they cal it fishing not catching!

Wednesday I had to go to ft. Myers to get my new Motor Guide trolling motor for tarpon season. I travel down to Smith Marine because they do such good work I only have to schedule visits once a year. I was surprised to find water leaking by my baitwell had ruined my dry cell batteries but Jason fixed everything up and sent me home ready for sneak around in stealth mode with a powerful 109-pound thrust electric.

Thursday the waters had warmed up enough for more minnows to show up. Russ Waters and friends were visiting from St. Lewis and wanted to catch some snook. We had some big ones get away before Dave saved the day and got a nice slot redfish one cast and a 28 inch snook the next to provide dinner. We looked for some trout around pine Island Sound but only found ladyfish by the thousands and a few Spanish Mackerel. We went back to snook and saw some manatees that we stopped to enjoy by a good spot. We stirred up a fair bite of smaller fish so that everyone had the opportunity to catch their first snook before cruising back to their rental on Palm Island. The great folks at Tarpon Reality but us together both Russ and I appreciate that. Check them out for Island rentals or sales.

Friday my longtime friend joined me to scout out some king mackerel. We managed a few bites but found plenty of fish. We rode a lot looking around the water is beautiful right now. The winds are down and waters have cleared up. We found some large barracuda that were not interested in any of our tasty offerings either. After we trolled large minnows and mullet in front of them several times we decided it was time to head in. We would have liked more bites but a great day on the water together.

Saturday a local Englewood insurance agent Wayne King wanted to show his soon to be retiring brother in law around our waters. I meet Wayne and Lee at Stump Pass Marina at 8:30 after the FLW Kingfish Tourney had departed. It was a busy week at the marina. They hosted the FLW Redfish event Thursday and Friday; plus the Kingfish event Saturday. We had tons of action and excitement at Stump Pass Marina this week. We even watched part of the weight inn after cleaning our snook dinner. Now back to our trip. We decide to go outside to beat the weekend crowds. We stumbled into some nice minnows and cast netted them. With such nice bait we had to try a little harder. We found a few snook and schools of ladyfish as we looked along the coast. We played and caught a few before dropping out a ways and trying our luck at kingfish. First bait in the water had a king grab the minnow even before I could clip the line into my downrigger clip. The 10-pound kingfish knocked off one minnow and only looked at the remaining one. No big deal I reeled in and quickly replaced the minnows. Unfortunately right then a fleet of race boats descended upon us scaring both the fish and us. We found ourselves in the middle of a poker run with about a hundred go fast race boats and three helicopters. Exciting and pretty but way to noisy for us. We tried some little tunny on our way into Venice Inlet but they were to spooked to bite. We found one co-operative pod of snook at high tide on our way south. Lee landed a perfect slot fish to provide 5 of us fresh snook dinner while we watched the Florida basketball game. Florida won and Lee’s UCLA team was leading when the tired captain headed home to bed.

It was a busy week of good fishing and fun with friends and family. Let’s Go Fishin’ soon. Captain Van Hubbard

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