Boca Grande and Charlotte Harbor

Capt. Van Hubbard
February 24, 2008
Boca Grande - Saltwater Fishing Report

Let's Go Fishin' soon.

Fishing report for Captain Van Hubbard on Feb. 24, 2008.

We are so blessed to be on beautiful Southwest Gulf Coast of Florida.

We have enjoyed great weather the last few days while much of the country was enduring rain or snow. Our winds were bearable and temps soared up into the eighties. I was concerned as to exactly when the needed rain would move into our Englewood area yesterday but we were lucky and it waited until sun down. Water temps in side reached into the mid seventies this week; if this continues we should enjoy some good snook fishing when the season opens next Saturday. White bait minnows have been available to help turn snook and reds on. We are catching pompano, some Spanish mackerel and kings are due any time. It’s time to get out into the Gulf and look for cobia also. Spring is here and it’s prime time fishing.

Friday, Howard Isaacs and friends Bud and Dick joined me for the day. Howard is from St. Pete and has a place on Boca Grande. He has fished with me for over twenty years and we always have a great time chasing fish and swapping fish stories. He and Dick were down in the Keys earlier this week where they bone fished. Howard had a 14 pounder and that’s awesome. Dick is an excellent fly caster and even guided in Montana so I knew we ready to catch fish. I loaded the baitwell with a couple hundred perfect minnows and six dozen shrimp in case we found some pompano. It was too windy outside and over a hundred FLW redfish boats in Charlotte Harbor so we concentrated on Lemon Bay. We tried several of our favorite spots that had produced quality snook and reds for us for decades but not today. We wondered if the bright full moon had hampered the AM fishing so we stopped by the Stump Pas Grille for lunch to change our luck. Lunch was fine and the high tide was more productive. We found saw some pompano but they teased us most of the time Bud did land one and it was a huge 5 pounder. Dick got some trout on the fly and Howard caught Spanish, ladyfish, etc… on jigs. We worked to get dinner but it was a fine one when we did. Dick is excited about coming back to try tarpon on fly this summer.

Saturday Dan and Ulla wanted to try some Florida fishing while on vacation from Connecticut; coincidentally my second trip this week from the small state. Could be something to do with our weather? They choose a late start so I meet them at Stump Pass Marina at 10:30 and we loaded up on live shrimp for the day. We were armed with my Quantum 40s, some pompano jig rigs and the rattle cork rigs for the shrimp. We looked around for pompano and stopped when we skipped the first one. It never bit but we caught trout and ladyfish on almost every cast for an hour. We moved a little and caught bigger trout for another hour. We were ecstatic, Ulla had never had this much action and she was enjoying her self. The trout were plump and up to 20 inches. We looked for reds and then stopped to enjoy lunch while I looked for something else to try. While searching for snook or redfish we found a big school of black drum that averaged 4-5 pounds. They were so close together we could see the ball of fish swimming around us for an hour. Ulla finally coaxed one into eating her shrimp and landed her largest fish to date an 8 pounder. They caught at least 40 fish and had the trip of their lifetime. It was so much fun sharing this experience with this young couple. We will all share this memory forever. Life is great and we are warm down here. Let’s Go Fishin’ soon. Captain Van Hubbard.

www.captvan.com or e-mail at; info@ captvan.com

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