Summertime fishing in Venice and Boca Grande.

Capt. Van Hubbard
June 14, 2012
Boca Grande - Saltwater Fishing Report

July is hot and my best bet is starting out early! We will still enjoy amazing tarpon and snook action this month. The best part is the fancy boat vacationers will be gone home; remaining fish will be relaxed as well as hungry. Trout, redfish, and mackerel offer dinner opportunities plus mango snapper are due now! We endured some nasty west winds early June and I'm praying they go away and stay away! The Forth of July should be fun and the fireworks exciting. Remember to thank our veterans and all that keep our country free and great!
Whatever you decide to angle for our afternoons can be brutal, get an early start and enjoy the mornings. Tarpon will be scattered from Venice Beaches thru Boca Grande Pass and up into Charlotte Harbor. They are on the move and not sitting there waiting for you like last month. Crabs were hard to buy and will be harder. Minnows and pinfish are fine baits. BaitBusters are excellent casting lures. The trick is to just slowly reel em back to you. No fancy dancing em around just let those little tails vibrate! Move around slowly and look for tarpon to roll more in hot waters! Don't take too long with photos and no hero shots on the boat or beach!
Snook have rebounded better than expected but too many folks are carelessly feeding our precious snook to Flipper! Go out enjoy catching a few snook for fun and share it with the kids! But if dolphins come, hang around and eat your releases; it's time to move! If you want more snook stop feeding Flippers! Fish should be working outside by now. It has been a crazy year; we had better weather in January than May or early June? Go figure? We have enjoyed some great snook bites but not with the consistency I expected. Many fish are medium sized but some bigger thirty to forty inch trophies. Please wet your hands before you touch these breeding fish so they can replace themselves successfully! Hook extractors are perfect because you never need to touch the fish. Minnows are preferred baits if you can find them. We may only have the tiny baitfish now? Threadfins are great big fish baits if you can catch any.
Trout and redfish are around if you put in a little homework to get on a pattern you'll do fine. Our reds are beat up by all the tournament pressure but we do have some slot fish if you're persistent. Use those noisy corks to rattle in hungry fish! Soft plastics will work if minnows are hard to catch. Work deeper edges and keep moving to lock in the large trout. Soft plastic do work under corks like the DOA Combo rigs.
Spanish Mackerel and snapper can be deal makers now. Anchor up put out a chum bag and be patient. I recommend several bags of chum they go fast in hot water and attract lots of fishy action. Small minnows are perfect here. Macks require long shank hooks or short wire. With mangos you want to use fluorocarbon and keep it light. Shrimp will work but they will be tiny now, it's "pee wee" season. Special skills can add to your harvest here. Both of the species are fast, they steal your baits and run away before you realize it.
The traditional Boca Grande tarpon tournaments are all catch and release now but successful. Participation in building and the best fishermen can release the most fish. The luck of a big one is gone but the very best fisherman wins, as it should be! Traditional tarpon fishing is coming back and not dead just recovering from being trampled by hot shots.
Enjoy your summer and let's go fishin' soon. Share time with family and friends often; we are not here forever! Captain Van Hubbard

Boca Grande Fishing Forecast:

good action and getting better.

Target Species:

snook, tarpon, trout, redfisg, mackerel.

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