It’s a roller coaster but we are enjoying good fishing most of the time from Boca Grande to Venice. The busy season is winding down and I’m thankful that is has been so good; both the fishing and the business. I am so excited about my kid’s trips. They have grown into a significant portion of my trips and are the most fun. They just want to have fun and exploration is much easier than dependable fishing. We usually get something to bite and then try to see what interests the young guests. If they want to look for sharks teeth on the beautiful white sand beaches it’s fine, or swim, or look for dolphins and manatees, it is fine! Most days we can find a manatee or two, sometimes a bunch. Dolphins are so abundant they can be nuisance fishing; they want to eat our release fish. It’s cute to observe but hard on fish populations. Just the boat ride excites children that if it’s new.
Our weather controls our comfort levels and fishing. We need our rainy season but it is supposed to be calm and clear in the mornings and scattered thunderstorms in the late afternoon or evenings. We endure some normal times and many days of morning west winds and rain at any time. It’s challenging to match our fishing to the conditions. We can bay fish in windy conditions but the Gulf gets rough especially on west winds. Our waters are silted, milky which makes tarpon hard to locate cuz you can’t see them. We have enjoyed good action when ever we can match trips and conditions.
Our tarpon have seemed even bigger than normal the last week or so. Several silver kings over two hundred pounds have been reported by friends. We will have tarpon to play with for at least a week or two. Snook are doing well and it is catch and release but a lot of fun to experience the screaming drag from a big snook run. The kids have enjoyed some impressive numbers and trophy snook too. The bite was so good last week we had to go exploring because they were bored catch fish every cast!
We have some trout and redfish if you want to poke around and seek em out. Snapper should be available near by and we can even keep a gag grouper if we screw up and catch one. Spanish mackerel are due to reward our efforts when we try near the passes.
Life is good; I’m thankful for the wonderful lifestyle fishing allows us. Let’s go fishin’ soon cuz it’s good fer us! Captain Van Hubbard