Fishing report
Inshore- The snook spawn continues to highlight our inshore fishing report since our pass and beaches are loaded with these great fighting and awesome biting snook. However, keep in mind these fish are on a mission to further the species, so please quickly catch and release and do not over-stress these fish or let them beat themselves up while unhooking the fish. One local and respected guide suggests holding his breathe while removing snook and trout out of the water and once you run out of air so is the fish so this method helps you ensure you don’t keep the fish out of the water too long. We are also seeing lots of the good eating whiting caught along Madeira beach in the surf on shrimp and squid. The flounder are biting now too, seeing some big boys caught along the North West side of the John’s Pass Bridge from the beach. The South side of Johns Pass along the rocks still holding plenty of good biting mangrove snapper. The sheepshead bite in the pass has slowed down dramatically but they will still continue biting through the summer just more sporadically than the late ‘winter’ and spring time.
Near shore- The hogfish trend as of late has continued to be interesting, it seems every day where we have heavy cloud cover or rain expected with scattered clouds it really turns the hogfish on. The days with clearer skies and clearer waters they don’t want to bite as well. Seems they are very smart fish and with the clearer skies and clear waters they can see our fishing lines more easily and are less aggressive and willing to bite, but the cloud cover cuts down the light and they are able to be tricked into biting naturally presented baits that aren’t over tackled or over-weighted. Lane snapper are also biting well for us near shore as well, especially when targeting those hogfish with shrimp we are seeing some really nice lane snapper as of late. The grey snapper bite has continued to be steady for us as well, so the action near shore is going well. The gag grouper should really add some excitement near shore especially on the back side of summer as the waters cool and the big gags start moving in. We are seeing a handful of keeper gags near shore but they are much fewer and further between this time of year, but you can find them if your fishing the ledges.
Offshore- Red snapper season is in full swing and our 12 hour extreme trips, 39 hour long range overnight trips and 12 hour party boat short red snapper trips are all tearing up these great eating American red snapper. The fish are thick out there and were seeing some seriously large catches and enjoying a great time fishing offshore. Gag grouper bite is going well out there too, a little more difficult to get large numbers of gags compared to the aggressive red snapper but we are seeing some monsters. Our big gag so far this season was just over 35lbs caught by Jig Head Ed aboard the 44 hour full moon trip. We have also seen a 19lb American red snapper, but hoping to beat that by quite a bit before season is over July 22nd on the red snapper and Dec 31st on the gag grouper. We are still seeing some nice kingfish and tuna caught as well. This recent 39 hour we had a 45lb kingfish caught while reeling up a sardine from the bottom and it did the old Chinese fire drill doing a lap around the boat before we were able to see some color and stick a gaff into this monster surprise of a kingfish. Still a lot of bill fish offshore too, seeing the sailfish action out there but haven’t boated one yet.
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Captain Jack’s dolphin corner
The local dolphins around Johns Pass have been a little hard to find and we have found out why, there was yet another newborn dolphin conceived in the past few days. When they have a newborn baby they will get together in a larger group and ‘hide’ out at the back of canals or in the back waters till the baby masters swimming and gets it’s strength up before the split up and go on their separate ways. This makes nearly a half dozen baby dolphins in the past 6 months around Hubbard’s Marina Johns Pass dolphin tour. Come join us for a chance to see one of these newborn dolphin, some even have the iconic ‘fetal folds’ you can see! For more info on our guaranteed dolphin sightings tour check out this informational link with some great Madeira beach dolphin tours info – https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/dolphin-watching-cruises/
Lots of sea turtles in the area right now. They are nesting along our gulf beaches right now so were seeing many of them offshore, near shore, and around the beaches. It’s a great time of year to get on the water to get a chance to see these beautiful turtles cruising the surface. On a recent fishing trip we witnessed two large loggerhead seaturtles ‘kissing’ on the surface of the water and they were not bothered as they drifted past our anchored fishing boat. Be careful as you navigate the beaches or islands so you don’t happen to disturb a seaturtle nesting area.
We have lots of the osprey around right now and out at Shell key and Egmont key we are spotting them nesting in the tall trees along the islands. Come join us for a ferry boat ride from Fort De Soto to ride out to Shell key or Egmont key for a great day of shelling, swimming, bird watching and more! Tampa Bay Ferry by Hubbard’s marina takes daily rides from Fort De Soto out to these island paradises. For more info check out http://HubbardsMarina.com and click ‘cruises’ and click the ‘shell key ferry’ or ‘Egmont key ferry’.
West winds have been making the shelling opportunities better and better along the shores of Egmont key and Shell key islands! Tampa Bay Ferry operates two different options to these islands from Fort De Soto’s county park. Plus, Hubbard’s Marina offers a 3 hour shelling trip as well from Johns Pass if you can’t make it down to Fort De Soto for the Egmont key or Shell key ferry trips by Tampa Bay Ferry. For more info on our 3 hour shelling trip to shell key from Johns Pass Madeira beach check out this link – https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/florida-shelling-cruise/
Hubbard’s Marina Sea Adventures, Tampa bay ferry and taxi, and the Madeira beach water taxi are all now proudly power by Honda Marine! If you come visit us for a dolphin tour, sunset cruise, Egmont key island trip, snorkeling, shelling, water taxi ride or any type of ferry or pleasure cruise trip then you will be riding a boat powered by Honda Marine! These new motors look great, are super quiet and are great on fuel economy! It was tough to get four boats re-powered with new engines but it was well worth the change and were very happy! Hope you get a chance to see these brand new super cool engines at work on board one of our pleasure cruise and ferry boats! To learn more about Honda Marine engines for your boat, check out their website: https://marine.honda.com/ they have the best warranty in the industry right now, you get a full 5 years and you just can’t beat that!
Tampa bay ferry News
Ready for a great way to see the area and relax on the water? You would LOVE the Tampa bay ferry by Hubbard’s Marina we have the Madeira beach water taxi service, a shell key island ferry, Egmont key island ferry and MORE to come as well! You don’t want to miss a great day of fun in the sun shelling, snorkeling, or cruising the bay bays in style with us at Tampa Bay ferry.
The Madeira beach water taxi by Tampa bay ferry & Hubbard’s marina is currently running 7 days a week and we have tons of pick up and drop off locations around Madeira beach, Treasure Island and western St Pete. If you want a way to avoid the beach traffic and parking Fees Park FREE at abc marina and catch the ferry or Jungle Prada and hop on the ferry there. Check out this like for our Madeira beach water taxi schedule by Tampa bay ferry – http://tampabayferry.com/madeira-beach-water-taxi/route-and-schedule/
Don’t forget to check out the BRAND NEW shell key ferry from Fort De Soto County Park out to the beautiful shell key preserve! This is a great way to see the island, go shelling and enjoy a day on the water with a flexible schedule. For more info on this new ferry route check out this link to the Tampa bay ferry shell key page – http://tampabayferry.com/shell-key-ferry/route-and-schedule/
The Egmont key ferry is running daily as well with multiple rides out to the island from Fort De Soto’s bay pier. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday there’s an afternoon ferry option too instead of just mid-morning. Check out the website for ferry prices and times. Plus, while on the island they offer a snorkeling trip too!
https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/egmont-key-ferry-cruise/
Upcoming up at Hubbard’s Marina
NEW TRIPS ADDED TO THE SCHEDULE:
->Want to join us for a 39 hour long range overnight fishing trip at Hubbard’s Marina? We have ADDED two new 39 hour dates for the red snapper season. The FIRST newly added trip is Sunday June 17th and then we added a Second newly added trip Sunday June 8th! Both of these trips are 39 hour long range adventures with 20 hours of fishing time 70-100 miles from shore and they offer a two day bag limit and tons of trolling time too! Here’s more on our special 39 hour deep sea fishing trips – https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/39hr-overnight-fishing-trip/
->Want to join us for a 12 hour extreme trip aboard the Flying HUB 2 for a private charter experience at the price of a party boat trip? This special ‘split charter’ style trip has nearly sold out for all of June already and will most likely sell out for the remaining 21 days in July where red snapper is still open. Due to this, we are adding FOUR more trips to our schedule June 25th, June 26th, July 9th and July 16th so call us NOW to book a trip today. Call now as these trips will fill very quickly, as they offer 7-8 hours fishing time 70-100 miles from shore for tons of fishing time on this one of a kind private charter fishing boat!
Want to learn more about near shore and/or offshore fishing? Check out the Weekly fishing conversation or seminar by Capt Dylan Hubbard LIVE on the Hubbard’s Marina Facebook page! We also then upload this video to the Hubbard’s Marina YouTube page shortly after the live video is over. This is weekly on Sunday nights from 8:30pm until 9:30pm, check out the event page and PLEASE LIKE AND SHARE the event if you have a Facebook page, and invite your friends as well! https://www.facebook.com/events/249881722421418/
Once we fill the Flying HUB 2 schedule up for Red snapper we will still have the Flying HUB 1 for go fast Deep water extreme trips available for private charters to any group of 1-6 people. Keep in mind we have just poured time, energy and quite a bit of funds into the Flying HUB 1 to completely rebuild the engine room, power plants and drives and much of the boat to make it an even more bad to the bone fishing machine complete with racing components and racing drives. To check out more about the Flying HUB 1 and what type of private charters you can book inside Johns Pass at Hubbard’s Marina, check out this page and click the Flying HUB 1 – https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/private-charters/
Amberjack season is closed now, remember Amberjack will be open May, August, September and October. Also, Triggerfish are closed June and July as well with Amberjack.
Red snapper season has been finalized if you haven’t already seen the announcement on our Facebook page, there’s a private recreational season and for hire recreational season. When fishing at Hubbard’s Marina you will want to pay attention to the 51 day for hire recreational season starting June first and running through July 22nd at 12:01am making July 21st the last day to land your red snapper with us at Hubbard’s Marina if you are confused or questioning the red snapper season at all check out this video Capt Dylan Hubbard made to explain the ins and outs of the season – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAb9Yj3tr_A
Regular’s club
If you haven’t signed up for the 2018 regular’s club yet, call today as signups will be closing soon for the remainder of the 2018 year. Also, if you were a member and haven’t renewed you don’t have much time before you lose seniority and have to pay the first time signup fee when you decide to finally renew.
Captains Mark and Dylan Hubbard
Vice president and Regular’s club manager Hubbard’s Marina
(727)393-1947 ext 306
