Fishing report
Inshore– Sheepshead are still thick around Johns Pass, Jake Jonkman and his son Reed, both from Michigan were catching plenty of sheepshead Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday using fiddler crabs on the incoming tide around the dock and bridge of Johns Pass. Robert Rio and his Wife Debra stopped by Hubbard’s Marina to pick up some Nekid ball jigz this past week since the pompano were being caught all over the North Jetty of Johns Pass and along the south end of Madeira beach the past week on the incoming tide. Jeremy Wycoff, an area local and a TBFC member, reported early this past week that the snook are officially on the beaches once again! Every spring the snook start creeping through the passes onto the beaches for the warmer summer months. This migration is a great time to target snook and it’s a good sign to see them getting onto the beaches. Jeremy caught a handful of nearly thirty inch snook using greenbacks on an outgoing tide around the Fort De Soto area. He was not shy about sharing his fishing spot, he wanted more fishing friends to join him so if you know where this is go join him this week! The hot area around Fort De Soto where Jeremy caught his snook this week was not by the L shape rocks but the pile to the right there is a nice size trough running around it now where the snook were ambushing his greenbacks.
Near shore– The kingfish were thick early this week around twelve to sixteen miles we were seeing huge amount of kings busting bait and schooling up around the bait or hard bottom areas. Good sized mackerel were mixed into the big areas of action. However, as the week progressed they became less and less aggressive and harder to get chewing. Hogfish bite was going very well this past weekend into the middle of the week but this front action we had slide by the area Wednesday night/Thursday morning made yesterday’s bite much slower. The all day Thursday didn’t get any keeper sized hogs but caught some undersized hogs and tons of the lanes, porgies, black sea bass and grey snapper. While Tuesday and Sunday saw plenty of keeper hogfish, bigger lanes and more plentiful action. We even caught a keeper red grouper Tuesday in shallower than normal waters which is great to see them start moving into the near shore waters. Lately the near shore red grouper bite has been weak but as the water continues to warm we should see the red grouper creep shallower. Lanes snapper, grey snapper, and many other species of snapper are gearing up for their spawn which should make them more and more aggressive feeders.
Offshore– The deep water grouper closure is over! The Flying HUB 2 has been doing very well on the red grouper. Early this week they caught a boat limit of red grouper on their 12 hour private charter. Then Wednesday this past week they saw more of the same red grouper action with a huge pile of fat red grouper during the 12 hour extreme open boat trip at Hubbard’s Marina. Mangrove snapper bite is picking back up after a little slow down and they seem to be biting best on the flat hard bottom underneath the bait stacks. Triggerfish bite is going very well too and it’s great getting to harvest these awesome eating fish once again. Pelagic fishing has been a little slow out deep where we’ve been but reports of tuna action in the elbow area. Bottom fishing as a whole out deep is starting to really heat up with the water temps and were looking forward to amberjack opening up May, August-October then in June and most of July we should have American red snapper open too!
Want to watch Capt Dylan Hubbard’s Daily video reports? Check out the Hubbard’s Marina YouTube channel and don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE! – Hubbard’s Marina daily fishing & boating report
Captain Jack’s dolphin corner
Baby roseate spoonbills are all over dog leg key as well, Great time of year to join Hubbard’s Marina for our dolphin watching nature cruise and eco tour. This will give you a front row seat to the bird nesting island and rookery named Dog leg Key! Besides roseate spoonbills, Baby pelicans will be everywhere over the next month at the same bird nesting island. Hoping you and your family can join us at Hubbard’s Marina inside Johns Pass Madeira beach for a relaxing cruise aboard the big blue boat.
Egmont key ferry boat has spotted a handful of sea turtles moving through the mouth of Tampa bay on their cruise to and from Egmont Key Island from the Fort De Soto bay pier! Besides the sea turtles, they have also been spotting lots of dolphins moving in large groups around Egmont key and Fort de Soto beach. To catch a ride on our Egmont key ferry boat, check out all the info and a booking link here – http://tampabayferry.com/egmont-key-ferry/route-and-schedule/
Spring is in the air and the dolphins are being very playful and are found in large pods moving together. They are playing around with their juvenile’s showing them how to hunt using their sonar.
Manatees are returning to the area with the warming waters! We have seen these beautiful manatees most often around Upper boca Ceiga bay aboard our dolphin watching nature cruise and eco tour or from the Madeira beach water taxi!
We now have started our special spring and summer trips that include our 11am dolphin watching nature cruise and eco tour trip option. These 11am cruises are just like our 1 and 3pm dolphin cruises, however, they aren’t offering daily like the afternoon trip. These 11am dolphin tours are offered Tues, Thurs and Saturdays! Dolphin watching nature cruise and eco tour information – https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/dolphin-watching-cruises/
Due the breezy weather and gorgeous conditions this time of year is a perfect time of year to join us for a 3 hour shelling trip to shell key from Hubbard’s Marina or for a ferry to Egmont key from Fort De Soto Park because the shelling is absolutely outstanding this time of year. If you want more information on our Egmont key ferry trip, check out this link – https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/egmont-key-ferry-cruise/
We also started up our 3 hour shelling trip to shell key from Hubbard’s Marina these 3 hour shelling trips run Monday, Wednesday and Fridays from 9am till noon and offer an hour of shelling time on shell key. For more info on the 3 hour shelling adventure, 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
Tampa Bay Ferry, a subsidiary of Hubbard’s Marina, operates three ferry/water taxi routes currently and is hoping to further expand that in the near future! Right now we currently offer the Egmont key ferry, Madeira beach water taxi and the Shell key ferry is launching this weekend! Check out the BRAND NEW website we just re-built to show case all the routes that Tampa Bay Ferry has to offer – http://tampabayferry.com/
The shell key ferry will be operating out of Fort De Soto County Park just like our Egmont key ferry operations but unlike the Egmont key ferry you will catch the shell key ferry from the boat ramp at fort De Soto! The Egmont key ferry runs out of the bay pier at fort De Soto. They are both the same price, $20 for adults and $10 for kids 11 and under! For more info on any of our ferry or water taxi routes you can visit- http://tampabayferry.com/shell-key-ferry/route-and-schedule/
Also, big news is that the Madeira beach water taxi is now running seven days a week to accommodate the large spring break crowds! That allows more options to get around the area and avoid the beach traffic, plus you can hop on the water taxi for a relaxing cruise all day or for just a two hour loop whatever you prefer. Plus, you can bring your dog or a cooler of beer or BOTH! For more info on the Madeira beach water taxi by Tampa bay Ferry and Hubbard’s Marina check out – http://tampabayferry.com/madeira-beach-water-taxi/route-and-schedule/
The Madeira beach water taxi has been carrying huge numbers the past few weeks! We have broken record numbers of passengers multiple weeks in a row with the largest number to date this past weekend of nearly three hundred passengers in three days!
To catch the madeira beach water taxi, stop by Hubbard’s Marina, ABC marina, ROC Park, the McDonald’s/Slyce floating dock, jungle Parada or Middle grounds grill in Treasure Island for a ride on the Madeira beach water taxi! These are the six stops we are currently servicing with the water taxi and ABC marina and Jungle Parada are the two stops offering free parking. The Hubbard’s Marina stop offers $5 all day parking when you stop by the Hubbard’s Marina office for a parking ticket voucher.
Upcoming up at Hubbard’s Marina
Did you miss Capt Dylan Hubbard’s last seminar at Bass pro shops? Don’t worry he’s doing another one April 28th at 2pm! As always, he will be giving away another FREE 5 hour half day and a FREE 10 hour all day at the upcoming April Bass pro shops seminar! Check out the Facebook event for more info on this special seminar day – https://www.facebook.com/events/1616960988358750/
Also, the last seminar is up on our Fishing tips page at Hubbard’s Marina, check out the newly re-designed fishing tips page by Capt Dylan Hubbard – https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/fishing-tips/
Our 12 hour night snapper fishing trips have started now and we offer these Friday nights around the new or full moons! These trips are 7pm until 7am and they offer a great shot at fishing for mangrove snapper, porgies, lane snapper, vermilions and more! We fish around 25-35 miles out for around 7-8 hours of fishing time.
May 12th we have a special event with The Reel animals fishing show, Tampa Bay Fishing club, Barracuda Cast Nets and more at the Lazy Days RV dealership off of I-4 in Tampa area. This will be held at their outside pool area with a seminar stage, casting demos, cast net tutorials and much more! With all the great local companies and guides involved it promises to be a can’t miss event!
We have lots of 39 hour and 44 hour fishing trips coming up with light loads, to see all our 12,39,44 and 63 hour trips and what dates they run and what fish they target you can check out the specialty trip schedule at this link: https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/specialty-fishing-trip-schedule/
If you want to do a customized private fishing charter with the ORIGINAL and longest running private charter fishing fleet in Florida, Hubbard’s Marina is the place to be! We do all types of unique private charter fishing options, plus were the only ones in the area that can accommodate larger groups of 7 or more on our private charter fishing trips out of Johns Pass Madeira beach. We have four custom built private charter fishing vessels at Hubbard’s Marina that can be privately chartered for you and your group’s fishing adventure.
We have changed around a lot of stuff on our website, you should check out the added material on our FAQs page to further explain bait options, best spots on the boat, rod rental options and lots more helpful information to hopefully help first time anglers with us have a more quality experience. To see the changes, check out the FAQs: https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/faqs/
Regular’s club
PLEASE sign up for the 2018 clubs or renew your 2017 membership ASAP, we are doing our end of year cleaning of the club and your membership will be changed to inactive if you don’t renew soon!
Don’t let your membership laps and loose seniority, call us today and get set up for the 2018 regular’s club membership!
Remember, this is a loyalty program not a discount program so you got to go fishing often to make it worth it for yourself.
Captains Mark and Dylan Hubbard
Vice president and Regular’s club manager Hubbard’s Marina
(727)393-1947 ext 306
CaptHubbard@HubbardsMarina.com
