Fishing report
Inshore-
The bite has been a little tough this past week due mostly to the weather, but we have seen some action just had to work for it a little harder is all. That big front rolled through at the start of the week and really cooled down the inshore waters, stirred them up and had the weather not so optimal the first half of the week. Luckily, we have some reprieve this weekend but still a little chilly thanks to another weak front Saturday. The best days to be fishing around inshore would be over this weekend into the start of the coming week!
Sheepshead are one of those species when things look bleak weather wise, they seem to really get excited. We have seen some great action around the bay and up the intercostal on these guys around the bridges, docks, seawalls, piers and more! Anywhere from the residential canals out to the bridges in the passes and even the artificial reefs and rock piles are holding big numbers of the aggressive sheepshead. Shrimp, fiddlers, or cut oysters or clams are all great options when targeting these guys. Whenever the weather turns bad you know you can count on the sheepshead to cooperate and turn on!
The trout species are also biting well, this time of year we see a big surge of the silver trout in the passes, on the beaches and around the mouth of the bay. These guys love the tandem rigs like the love’s lures bounced along the sandy bottom areas. However, most any slow-moving soft plastic will work to catch em. John Sasser, our local Johns Pass fixture, reported catching so many of them one night this past week he had to change lures because he got bored with catching them every cast in the pass. The speckled trout bite turned on a bit in the upper bay but for the most part they were a bit more tough throughout the area because the grass flats were tough during the frigid temps. However, if you could find a wind protected flat, they were still biting well on the deeper edges. Plus, they continued to bite well at night around the bridge lights and residential dock lights.
Some nice redfish were caught this past week along the residential canals, mangrove shorelines, and shallow edges of the shorelines where the water was warming up in the early to late afternoon. Mostly the live bait on the bottom or the slow moving artificials were the best way to catch these guys this past week. For the most part most of the red fish action was further back up in the bays this week with the severe cooling trend along our coastline.
Snook action was tough to come by, but a few anglers got some nice fish around the passes, but most of the fish are retreating to the rivers, bayous and upper bay areas. You can still find a few around the passes and residential dock lines from the mouth of the bay to the upper bay but most fish are moving back to the warmer more consistent water temps.
Surprisingly many people reported catching some super late season mackerel around the mouth of the bay, passes and piers. Very odd to still be seeing some decent number of mackerels especially with how cold our waters got this past week but you just never know when it comes to fishing this salt water!
Near Shore –
This week has been tough to get out near shore or offshore due to weather we really only fished part of this past weekend and yesterday near shore the rest of the week we were at the dock dreaming of getting out there to the incredible hogfish bite we have been seeing. Luckily, we were able to get back out after them yesterday and they were ready to eat once we got back to that 40-70 foot range we have been catching them. Our 5 hour half day, 10 hour all day and private charter fishing boats yesterday all caught some nice numbers of big keeper hogfish on the live shrimp. This is a great time of year to go get out there to catch one of these unique looking and very incredible tasting fish!
We are also seeing some good action on the lane snapper and mangrove snapper closer to the 100ft mark, anywhere from around 60ft and beyond we start to see these aggressive snapper species ready to eat shrimp, cut threadfin and the lanes will even take some squid.
Red grouper bite has been a little hit and miss but we are still seeing a few here and there when we are fishing out there a little deeper in the near shore waters.
Offshore-
We unfortunately haven’t been able to get offshore at all this past week due to weather but were looking forward to getting back after it this weekend aboard our 39 hour fishing trip!
The mangrove snapper are biting well out there closer to 150-200ft of water and the average size is much larger than what we typically see. Plus, we are seeing some nice big yellowtail mixed in with them occasionally. Also, a benefit of fishing deeper is the occasional vermillion snapper we come across out there are super large as well! Great time to go deep after these snapper species and this weekend we have a little weather window to make that possible.
The fat red grouper and occasional big scamp grouper are biting well around 180-250ft of water out in the deep-water potholes. We are doing our best to take advantage of the deep-water fishing while we can ahead of the 20-fathom closure for red grouper that happens each February and march to protect these guys during their spawn. When that closure sets in place we then fish outside of the closure line at night for mangroves on our 39 hour then we bounce inside the line to fish for red grouper where we can keep them and we are typically able to still net a few nice keeper fish.
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
Upcoming up at Hubbard’s Marina
WIN FREE FISHING TRIPS at our next Bass Pro Shops seminar event coming up Saturday February 22nd at 2pm! Hope you can join us for another great fishing conversation and event at the Tampa Bass Pro Shops located on Palm River road in Tampa/Brandon area. Here’s more information on the event, please check it out and click ‘going’ or ‘interested’ to help us spread the word: https://www.facebook.com/events/1231164307092844/
DON’T FORGET, YOU CAN ALSO WIN FREE FISHING TRIPS if you Join us for one of our special live stream fishing shows Sunday nights at 8:30pm! We will be giving away tons of fishing tips, tricks, techniques and will be answering your questions LIVE during the show! Plus, there’s plenty of FREE FISHING TRIPS to win as well! The shows last for about an hour, and you can find them on the Hubbard’s Marina Facebook page or the Hubbard’s Marina YouTube page. We recommend following the Facebook event link for show info including what’s being discussed, who the guests are, and any changes! Check out the past shows on this page, and find the Facebook event link on this page too -> https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/live-q-and-a-fishing-shows/
THERE WON’T BE A LIVE SHOW JAN 26TH OR FEB 2nd DUE TO NMFS FISHING MEETING THEN THE SUPERBOWL
**NEXT SHOW FEB 9TH 8:30PM**
Don’t forget about our brand new system that allows you to now TEXT OUR OFFICE if you’d rather not call us! Now you can call or text us at (727)393-1947 so for quick questions or updates or anything you can reach out even easier. PLUS, we have completely re designed our website too, make sure to check out the new site and let us know how we did. Any issues, comments, feedback or anything in relation to the website redesign please email me at [email protected] and remember if you have visited our site often you may have to clear your cache before getting the full new site to show up. You can do this easily via computer by hitting CTRL and then F5 while holding the control key, once the cache clears the site will refresh with all the new updates!
Fox 13’s Good Day Tampa Bay show has picked up a fishing segment with Capt Dylan Hubbard Scheduled for every Friday morning starting around 8:15am! These segments will have tons of fishing tips, tricks, updates and more. Please tune into Fox 13 on Friday mornings to watch the show and if you are not local, you can watch it LIVE on their website -> http://www.fox13news.com/live
Enjoy learning more about fishing? Attended a seminar or watched our LIVE Q&A show Sunday nights but want to see the tips and tricks in action on the boat? We have filmed a mangrove snapper, grouper and red snapper mastery course with Salt Strong and they built me my own private page to give my fishing friends steep discounts on these crazy cool courses… PLUS, you also have the opportunity to become an insider member and join the community with great giveaways, raffles, the strike score tool, spot dissections, tons of free fishing videos and tips for inshore, near shore and offshore and MORE this is a super cool family of anglers and the positivity and openness of anglers is wild in this group… in the community people share what they caught, when the caught it, what tide they caught it, what bait or lure they caught it one and often WHERE they caught it too… you HAVE to check this out if you like fishing: https://SaltStrong.com/Hubbard
Captain Jack’s dolphin corner
Our local bird nesting island called Dog Leg Key is getting very active this time of year as the temperatures cool our local seabirds are starting to show winter plumage. This shows they are getting ready to nest at the island to have the next generation of local seabirds coming soon! You can view all the nest and most of the birds during our daily dolphin watching nature cruise and eco tour aboard our big blue boat at Hubbard’s Marina inside Johns Pass, Madeira beach.
Due to this, and the earlier sunset time it’s a great time for bird watching on our sunset cruise this time of year since we are able to cruise by Dog Leg Key just as the sun is getting ready to set which is when most of our local seabirds return home to the island for the night!
Also, the mullet are heading out of the back bay waters to spawn near shore with these cold fronts so due to this we have huge schools of fish moving together which causes large pods of dolphins to aggregate and actively feed heavily on these moving schools. This creates a great show for our dolphin watching nature cruise and eco tour guests and our sunset cruise guests alike when we are able to come across these actively feeding and aggressive pods!
Due to the wintertime weather up north many of the bald Eagles head south for the winter to stay warm. We have a huge number of bald eagles hanging around area now and the last few days we have had a few relaxing on the sand bars at low tide to sun themselves and rest up for more fishing fun as the water starts to flood back into the bays with the incoming tides.
White pelicans showing back up to our area for their wintertime retreat, great time to go cruising our local back bay waters to spot these beautiful and unique birds while they are in town for a short time!
Due to this, and the earlier sunset time it’s a great time for bird watching on our sunset cruise this time of year since we are able to cruise by Dog Leg Key just as the sun is getting ready to set which is when most of our local seabirds return home to the island for the night!
Also, due to the awesome temps its nice and cool and not so hot on the water. However, for us Floridians it maybe a little chilly so make sure to have a light jacket if you are a local with friends attending our on the water adventures!
Call us today to book your dolphin tour at (727)393-1947 and get more information on this trip at our website here -> https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/dolphin-watching-cruises/
Tampa bay ferry News
Right now with the barrage of the cold fronts makes shelling out of this world out at Egmont key with us aboard our Egmont key ferry boat ride from Fort De Soto’s county park. We have 11am tours leaving Wednesday-Sunday this time of year that offer 2 hours out on the island after a 30 minute ride out and 30 minute ride back. Plus, we often see dolphins, seabirds and sometimes even sea turtles on the ride out and back thus the ride time can fluctuate a bit depending on what we spot during the cruise out to your island oasis! For more info on the Egmont key ferry, visit this page of the Hubbard’s Marina website – https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/egmont-key-ferry-cruise/
While out on the island, you can go shelling around the permiter or trek through the interior of the island to the western side where the shelling is even better! Plus, you have a great shot at sharks teeth and more. Plus, this time of year is awesome for exploring the island’s interior a bit more on your way to the gulf side of the island. There’s cooler temps and hardly any bugs after the cooler weather sets in on the island.
The shark’s teeth have been the highlight lately out at the islands with some very large teeth found out at Egmont key and a few at shell key recently. Behind the cold fronts the islands get fresh rounds of great shells and a few of these sharks’ teeth too!
We are seeing lots of active seabirds around the islands with the cooler temps some of our norther friends like bald eagles come down to join us on our beautiful beaches as well!
Plus, the dolphins have been very active as of late adding a special bonus to our ferry guests as they ride from Fort De Soto out to Egmont key or Shell Key islands!
Regular’s club
We are officially into the 2020 year and our 2020 regular’s club is solidifying. If you have not renewed your membership has become inactive and your discount is no longer working. Please make sure to call me and get set up again when you have time so that way your 2020 bookings will have your discount attached when you show up for your trips! We can sign you up via phone or in person, and it is always easier ahead of your trip.
If you are not a member, but you’d like to be we are doing our NEW member sign ups. Give me a call or email and we can talk about the clubs and get you signed up ASAP. Once you sign up your discount becomes active and stays active until December 31st, 2020!
Remember, you can now call or TEXT our main office line – (727)393-1947
Captain Dylan Hubbard
Vice president and Co-Owner
(727)393-1947 ext. 306
