Fishing report
Inshore- This past week was a typical February week, beautiful for a few days then a cold front to stir things up and then slowly getting nice once again. Really important to time you’re fishing adventures around the cold fronts to capitalize on the great fishing and beautiful weather as the fronts approach. The bite this past week was good inside the pass on the pompano, sheepshead, black drum and whiting. The pompano are starting to pick up sporadically around the troughs that run parallel to our beaches where the waves break, and also around the tidal rips on the western tip of the north John’s pass jetty. They love live sand fleas or live shrimp weighted to the bottom by a light split shot or a doc’s goofy jig or Nekid ball jig bounced along the sandy bottom. Whiting are typically caught just past the breakers on the beaches using live shrimp or small squid chunks weighted to bottom. However, lots of bonnet head sharks are being caught while targeting the whiting and pompano along the beaches and jetty reports David Wheeler from Seminole. He caught over a dozen decent sized 2-4ft bonnet heads along Madeira beach this past week during his vacation from Illinois while using live shrimp for bait. Sheepshead were biting well behind the front in the muddy waters Thursday around the rocks, pilings and bridge inside the pass on live fiddler crabs. Joey Barlow, from Seminole, came in and bought 5 dozen fiddlers and fish around the back bay oyster bars and caught a limit of sheepshead this past week and release more of those great eating fish before running out of bait and leaving them chewing!
Near shore- Huge sheepshead were caught this past week aboard our 5 hour half day fishing trip in depths of 30-50ft of water. Those sheepshead are out on the near shore rock piles, ledges, reefs and wrecks in large spawning aggregations and you can luck into finding some real big girls while fishing for the hogfish, mangroves and other snapper near shore using live shrimp or fiddler crabs for bait. The hogfish were biting well for us this week on all our trips fishing near shore especially the ten hour all days and private fishing charters aboard the HUB and Flying HUB 2. Those hogfish love live shrimp, fiddlers, or rock shrimp on lighter 20-30lb floro carbon either using a jig head, Nekid ball jig or knocker rig style set up on a 4000-5000 series spinning reel with 20-30lb braid and a 15-20ft piece of that 20-30lb floro with a sensitive but strong spinning rod in the 17-20lb range with fast action. The hogfish are being caught anywhere from 40-70ft of water typically this past week. The lane snapper were biting well this past week on cut threadfins or the live shrimp in around 60-90 feet of water. We are seeing a few cobia in the near shore waters but much more commonly spotted in our offshore waters right now.
Offshore – This past weekend’s 39 hour fishing trip did very well with a monster pile of mangrove snapper, some yellowtail snapper, plenty of big vermilions, some porgies, big cobia, good amount of blackfin tuna, and some keeper red grouper as well! They had some very bumpy conditions this past weekend but they were able to overcome those bumpy conditions and really put together a great catch of fish. The night time bite was a little slow, but we stayed on top of them and the day time bite got much better once the sun rose. The 12 hour extreme this past week did very well on the red grouper with some nice mangrove snapper and yellowtail mixed in and a big cobia too! Lots of cobia in the offshore waters right now hitting pitched live pinfish tail hooked with 50lb floro leaders and a 5ot circle hook. We are seeing some decent numbers of the big blackfin tuna too, they will hit trollers, knocker rigs, vertical jigs and flat lines too!
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Upcoming up at Hubbard’s Marina
Tons of FREE trips at our two events this weekend & lots of light loads coming up on our 39 hours and 12 hour extreme trips! Weather is looking good for the next week to get offshore come join us for some fishing, shelling, dolphin tours, sunset cruising or kayak, paddleboard or beach cabana rentals at Hubbard’s Marina. Read below for tons more info or call us today: (727)393-1947
Want some FREE fishing trips with us at Hubbard’s Marina? Want to learn more about near shore and offshore fishing? Join us this Saturday at 2:30pm at the tampa Bass pro shops fishing seminar with Capt Dylan Hubbard. Again this seminar is tomorrow, Saturday February 16th at 2:30 pm. The fishing seminar or fishing conversation will be about an hour long of fishing conversation, tips, tricks and more! Plus, at the end of each seminar Capt Dylan gives away a FREE 10 hour all day for two guests and a FREE 5 hour half day for two guests to two lucky winners of the FREE raffle. To be entered in the raffle you just have to show up around 2:30 pm and stay for the hour seminar. Check out the Facebook event for this upcoming seminar here – https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/bass-pro-fishing-seminars/ You can also view all the past bass pro shops seminars at this page too!
GIVING AWAY OVER $500 IN FREE FISHING TRIPS this Sunday during our weekly live stream fishing conversation Q&A show! Want to learn more about fishing locally and WIN FREE FISHING TRIPS without leaving your house? Don’t forget we have the Weekly fishing conversation or seminar by Capt Dylan Hubbard LIVE on the Hubbard’s Marina Facebook & YouTube page if you don’t want to leave your house to catch a seminar! 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! Here’s the page to find the Facebook event link, and view all the past LIVE Q&A fishing shows – https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/past-qanda-live-streams/
We have super light loads coming up in before the end of February on our 39 hour long range fishing trip adventures! Especially the Tuesday 39 hour feb 19th, below are the dates of the trips and these are GREAT opportunities to get tons of the big mangrove snapper, vermillion snapper, yellowtail snapper, porgies and more that we have been seeing and hopefully plentiful blackfin tuna and more as well!
Feb 19th – Tuesday 39 hour
Feb 22nd – Friday 39 hour
BOOK YOUR TRIP TODAY BY CALLING US AT (727)393-1947 OR BOOKING ONLINE – https://HubbardsMarina.com/reservations
Our 12 hour extreme trips right now also are going out with super light loads as well, if you are ready for some big red grouper, scamp and mangrove snapper and plenty of others it’s a great time to get out on the flying HUB 2 for some offshore fishing fun with us at Hubbard’s Marina on a Wednesday or Sunday.
2019 TRIPS FILLING FAST Book your 2019 10,12, 39 or 44 hour trip TODAY while there’s still tons of open room, these trips will fill quickly so book NOW. Last year red snapper trips were filled up by end of January, so don’t miss your chance at securing your favorite trip TODAY. Here’s the link for all your 2019 12,39 and 44 hour trips – https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/specialty-fishing-trip/
Captain Jack’s dolphin corner
Water is super clear right now in our back bay waters thanks to the super nice and calm weather we have been having and light winds. The water is not stirred up in the slightest and the cooler temps keeps the algae down which allows for some of the clearest water conditions of the year in our ‘spring time’ when water temps are in the mid 60’s to mid 70’s and the weather is nice this time of year it gets crystal clear in the bays and along the passes and on the beaches making it a great time to do a dolphin watching nature cruise and eco tour with us or our famous sunset cruise that offers FREE beer and wine!
The dolphins are in very large pods right now hunting the plentiful sheepshead, black drum and mullet so it’s a great time to catch a relaxing cruise and enjoy the playful groups of dolphins and super clear back bay waters around Johns Pass at Hubbard’s Marina. Here’s all the information on our dolphin watching nature cruise and eco tour – https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/dolphin-watching-cruises/
Along with the playful large groups of dolphins, we have our local bird nesting island called dog leg key which we cruise past during our dolphin watching nature cruise and eco tour is a beautiful sight this time of year as our local seabird population starts to dawn their mating plumage. As the local seabirds prepare for mating season they get very colorful and decorative plumage or feathers and it makes for a super special viewing experience this time of year aboard our dolphin watching nature cruise and eco tour!
Our sunset cruise is starting to ramp up in its availability! We normally run our sunset cruise on weekends only in our ‘winter’ season but now as we approach the spring the weather is so nice, the sunsets are so colorful and the people are starting to show up so we are starting to offer the sunset cruise more regularly so call us today to book a relaxing hour and a half sunset cruise with Hubbard’s Marina! It’s a bit more of a party atmosphere compared to our dolphin watching nature cruise and eco tour, and it doesn’t offer the full narration like the dolphin tour but there’s great music and some great jokes. Plus, the sunset cruise takes you down the beautiful gulf beaches at the golden hour with the sunset to your left and the beautiful beaches to your right. Plus, we often spot pods of the dolphins cruising the beaches too while enjoying the free beer and wine offered aboard our sunset cruise at Hubbard’s Marina inside Johns Pass Madeira Beach. To learn more about the fun filled sunset cruise with free beer and wine check out this link – https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/sunset-cruise/
Hubbard’s Marina Sea Adventures and Tampa Bay ferry are both 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
You have to get out to Egmont key island sometime soon with us at Hubbard’s Marina! The weather has been spectacular lately and since its still a little cooler at night and not so bad during the day it’s a great time to explore the island and see the plentiful gopher tortoise that are easy to spot out sunning themselves each morning. Plus the waters around the island is super clear right now thanks to the super calm waters and winds we have had lately. The shelling is great this time of year as well thanks to the cooler conditions keeping island traffic low and the occasional cold front stirring up new shells onto our local islands! The Tampa bay ferry by Hubbard’s Marina offers 11am ferry rides to the island Wednesday through Sunday this time of year. You get two hours on the island after around a 20-30 minute ride out and back to the island. 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/
The Shell key ferry trip is not running or offered this time of year due to the low amount of interest in the area. However, it will resume this spring starting in March with daily rides out to shell Key Island multiple times per day! For now, the only option is a day out at Egmont key with the Tampa Bay Ferry by Hubbard’s Marina.
Regular’s club
We have finished 2019 regular’s club renewals and we are starting on signing up NEW MEMBERS, if you are interested in becoming a 2019 regular’s club loyalty program member please reach out to Capt. Dylan Hubbard by sending him your name and cell number via email to [email protected]. He will be in touch in the coming few weeks about the loyalty program that offers discounted trips if you fish more than 10,15 or 20 times a year with us at Hubbard’s Marina. It also comes with some free gifts and other benefits too besides discounted trips, but it’s NOT simply a discount program. It’s a loyalty program and it requires fishing often and being a model Hubbard’s Marina guest and showing the passion shared by all of us at Hubbard’s Marina for fishing and our fellow anglers.
PAST AND PRESENT MEMBERS: be sure to renew your membership before 2018 ends!
Captain Dylan Hubbard
Vice president and Co-Owner
(727)393-1947 ext. 306
UPDATED Coupon information
Penn rod and reel combos and select Penn reels 50% off when you talk with Amanda Rain bolt 10am-4pm any day except Tuesday or Wednesday!
NEW Bull Bay and Hubbard’s Marina Custom rod and reels 10% off when you buy a reel to match them!
Chances to win FREE fishing trips Saturday at the Tampa bass pro shops seminar at 2:30pm or Sunday night at 8:30pm on the Hubbard’s Marina Facebook & YouTube channels!
Policies –
Expires 2/22/19
Discounts cannot be combined
While supplies last
