Fishing report
Inshore– The sheepshead bite has been great the past few days with the dirty water, they love cut pieces of shrimp and small pieces of oyster. The snook bite has been a little tougher since the muddy water blew in with the recent bad weather but they are still moving through the passes on their way to the beaches. The best bite continues to be at night when the tide is moving through our passes. Redfish are starting to be more active as were seeing the big bulls come in on the oyster bars of the back bays. Our favorite baits for them are super light tackle and a gold casting spoon, or a soft plastic with a super light jig head. They are a bit spookier this time of year so sight casting to them is necessary that’s why lighter tackle is important so you won’t spook them as you cast close to their holes.
Near shore– The weather has stopped us from fishing the past few days but before the weather went bad on us the fishing was great in the early part of the week. The hogfish bite is still steady, but has slowed a little as the water warms they tend to spread out on us. However, we got some new Super Shrimps chum from Aquatic Nutrition that has helped us keep them biting. The kingfish are still around and this recent cold front should keep them around since the water temps are staying in the right range, but it will slow their movement onto the beaches. Red grouper starting to move in still, we hope this recent cold front won’t stop their progress into shallower waters.
Offshore– The latest 39 hour at Hubbard’s Marina did very well on the grouper we had plenty of big scamp and fat red grouper since the deep water closure has ended. This allows us to go out to any depth and fish for those deeper water scamp and still be able to keep them. We’re finding extra big red grouper in that same deep water as well. Besides the grouper, the snapper bite went very well too with some monster mangroves coming up. We even caught one mangrove near the 12lb mark towards the end of this recent 39 hour long range overnight trip! Unfortunately weather has made us cancel today’s 44 hour but we have a super light 39 hour leaving Tuesday that should do very well on some big grouper, fat mangroves and plenty of the other great eating species still open.
Want to read the past reports? Check out this link: https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/hubbards-marina-fishing-reports/
Tampa Bay Ferry and Taxi news
The Madeira beach water taxi is still running five days a week Wednesday until Sunday 10am-10pm and we have updated our website, check out the new look: http://www.tampabayferry.com/madeira-beach-taxi-route/
There’s tons of stuff to do while catching a ride with the Madeira beach water taxi, check out all the things to do: http://www.tampabayferry.com/things-to-do/
Spring break has sprung, definitely a great time to utilize the water taxi and avoid the chaotic beachside traffic jams and struggle of finding and baying for beachside parking. If you park at stop number seven called Jungle Prada you can get free parking and it’s easy to access from Park Street. Then you can hop on the ferry and water taxi and enjoy your ride to the beaches instead of fighting the traffic. Also, stop number four Madeira beach Municipal marina also offers free parking and that stop is well away from beach traffic on Gulf Boulevard. For more info on these stops like their address, check this link: http://www.tampabayferry.com/madeira-beach-taxi-route/
Captain Jack’s dolphin corner
Dog Leg key, our local island Rookery, has plenty of baby seabirds on the island right now. The most visible ones are the baby pelicans they are all white with brown feathers along their backs. Also, we have lots of baby egrets on the island too. The Roseate spoonbills have nested and eggs have hatched but they roost so deep in the island you won’t spot their juveniles until they start leaving the nests. All this to say it’s a great time to join Hubbard’s Marina for a dolphin watching nature cruise and eco tour to spot all the baby birds at the nesting island.
Great time of year to visit Egmont key! The weather isn’t too hot quite yet, plus during spring break the Egmont key alliance has been opening the island’s guard house to the public and it acts as a museum. This is a great additional value to any island visitors that want to learn more about this pristine nature preserve and historic island paradise.
We think there’s more local baby dolphins coming to Johns Pass and surrounding areas. The main reason we think this is that were spotting our local females grouped up together with the more experience females leading the pods. This is typically a sign that one female is pregnant and the other ladies are helping her get ready to give birth. We may see newborn bottle nosed dolphins any day now around Hubbard’s Marina.
Pelicans are very active right now around Johns Pass and unfortunately due to increased number of spring break anglers were spotting many pelicans wrapped up in fishing lines. Luckily our crew and captains really love our local wildlife and we are all very well trained in catching, untangling, and freeing these pelicans that are becoming wrapped in fishing line after being hooked by unsuspecting and inexperienced anglers. Whenever you hook a seabird you must reel the bird in, cut the line close to the hook then unhook the bird. You can never let the bird fly away with line then cut it, this means the bird not only has a hook in it but then has a long piece of line following behind it that will quickly tangle around the bird itself, or tangle in the branches it rests on keeping it tied down and unable to feed.
Manatees are back in the area, were starting to see the first groups of manatees returning from the northern springs. Great to see the water has warmed enough to allow these beautiful marine mammals to return home to our Boca Ceiga bay waters. They feed in the back bays on our plentiful and healthy turtle grass beds.
The gopher tortoise population at Egmont key has been very active lately and it’s great to see them all over the beautiful island. They are very populated now around Egmont key and you can spot them sunning themselves all over the island.
The local bald eagle that seems to be roosting atop a cell tower along the route of the dolphin watching nature cruise and eco tour boat here inside Johns pass is getting fat with the many mullet we have spotted him swooping up along the back bay waters.
Want to learn more about dolphins this winter? Check out the new great Johns Pass dolphin facts series on our Hubbard’s Marina YouTube channel to check out to see them all watch our dolphin playlist here: https://goo.gl/2mYjX2
Upcoming up at Hubbard’s Marina
April 22nd we have a 2pm Bass pro shops seminar, join Capt. Dylan Hubbard to talk offshore fishing! We will even give a FREE 10 hour trip to one lucky attendee who stays for the entire seminar. To see more about the event, and to show your friends you’re going check out the event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/646020485589348/ be sure to click ‘going’ or ‘interested’ and share the event with your friends on your timeline!
We have two super light 39 hour long range overnight trips coming up! The lightest trip right around the full moon is this coming Tuesday’s April 11th 39 hour long rang overnight fishing trip it only has a few people so there’s tons of room. Also, this coming Friday April 14th we have tons of room as well. The lightest trip right now is May 5th Friday 39 hour with only 15 people booked on it. Call us to book a spot, (727)393-1947 or reserve online: http://HubbardsMarina.com/reservations
The Tampa bay ferry and water taxi service has expanded to 5 days a week! It’s a great way to see the area and get to the beaches while avoiding traffic and beach parking chaos. For more info about the routes, stops and schedule check out this link: http://www.tampabayferry.com/madeira-beach-taxi-route/
To book trips on our site, check out this link: https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/reservations/
Want to stay up to date with the latest catches, reports and more from Hubbard’s Marina? Follow the new live video segments that Hubbard’s Marina is posting daily to Facebook! Also, more Instagram photos and videos are popping up too! Plus, were on the FishBrain app now too and they were nice enough to add Hubbard’s Marina as a fishing location so now on your future trips you can upload your catch to our location. If you have questions or want more info about all this message Dylan Hubbard on the Hubbard’s Marina Facebook page or shoot him an email: [email protected]
Regular’s club
Hope you all can join us for our April 22nd two pm seminar at the Tampa bass pro shops! We will be giving away a free 10 hr. all day to one lucky attendee and we will be talking offshore fishing. Please bring your friends and questions and hopefully Capt. Dylan Hubbard can help teach you a little something to add to your fishing tips and tricks. Don’t forget to wear your Hubbard’s Marina gear too!
If you have not renewed yet for 2017, please do so before booking your 2017 trips and you definitely want to get it done before January first. If you do not, we will be changing you to the FREE Johns Pass club which does not give you benefits you’re used to. Once in this club, you can always upgrade again to a paid club but if you book using your number while it’s a FREE Johns Pass membership you will not have your discount tied properly to your trips so get renewed before you book!
Captains Mark and Dylan Hubbard
Vice president and Regular’s club manager Hubbard’s Marina
(727)393-1947 ext 306
[email protected]
