Fishing report
Inshore-
Snook fishing around the area continues to be on fire. We are seeing tons of snook around the passes at night and even during the day too. The beaches are packed with snook during the day cruising the troughs looking for live shrimp or soft plastics. Also, around the flats, mangroves, and structures of the bay plenty of fish around ready to eat for sure. They are ferocious feeders at the right time of day and tide. That is the biggest trick knowing when and where those fish will be feeding. They will be set up to ambush passing baits when waters are moving at points, pockets, and passes. They feed best around the solunars and when bait is present, I like to use the ‘smartfishingtides.com’ website to find out what day and time is best to target any inshore species.
Mangrove snapper are thick throughout the area right now around most any structures. Docks, piers, bridges, and seawalls are all great places to find these guys swarming most any small piece of bait you put down on lighter tackle. You can even chum up the area on a slow-moving tide to get them even more concentrated and feeding actively. As the tide starts to move, they will heat up more making easy pickings for anglers of any age or experience. However, they bite quickly so that can be tricky but smaller number one hooks, and ultra-light 10-15lb leader is a great way to pick them up in good numbers.
Redfish action has been trickier but were seeing them around the flats, mangrove shorelines and around the spoil islands of the bay. They love small pinfish, shrimp, white bait, or soft plastics best.
Trout have been biting well around the edges of the flats or deeper grass flats in the 4-6ft range. We are seeing lots of trout around the bridge and dock lights at night as well. We are seeing lots of the trout action in high concentrations once you find them chewing.
Tarpon are still around the area, we actually had a decent bite around the passes this week despite the west winds. Normally the tarpon ‘put their noses into the wind’ so that would mean most would clear out on a westerly wind patter like we have had this past week. However, many nighttime snook fishermen in the passes are reporting hooking up to tarpon while fishing bigger snook baits. Plus, we had some young anglers hook up and jump some tarpon off our dock this past week as well.
Pompano bite has slowed down quite a bit, however, we are still seeing a few come up around the jetties and beaches. Most that are being caught are fairly large too in the 14-17 inch range. We are catching them mostly on the doc’s goofy jigs or the nekid ball jigs around the outside of the surf on the beaches or around the tips of the local jetties around those sandy passes.
Near Shore –
We have seen a great bite of lane snapper near shore again this week. The winds made the weather a bit more tricky this past week compared to the calm June weather we had. However, we were able to get out there quite often on our large charter boats and party fishing boats. The lane snapper are biting best around 60-100ft of water but were seeing good numbers as shallow as around 50ft of water. We even caught a few yellowtail snapper out there too which is odd for this shallow of water but shows that summertime snapper spawn has these fish moving and feeding well. We’re seeing some nice mangrove snapper occasionally mixed in with the lanes and the random yellowtail snapper. Vermillion are also biting well but they start deeper close to around 100ft of water.
Red grouper action has been tricky due to weather we have been restricted in how much we can get deep enough to find these guys feeding well. They start around 60-80ft of water but really start to see good action closer to 100ft and beyond. They love those squid strips, whole squid, live pinfish, or large cut dead bait.
Still seeing the occasional school of mahi mahi from time to time near shore around 60-100ft of water. Do not forget your pitch rod with light tackle and a gotcha plug or a single 3ot circle hook with a live shrimp or chunk of threadfin to free line out for those Mahi Mahi.
Kingfish and mackerel are fairly few and far between but there is still a few out there near shore. Look for those bait schools up on the surface and those birds working the bait. This is a surefire sign that those mackerel are working the underside of the bait school. The kingfish are mostly offshore due to the warm waters right now.
Offshore-
We have been seeing some nice action offshore on the red snapper and some gags. However, the mangrove snapper fishing has been a little tricky. Pelagics are heating up for us this week. We saw some nice kingfish and quite a few tuna on the recent 39 hour. The weather however has been really affecting our ability to get offshore and do well due to bumpy and windy conditions. When the boat is bumping up and down quite a bit in the seas the mangrove snapper are even harder to catch.
Luckily, the red snapper action is going well beyond that 60-mile mark in around 140-160ft plus. The more ‘shallow water’ red snapper action has really gotten more tough. From around 40-60 miles in around 120-140 foot of water it is much harder to put together a quality catch of red snapper. We are still seeing them, but they have gotten smaller and fewer and further between. Takes a lot of work to grind together a limit of snapper in that ‘shallower water’.
We are still seeing some nice red grouper action around 120ft and beyond. The deeper we get the bigger the red grouper seem. Those hard-bottom bait shows, potholes and peaks are holding those big red snapper feeding well.
The gag grouper action has been decent this past week and were starting to see them best around 140ft of water or more where the bottom temps are still chilly enough to keep em feeding well and cooperating with our anglers.
We are seeing some scamp grouper out there mixed in with the gags and red grouper especially when we make it out much deeper closer to 160-200ft or more.
The pelagic fishing was HOT on this recent 39 hour with lots of tuna, some nice kings and even lost a big wahoo on the troll. The pelagic action will hopefully remain hot out there past around 120-140ft of water if the water temps and currents remain similar.
For more fishing reports, photos, videos and more check out Hubbard’s Marina on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or Snap Chat just simply search @HubbardsMarina and don’t forget our family motto, “If You’re too busy to go fishing, You’re just too busy!” Thanks for reading and checking out our report – Capt Dylan Hubbard, Hubbard’s Marina – Call or Txt me anytime at (727)393-1947 | https://HubbardsMarina.com
Upcoming up at Hubbard’s Marina
We are in PHASE TWO, that means we have UPDATED policies and procedures and NEW CAPACITIES! Unfortunately, due to the virus, we do have some NEW policies and procedures that we need your help with if you plan to visit us during the month of June. Check out the new policies and procedures listed on our new website page under the ‘info’ tab. Here’s the link: https://hubbardsmarina.com/covid-19-operating-policies-and-procedures/
Red snapper season is HERE starting June first until end of day August 1st! We are excited about our red snapper season and now we are finally able to open back up capacity on our 12 hour extreme, 39 hour and 44 hour trips that are able to target these red snapper with the latest announcement from our Governor about the start of phase two! We now have lots of added spots on these trips, but BOOK NOW as they are already filling quickly!
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://hubbardsmarina.com/live-q-and-a-fishing-shows/
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.
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
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
[email protected]
