Hubbard’s Marina Fishing Report 7/6/18

Fishing report

 

Inshore- The snook are still super thick inside the pass and along our beaches. Many anglers are catching plenty through the day and night, but the best bites seem to be the beginning or end of the outgoing tides. Hayden Cocozza from Tampa area has been doing well on big snook using live pigfish, large shrimp or even fish carcasses while the guys fillet fish after our trips. The biggest snook this past week was pushing 44 inches long. Keep in mind these fish are spawning, so you want to catch and release them very quickly and do your best to minimize the amount of stress on the fish. Also, the water has still been very clear especially after a long incoming tide. There’s plenty of white bait in the area, still fairly small but they are growing up fast and the big snook can be heard busting the bait schools along with plentiful trout in the wee hours of the morning before dawn. Big red and black drum are spotted inside the pass when the water has been clear, and they are loving blue or pass crabs cut in half weighted to the bottom. The pompano bite has been going well from the north jetty of Johns Pass as well especially on the Doc’s Jigs or Nekid Ball Jigz.

 

Near shore- The hogfish bite is going off lately near shore which is strange for such warm waters, typically in the summer the hogs spread out and are harder to catch hook and line, but they have been cooperating well especially on the fiddler crabs or live shrimp, but they are biting so well were even catching them on squid. Especially the HUB private charters are doing well on the hogs but were seeing plenty caught on the 5-hour half day fishing trips too! The lane snapper, grey snapper and porgies are biting fairly consistently near shore too and the full moon hasn’t had such a traumatic effect on the near shore bite as it’s had on the deeper waters. However, it’s been a little bit pickier during the full moon than it was right up until the moon hit around 90% illumination. By the time you are reading this report the full moon effects will be subsiding near shore and offshore thanks to it beginning to wane smaller and smaller each night as we approach the new moon.

 

Offshore- The offshore bite is a bit slower than it has been at the beginning of the red snapper season, however, the night bite has been off the charts the past week and a half. The day bite however, that has been lame lately as the full moon is hitting us hard in the deeper waters. The 39 and 44-hour trips can combat this slow day bite by moving around until we find a depth they are cooperating well at, but the 12-hour party boat trips and 12-hour extreme trips don’t have that extra-long fishing time, so it’s been much harder to find the cooperative fish before we have to head home. The 12-hour extreme had its slowest trip of the season this past Sunday and the 12-hour party boat had its slowest trip of red snapper season this past Tuesday. The good news is that now that the full moon is over the moon will get less and less bright each night, so the day bite should only improve through the end of red snapper season until the end of July when the next full moon will occur. We are seeing scamp grouper biting super well during the day out deep, the red grouper are picky but were catching monsters, and finally the gags are tough to find but when you do they are fat and ready to blast your baits but you got to be fast to get them up!

 

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 face our local famous dolphin that was hit by a boat’s propeller has made a miraculous recovery and just recently had a baby of its own! This is great to see this dolphin doing so well after such a traumatic injury and her and her newborn are doing well and can be spotted easily aboard our dolphin watching nature cruise and eco tour or the Madeira beach water taxi service!

 

The osprey are thick lately around the Boca Ceiga bay area and we have been seeing tons lately. You may remember we even rescued a drowning osprey a few weeks back. That bird has since been rehabilitated and returned to the wild. We think we even see it back in its original nest we found it next too and it seems to almost ‘wave’ to us as we drive by in the water taxi and dolphin cruise boats!

 

Lots of nesting sea birds right now along the beaches and our local islands plus sea turtle nesting season is still in full swing so please be cautious walking the beaches on our shell key ferry, Egmont key ferry, 3 hour shelling trip.

 

The waters in the back bays has been gorgeous lately! The weather has been great for dolphin watching nature cruise and eco tours because the dolphins are playful, birds are roosting, and waters are super clear making dolphin watching easy and fun! Plus, lots of manatees and sea turtles are around right now too. For more info on our guaranteed dolphin sightings tour check out this informational link with some great Madeira beach dolphin tours info – https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/dolphin-watching-cruises/

 

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

 

Ready for a great way to see the area and relax on the water? You would LOVE the Tampa bay ferry by Hubbard’s Marina we have the Madeira beach water taxi service, a shell key island ferry, Egmont key island ferry and MORE to come as well! You don’t want to miss a great day of fun in the sun shelling, snorkeling, or cruising the bay bays in style with us at Tampa Bay ferry.

 

The Madeira beach water taxi by Tampa bay ferry & Hubbard’s marina is currently running 7 days a week and we have tons of pick up and drop off locations around Madeira beach, Treasure Island and western St Pete. If you want a way to avoid the beach traffic and parking Fees Park FREE at abc marina and catch the ferry or Jungle Prada and hop on the ferry there. Check out this like for our Madeira beach water taxi schedule by Tampa bay ferry – http://tampabayferry.com/madeira-beach-water-taxi/route-and-schedule/

 

Don’t forget to check out the BRAND NEW shell key ferry from Fort De Soto County Park out to the beautiful shell key preserve! This is a great way to see the island, go shelling and enjoy a day on the water with a flexible schedule. For more info on this new ferry route check out this link to the Tampa bay ferry shell key page – http://tampabayferry.com/shell-key-ferry/route-and-schedule/

 

The Egmont key ferry is running daily as well with multiple rides out to the island from Fort De Soto’s bay pier. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday there’s an afternoon ferry option too instead of just mid-morning. Check out the website for ferry prices and times. Plus, while on the island they offer a snorkeling trip too!
https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/egmont-key-ferry-cruise/

 

 

Upcoming up at Hubbard’s Marina

 

Capt Dylan Hubbard has two great seminars in person coming up plus we have the weekly online seminar on our Facebook page! The First seminar is at GT marine in new port Richey with Flat’s mafia radio show Tuesday night July 17th where they will have over $15,000 dollars in prizes being given away including THREE brand new motors, big yeti coolers, and tons more awesome prizes! For more info on this special seminar where you could win BIG check out the event page here – https://www.facebook.com/events/245186176061102/

Then we also have a seminar coming up at Bass pro shops in Tampa on July 28th where we will be giving away a free 10 hour all day for two guests, and a 5 hour half day trip for two guests! For more info on this seminar check it out here – https://www.facebook.com/events/217049122254622/

Plus we always have the Weekly fishing conversation or seminar by Capt Dylan Hubbard LIVE on the Hubbard’s Marina Facebook page if you don’t want to leave your house to catch a seminar! We also then upload this video to the Hubbard’s Marina YouTube page shortly after the live video is over. 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! https://www.facebook.com/events/249881722421418/

 

Amberjack season is closed now, remember Amberjack will be open May, August, September and October. Also, Triggerfish are closed June and July as well with Amberjack.

 

Red snapper season has been finalized if you haven’t already seen the announcement on our Facebook page, there’s a private recreational season and for hire recreational season. When fishing at Hubbard’s Marina you will want to pay attention to the 51 day for hire recreational season starting June first and running through July 22nd at 12:01am making July 21st the last day to land your red snapper with us at Hubbard’s Marina if you are confused or questioning the red snapper season at all check out this video Capt Dylan Hubbard made to explain the ins and outs of the season – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAb9Yj3tr_A

 

 

 

Regular’s club

 

Our regular’s club loyalty program is now closed for 2018, if you would like info on joining for 2019 you can email Capt Dylan Hubbard anytime and he can send you the info and get you on the list for a 2019 membership!

Captains Mark and Dylan Hubbard

Vice president and Regular’s club manager Hubbard’s Marina
(727)393-1947 ext 306

CaptHubbard@HubbardsMarina.com