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November 2023 – Freshwater
BY: Tim / 0 COMMENTS / CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
The weather this month has been wonderful! As these cool fronts came through, the water temperature dipped to about 67 degrees. This has led to beautifully clear water which helps to see eel grass, hydrilla, and nitella. Although eel grass and hydrilla do hold fish, we found most of our fish in the 7-12 ft nitella next to ledges. Some years the crappie bite has already turned on, but it seems the temperatures are just a little too warm so far. On the flip side, this has kept the largemouth bass bite consistently good on both live bait and artificial lures. Some other species mixed in this month included some catfish, bowfin, and chain pickerel. On a personal note, we wish you all the best during this holiday season and we look forward to seeing you on the water!
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November 2023 – Saltwater
BY: Tim / 0 COMMENTS / CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
First off, thank you to all my clients that braved some of the cooler mornings this month. Inshore on the Gulf side, we were able to stay out of the wind and still catch a variety of species due to Tierre Verde, islands, and the leeward side of bridges. In my opinion, the redfish and speckled trout bite seemed tougher than usual, while the mangrove snapper bite was on fire! Inshore on the Atlantic side, we found similar results from fishing the Haulover Canal, Max Brewer Bridge, bird island, and the NASA Causeway. Offshore off both coast, it was all about picking good weather days with calm seas. With several species out of season, this was a great time of year to have fun and practice catch and release. Only a few small grouper, snapper, black sea bass, porgy, and grunts were caught. We look forward to some better updates in December as the forecast is looking better in the coming weeks. We hope to see you on the water!
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October 2023 – Freshwater
BY: Tim / 0 COMMENTS / CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
Fall in Florida is an amazing time of year. With the water temperature currently at 75 degrees it really helps getting the largemouth bass active. This is typically a dryer month which means that the water level will drop around a foot or so. With a little less water, the threadfin shad will start to school in the open water, typically just off the 3-6 ft flats where it connects to deeper water. This is an ideal situation for us to throw an array of lures and still yield success. For my clients, right now I suggest Junebug Texas-rigged worms, Phantom Shad Whopper Ploppers, or simply flukes. However, through the years I have learned that confidence in the ability to work a lure correctly is extremely important, and it is always a good idea to ask clients what lure they typically use, and accommodate accordingly. As far as live bait, golden shiners always give us the most consistent chance to catch fish year round. It’s very common that many expert fisherman have come to love the results using the live shiners. With the weather being wonderful, and the bass being active, the fish are ready to bite! Thank you for reading and we look forward to seeing you on the water.
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October 2023 – Saltwater
BY: Tim / 0 COMMENTS / CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
Fall in Florida is an amazing time of year. With the inshore water temperature currently at 75 degrees, and the offshore temperature at 70 degrees, many species move up in to shallower water. October is typically a dryer month which really puts an emphasis on tides. Tidal movement has been key, and most of the time the falling tide has been the most favorable condition. Inshore on the Gulf side, thanks to the freshwater inflow of the Little Manatee River, Palm River, and Alafia River, the red tide typically halts before entering Tampa Bay. With that, we have focused on fishing the Gandy Bridge, the Howard Frankland Bridge, the Weedon Preserve, and the Double Bayou Pass. Inshore on the Atlantic side, red tide has yet to enter the Indian and Banana Rivers so we have been targeting where the water piles up on windy days. Year-round, live shrimp give us the best opportunity to catch speckled trout, redfish, snook, jack crevalle, flounder, and snapper. However, this month it seems as though our clients have really enjoyed catching the bonnethead sharks! For artificial lures, Berkeley Gulp shrimp and crabs have been a go to for us for a long time. Rigged with a circle hook or 3/8 jig head, bouncing the lures have yielded trout, ladyfish, and snook. Offshore, when the seas have been smooth, trolling ballyhoo has resulted in some kingfish and barracudas even though we mostly bottom fished. Catches included were snapper, grouper, porgy, grunts, and bigger sharks. Thank you for reading, and we look forward to seeing you on the water!
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September 2023 – Freshwater
BY: Tim / 0 COMMENTS / CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
We’d love to say that fishing in September was epically awesome, but in all reality it was a little tough. The inconsistent weather made the fish scatter more than usual. Fishing was very similar to August, as high water levels led us to troll frequently using crankbaits. As always, we still caught some largemouth bass on Texas-rigged worms on humps and ledges, but using shiners only led to a few hookups. In addition to largemouth bass, we caught some long-nose gar in the canals. Looking ahead, fishing should start to pickup next month when we begin to get some cooler weather. Some of the larger females will begin to move to shallow water for a fall spawn, even though most spawning occurs in the spring. Anyway, thank you for reading and we hope to see you on the water!
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August 2023 – Saltwater
BY: Tim / 0 COMMENTS / CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
The Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission made the right decision to postpone the harvest of speckled trout, snook, and redfish. All are delicious, but it is was great seeing all three species caught in August. Overall, fishing was pretty solid. We found the key to catching fish in the hot summer is to find a pattern, and it became pretty predictable when the fish would and wouldn’t bite. For instance, you would think that the morning would be best, but there were two variables that had the most impact in August, being wind and tides. Pretty much, as long as there was some water movement we could have some success, and the various species caught included jacks, catfish, mangrove snapper, sheepshead, and Spanish mackerel.
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August 2023 – Freshwater
BY: Tim / 0 COMMENTS / CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
This time of year, water temperatures typically surge to almost 90 degrees. However, we saw the Simrad depth finder top out at 88 degrees, but that was only for a couple of days. With lots of rain, the water levels were way up in August which meant the fish had lots of places to hide. Tons of fry lined the edges of the canals that connected lakes, and the bass were zeroed in on the baitfish. This made fishing a little tough, and even when we used live shiners the bass weren’t interested. Other techniques needed to be explored, and we found that trolling crankbaits was the most successful. For the tournament angler, this is not a useful tactic, but there are two reasons why we troll. First, the kiddos love reeling in fish. Second, the parents enjoy the moving air in the August heat. Either way, we always try to do anything we can to have a fun, successful day on the water!
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July 2023 – Freshwater
BY: Tim / 0 COMMENTS / CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
With the water temperature around 85 degrees, it has been a couple of months since the bass were on beds. This means that fishing the shorelines were relatively unpredictable in July, so we had to find the fish offshore. It was easy to find the fish, as they were blasting balls of baitfish throughout the day. Sometimes chasing these fish reminded me of two positive magnets, as the closer we got to the fish the further they swam from the boat. Yet, if they were close, all we had to do when the bass broke the surface was to make an accurate cast with whatever lure we had tied on. Most days this was a blast, but it was a little tough for our novice fishermen. With all that is going on in our world, it has been a pleasure to be on the water and spend time with some wonderful families. Thank you for reading, and we look forward to August!
