Category: Uncategorized
Posted on
September 2024 – Saltwater
BY: Tim / 0 COMMENTS / CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
We have had a close eye on Hurricane Helene towards this end of this month, and our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone impacted in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Here at Martin Family Charters, we understand that your family and safety comes first. Our cancellation fees will always be refunded in situations like these, and please let us know if we can help in any way. As far as fishing, we had limited success with harvesting large fish, but we made up for it with the multitude of species caught. On one charter alone, we landed at least one mangrove snapper, redfish, black drum, flounder, jack crevalle, sheepshead, and speckled trout! We are hopeful that the larger fish begin to migrate inshore as cooler weather approaches in October. We look forward to seeing you on the water!
Posted on
August 2024 – Saltwater
BY: Tim / 0 COMMENTS / CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
Martin Family Charters has moved to Northeast Florida! We will miss Tampa Bay, Port Canaveral, and The Butler Chain of Lakes, but we look forward to many great adventures in Flagler Beach, Palm Coast, and St. Augustine. Stay tuned, as we have an exciting August fishing report coming up!!
Posted on
July 2024 – Freshwater
BY: Tim / 0 COMMENTS / CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
I appreciate these summer months, as it really puts an emphasis on strategy and techniques to catch fish. When using artificial lures it is imperative to slow down your retrieval. The fish are lethargic, and as long as the lure can be presented at the same pace, it will yield success. For live bait, there are two different tactics we use. First, using about two feet of fluorocarbon directly tied to braid, we keep the bail open and let the bass slowly drag the bait away before setting the hook. Second, just like when we were kids, we use a live or dead bait under a float. This increases our chances of catching a variety of species including long nose gar, bowfin, chain pickerel, and largemouth bass. Come and put this to the test, and we look forward to seeing you on the water soon!
Posted on
July 2024 – Saltwater
BY: Tim / 0 COMMENTS / CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
Much like June, we have had consistently manageable seas off both coasts. This has allowed us to run up to 10 miles offshore, but unfortunately the seas tend to get a little choppier come August. With the 24 ft. Sea Born, most of the groups in July elected to stay in the calmer intercoastal waters. The inshore bite was solid, but not phenomenal. Catches included mangrove snapper, ladyfish, catfish, snook, redfish, stingrays, sharks, croaker, sheepshead, and a couple different species of trout. Especially for the families, this has been a wonderful month of helping the kiddos catch some fish while enjoying the saltwater experience. Thank you for reading, and we look forward to seeing you on the water!
Posted on
June 2024 – Saltwater
BY: Tim / 0 COMMENTS / CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
Sometimes fishing is on fire, and it can can really make any Captain look like the Master of the High Seas. Yet, this is fishing, and many experienced fisherman recognize the ebbs and flows of catch rates. This month was a great month for action with lots of different varieties of species caught, but not a lot of keeper size fish. However, we’ll give it some time and we’ll be having a fish fry soon enough! Thank you to all my groups in June for respecting the sustainability laws by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and we look forward to seeing you on the water again soon!
Posted on
June 2024 – Freshwater
BY: Tim / 0 COMMENTS / CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
We have been very fortunate that the weather hasn’t been really hot just yet. Not only does this help our overall enjoyment of the day, it also helps the fish stay active. Fishing was been on fire, but as a Captain it is an important time to put in the extra time scouting for the future months. Naturally, the warmer the water temperatures gets the more lethargic the bass will get. However, for now let’s keep enjoying the weather and catch lots of fish! Thank you to all my groups in June, and we look forward to seeing you on the water again soon!
Posted on
May 2024 – Freshwater
BY: Tim / 0 COMMENTS / CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
Being a fishing charter business, we always do everything we can do to have success on our trips. With that, May was…EPIC!! Granted this is typically one of the best months to fish out of the year, we found fish in a variety of depths and locations. Also, it was a lot of fun to dig deep into the PLANO Z-SERIES TACKLE BAG and use some of the artificial baits and lures that have collected dust. Our primary catches included largemouth bass, bowfin, catfish, and some late season crappie. Thank you to all of our guest in the month of May, and we look forward to seeing you on the water again soon!
Posted on
May 2024 – Saltwater
BY: Tim / 0 COMMENTS / CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
Inshore, the flats fishing on both coasts are finally starting to improve. We are currently catching sheepshead, mangrove snapper, catfish, ladyfish, and speckled trout in Tampa Bay. In the Indian River, Banana River, and Mosquito Lagoon we are currently catching black drum, mangrove snapper, catfish, and some speckled trout.
As a Captain, it is always understood that it is necessary to have success on every charter. So, to give clients every advantage I put on the dive gear and explored some of the wrecks and reefs off both coasts. Off the West Coast near Tampa Bay, the clarity seemed to improve around 5 miles off the coast in about 40 ft. of water. Hanging out close to these structures were several grunts, sheepshead, pinfish, flounder, and a few goliath grouper. This was reassuring because it confirmed our recent fishing charter catches. For now, in order to catch amberjack, grouper, and larger snapper we had more success further offshore in 80 ft or more. However, off the East Coast we have had much different results. Many of the spots only a couple miles off the coast were holding jacks, grouper, bluefish, sharks, croaker, and lots of weak fish. Most likely this is because of two variables. First, the seas off the East Coast are more unpredictable and rougher. Second, it starts to get deep quicker off the East Coast which provides the ingredients to host a multitude of species. In all, both coast provide unique opportunities to have success based on weather, seas, tides, structure, and depths.
Posted on
April 2024 – Saltwater
BY: Tim / 0 COMMENTS / CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
This may be the first time here at Martin Family Charters that we’ve seen the East Coast and the West Coast fish so similarly. Normally, the speckled trout and redfish are the primary catches inshore, but in April our success was with the smaller jacks, weakfish, snapper, and catfish. Every day we communicate with the local bait shops and other captains in the area, and it seems as though this is common across the board. However, if the seas were manageable, the offshore bite has been solid for croaker, weakfish, grunts, porgies, snapper, and grouper. Also, this month we were reminded of some small tips for going offshore which you can ask the captain prior to your trip.
As we move in to June, the bite should keep on improving. It’s our suggestion to run offshore on the calm days, and stay inshore on the windy days with high seas. Here at Martin Family Charters we always want to focus on the clients having fun! Thank you for reading, and we look forward to seeing you on the water.
Posted on
April 2024 – Freshwater
BY: Tim / 0 COMMENTS / CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
Amazing has to be the word to best describe fishing this March. We totally understand that the targeted species is largemouth bass, but the overall bite including largemouth bass, chain pickerel, long-nose gar, catfish, and bowfin was off the charts! That, paired with beautiful weather made it extremely enjoyable to be a fishing charter Captain.
With the water temperature at 76 degrees, the fish are still being seen on their beds even though many of the fish have already moved off for feeding. This has allowed for a variety of fishing techniques and locations to try and still yield results. I hope the temperatures stay cool as it moves in to April, and the fishing should still stay red hot! Thank you for reading, and we look forward to seeing you on the water.
