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March 2024 – Saltwater
BY: Tim / 0 COMMENTS / CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
The rods are bending at Martin Family Charters! March has been an interesting month when it comes to the species of fish caught. Most of the time, speckled trout and redfish are the most common species targeted in the Indian River, Mosquito Lagoon, and Tampa Bay. However, most of our success has been been catching weak fish, Spanish mackerel, grunts, porgies, catfish, snapper, and jacks. The variety of fish has been a lot of fun to witness, not knowing what will come up from the depths! It has made the most sense to fish nearshore on the calm days, and stay inshore on the windy days. Safety and fun are our #1 priorities so we especially want to thank some of our guest that have braved the weather on some of those cold, rainy, or windy days. With that, the bait fish seem to be plentiful which really makes the next few months look very promising. Thank you for reading, and we look forward to seeing you on the water.
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March 2024 – Freshwater
BY: Tim / 0 COMMENTS / CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
March has been a wonderful month for freshwater fishing here in Florida! Most of the time, the spot you are fishing is the most important factor in catching fish. However, in March it seemed as though the weather has played the most important role. During the spawn, the largemouth bass scatter as they move on and off their beds. This led to us fishing multiple spots in a short amount of time to yield the best results. Largemouth bass can spawn in depths up to 12 feet or so based on water clarity. Typically, the larger females will lay the eggs while the males protect the bed. For the majority of the year it is difficult to determine if a bass is female or male, with the exception of the spawn. The full bellied females will be red under the belly where they lay their eggs while males could have a bleeding tail, mouth, or pectoral fins from cleaning the spawning bed. Knowing that, we have had successful charters using shiners, slow moving soft plastic worms, flukes, and lipless crankbaits. With the weather starting to warm up, it looks to be an amazing start to 2024. Thank you for reading, and we look forward to seeing you on the water!
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February 2024 – Freshwater
BY: Tim / 0 COMMENTS / CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
Much like January, it seemed like it was cold front after cold front down here in Florida. With nighttime temperatures consistently in the mid to low 40’s, it kept water temperatures quite cool. Normally, the spawn is in full effect in February, but we still didn’t see near as many fish bedding as previous years. This could set up for an epic March, and time will only tell. For February, fish species caught included largemouth bass, crappie, bowfin, catfish, long-nose gar, and some bluegill. To target the largemouth bass, successful artificial lures included Texas-rigged worms, jerk baits, and flukes. Yet, most of our fish were caught on live golden shiners.
Special thanks goes out to our February clients that braved the weather, and hopefully we can have some warmer weather next time. Thank you for reading, and we look forward to seeing you on the weather.
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February 2024 – Saltwater
BY: Tim / 0 COMMENTS / CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
Here at Martin Family Charters, we consistently get inquiries about the species of fish we catch, and the amount of fish that clients can take home. With the ban of harvesting speckled trout, redfish, and snook, this creates quite the challenge. Did we catch a lot of fish in February? Yes. Did we harvest or keep a lot of fish in February? No. The truth is our charter company aims at action, and good, family fun. This means that we may target a species that may be a lot of fun to catch, even if we can’t take it home to eat. For February, we had a blast catching speckled trout, small grouper, ladyfish, grunts, porgies, Spanish mackerel, and mangrove snappers. Granted, we would love to add redfish and snook to that list, and hopefully we will do so in March. Thank you for reading, and we look forward to seeing you on the water!
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January 2024 – Freshwater
BY: Tim / 0 COMMENTS / CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
Happy New Year! Looking back at 2023, what a great ride it was! It was always a treat to get out on the water with any of our clients. Anyway, January freshwater fishing was a bit challenging. The weather was a little cold and inconsistent, and I think it affected the normal fish patterns. For instance, in late January we typically start to see fish bedding for the spawn. However, with the cold temperatures I think the fish were hesitant to move up to the shallows. We needed to be patient, but January fish species caught included crappie, long-nose gar, bowfin, and largemouth bass. Granted, we didn’t catch the number of fish we would like to see, but we all were thankful to be out on the water! We look forward to a better February, and thank you for reading!
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January 2024 – Saltwater
BY: Tim / 0 COMMENTS / CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
Happy New Year! Looking back at 2023, what a great ride it was!. It was always a treat to get out on the water with any of our clients. Anyway, fishing in January brought some serious optimism on the East Coast. It seems as though the Indian River is looking better after another algae bloom, and the fish are looking healthier. Granted, there is still a long way to go. I think there is not near enough natural seagrasses to clean the water, but that can be a discussion for another day. East Coast fish caught included Spanish mackerel, mangrove snapper, blue runners, jack crevalle, speckled trout, weakfish, sheepshead, and a few small black drum.
On the West Coast, the bite in Tampa Bay was pretty solid when the weather was warm. Additionally, tides seemed to impact the bite a little more than usual. This led to the need for some flexibility on the starting time of the charter. When we timed it right, species caught included Spanish mackerel, bonnet-head sharks, speckled trout, flounder, ladyfish, sheepshead, grunts, mangrove snappers, and some small jacks.
Thank you to all of our January groups, and we look forward to an awesome February!
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December 2023 – Saltwater
BY: Tim / 0 COMMENTS / CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
As these cool fronts came through, the inshore water temperature dipped to about 70 degrees, and the offshore temperature is 67 degrees. Inshore, the speckled trout bite has been awesome using a popping cork with a DOA or live shrimp. Even though the popping cork method was productive for trout or ladyfish, many times we had to switch to greenbacks, pilchards, crabs, or small pinfish for the black drum, redfish, and snook. Offshore, with the gag grouper season ending today, we have targeted those grouper with moderate success on the few calm days. We did not troll this month, as the focus was on snapper and grouper. Other species caught included sharks, porgy, grunts, and bonitos. On a personal note, we wish you all a great holiday season and we look forward to seeing you on the water!
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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.
