Fishing report
Inshore-
Full moon was yesterday so this weekend’s bite should be pretty good on the back side of the full moon. Plus, with the full moon we have larger tides and more water moving around creating more action and more feeding opportunities. Look for that water flow in the passes, rivers, points or pockets of the inshore fishing areas to find the best area to catch plenty of fish inshore. Also one great tip is looking for actively feeding wading birds. These wading birds on the flats are a great sign that there will be some predatory fish ready to eat your lure or live baits.
The snook bite is going well up in the bay around the mouths of the bayous or rivers. Pinellas point area, south shore of Tampa bay and upper Tampa bay and the inner side of the intercostal are great areas to find these guys ready to eat. The snook, trout and redfish are all feeding better later in the day after the sun gets a chance to warm up the local waters a little bit to get them more active and ready to cooperate.
Redfish bite has been going very well around the residential docks in our back bay areas, around the upper bay area shorelines, oyster bars and grass flats. They are loving smaller live pinfish, cut bait or slower moving soft plastic lures. Gold spoons are a great option for these guys too, but remember to work them as slowly as possible. Keep an eye out for schools of mullet around the seawalls, oyster bars or grass flats often a few nice redfish will follow these guys around. Mostly the bite is best during mid-day or later afternoon but a few of them have been found overnight too.
Trout fishing is really good this time of year they are really excited with the cooler waters and we are seeing some truly monster trout for our area being caught right now. They are biting really well during the day but through the night time too the trout bite has been really hot too especially with the full moon casting more light around the inshore waters. They love live shrimp or live greenbacks but the artificial paddle tails or soft swim baits work well for these guys too. Like the redfish and snook you have to remember to slow your retrieve a little since the local waters are cooler.
The flounder action around the area is starting to pick up but its not really hot quite yet. The best place to find them is definitely the more sandy bottomed areas adjacent to grass flats or any structure that will hold bait or crustaceans like docks, seawalls, bridges or jetties. They are ambush predators that hide on the bottom to surprise passing baits so whenever you are targeting these unique looking great eating fish you want to work your bait super slowly or use some light weight on your live bait to ensure its sitting on the bottom.
Sheepshead are biting very well this time of year too like the trout the cooler waters make them super prolific and aggressive around the structures like docks, bridges, piers, jetties and anything that will hold oysters, barnacles or crustaceans. They love to eat cut clams, cut oysters, barnacles, fiddler crabs, or small pieces of shrimp on lighter tackle with 2ot hooks.
Triple tail are super thick right now around the bay and along the beaches around the markers, buoys and floating debris. Hitting them in the early morning before they get bombarded by multiple anglers trying to get them to eat. Earlier you get out there the better luck you will have getting them to eat your live shrimp on light tackle.
Near Shore –
Hogfish bite has been HOT lately around the near shore waters from around 40-70ft of water. They are doing very well on our 5 hour half days, 10 hour all days and the near shore private fishing charters in that depth range for hogfish. Live shrimp are the best option for the hogfish for plenty of action and hogfish bites. Some really do well with those Nekid ball jigz around 1-2oz putting a live shrimp on them while targeting the hogfish. Christina Fernandez, from Orlando, went out on a 5 hour half day and caught a full day’s limit of 5 hogfish during that 5 hour half day using the 1oz green Nekid ball jig tipped with double shrimp. I like using a knocker rig style set up for the hogfish with a 1oz egg sinker and a 3-4ot hook with a live shrimp for bait. Others enjoy using a jig head set up for the hogfish with live shrimp too. Any of these three methods will give you a shot at a nice hogfish near shore this time of year.
Grouper fishing has been going pretty well near shore as of late. Around near shore waters the red grouper seem to be pretty active from around 50-100ft of water to our west and south west. While to our north and around the mouth of Tampa bay the gag grouper seem to be biting and cooperating best. Either species really are going after the friskier live baits right now but as waters continue to cool those smellier and oily dead baits become more and more effective.
Mackerel and kingfish are still around right now but its definitely starting to cool down near shore. They love the clearer waters and areas that are holding live baits like bigger rock piles or artificial reefs. The best way to target them in bulk is by trolling around with some planners and spoons with 12-18ft of 60lb test between the planner and spoons or the bigger rapala xraps to specifically target those kingfish while trolling.
Offshore-
Right now the grouper fishing out deep is going very well past around 120ft of water out to nearly 200ft of water we are seeing very active gag grouper and a few red grouper and scamp grouper too. The gags are the big news lately though as they are closing soon so we are working hard to primarily target them but after they close end of December we will be switching gears and tactics to target the red grouper more. Right now the gags are on the ledges and we are seeing more of the red grouper on the potholes and flat hard bottom areas. However, occasionally you will find a few of each in the same area or same piece of bottom. The big live baits like the near shore waters are the top pick for grouper baits as of late.
The big mangrove snapper are cooperating very well offshore right now on the smaller live pinfish or the cut threadfin plugs on the double snell rigs. We are using a little heavier mangrove snapper tackle than normal to ensure we have a shot to land the occasional gag grouper that may bite while you are targeting the mangroves but typically it would be around 40-50lb test leader while this time of year we typically would start using 60lb to target the mangroves in case a bigger fish grabs your mangrove snapper bait.
We are seeing some nice blackfin tuna around lately as well on the flat lines, occasional on the troll and many on the vertical jigs. Great time to get out there and have a rod ready if you spot the tuna action while offshore fishing!
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
Upcoming up at Hubbard’s Marina
2020 Specialty trip is open NOW and spots are filling FAST! Make sure to give us a call or book online for 2020 12, 39 or 44 hour trips sooner than later for 2020 as those trips will fill quickly! Especially our 2020 red snapper season trips they will fill quickly so book your trips early and book often. However, keep in mind the cancelation policies which are located in your confirmation emails. The 2020 fishing year will have strictly enforced policies due to issues we have seen as of late with last minute or nearly last minute cancelations.
WIN FREE FISHING TRIPS at our next Bass Pro Shops seminar event coming up Saturday December 21st at 2pm! Hope you can join us for another great fishing conversation and event at the Tampa Bass Pro Shops located on Palm River road in Tampa/Brandon area. Here’s more information on the event, please check it out and click ‘going’ or ‘interested’ to help us spread the word: https://business.facebook.com/events/2553481141433967/
BLACK FRIDAY DEALS are
EXTENDED!! We still have tons of deals going on through the coming week… tackle, lures, Hubbard’s
gear and other products deals will run for a few days but the deal is over when
the products get sold! Plus, we have the gift certificates on sale on our site
for 20% off too and those are unlimited until the deal stops… so get these
deals FAST before they are gone! Here’s more info below too:
1. 20% OFF GIFT CERTIFICATES, you
can redeem these for future trips!
**KEEP IN MIND, for the 20% off gift certificate specials you HAVE TO USE THE COUPON CODE ‘blackfriday’
2. Daiwa Saltist 2sp- $275 + tax
3. Daiwa Saltiga 2sp- $380 + tax
4. Killer Stix Rods- 20% off
5. Hubbards Hats- $5/each
6. Spro Jigs- 50% off
7. Hubbard’s Winter wear- 30% off
8. Daiwa Jigs- 25% off
9. Venting tools- 30% off
10. Ahi Deception Jigs- 40% off
**THESE DISCOUNTS CANNOT BE COMBINED with other discounts, so no additional discounts can be added on top of any black friday deals. These are rock bottom prices and can’t be beat!**
20% OFF GIFT CERTIFICATES IF YOU USE COUPON CODE ‘blackfriday’ but here’s the gift certificate policies, PLEASE READ IN FULL BEFORE PURCHASE… Here’s the link to buy them NOW -> https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/gift-certificates/
– Gift certificates are only good for up to a year from purchase date, if you buy one december first its good until the following december first
–Expiration dates on the gift certificates are very strict, they cannot be extended for ANY reason please be aware of this when planning your trips if you book right before it expires and something comes up like weather you could be risking your gift certificate balance
– Good towards any trip’s fare – not usable on tackle, parking fees, souvenirs, memberships or anything other than trip fare only
– Cannot be redeemed same day as purchase – must purchase in advance
-strongly recommend you put all your balance on one gift certificate if you don’t want one of the preset amounts click ‘other’ and type in the amount you want to purchase. Buying multiple $25 or $100 cards gives you lots of gift certificate numbers and makes it difficult
– Maximum gift card purchase amount is $1000
**Keep in mind, when booking trips or buying gift certificates online there is a 6% convenience fee
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. PLUS, we have completely re designed our website too, make sure to check out the new site and let us know how we did. Any issues, comments, feedback or anything in relation to the website redesign please email me at CaptHubbard@HubbardsMarina.com and remember if you have visited our site often you may have to clear your cache before getting the full new site to show up. You can do this easily via computer by hitting CTRL and then F5 while holding the control key, once the cache clears the site will refresh with all the new updates!
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://www.hubbardsmarina.com/live-q-and-a-fishing-shows/
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
Captain Jack’s dolphin corner
Great time to join us for some relaxing time on the water during our Dolphin watching nature cruise and eco tour at Hubbard’s Marina inside Johns Pass aboard our big blue boat closest to the Johns Pass bridge! The mullet are flushing out of the back bays slowly and that’s causing our local dolphins to group up into large groups to feed on these unsuspecting fish as they swim into the passes to stage up for their near shore spawn. Plus, when these large groups get together typically they tend to really show off to each other and work together to school up these fish. These large actively feeding pods are tons of fun to watch and spot while on our cruises.
Also, due to the awesome temps its nice and cool and not so hot on the water. However, for us Floridians it maybe a little chilly so make sure to have a light jacket if you are a local with friends attending our on the water adventures!
Lots of seabird activity at our local bird nesting islands. Lots of Juvenile birds have become young adults and they are still goofy and uncoordinated so its fun to cruise by the island and watch their antics as they play together and learn their socialization skills.
We have a good number of bald eagles returning to the area from up north to stay warm for the winter. Great time to spot lots of these majestic large birds of prey while on the water with us at Hubbard’s Marina!
This time of year is our favorite time of year for amazing sunsets unlike any other! Great time to join us for one of our sunset cruises at Hubbard’s Marian because the weather is making some outstanding colorful views for the lucky visitors and locals who join us for our daily sunset cruise that offers FREE beer and wine every night around 7pm.
Call
us today to book your dolphin tour at (727)393-1947 and get more information on
this trip at our website here -> https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/dolphin-watching-cruises/
Tampa bay ferry News
Great time to head out to the islands with us at Tampa bay ferry by Hubbard’s Marina from Fort De Soto Park! We have two ferry options right now, the Egmont key ferry from the fort De Soto bay pier then also the shell key ferry from the fort De Soto boat ramp.
The shark’s teeth have been the highlight lately out at the islands with some very large teeth found out at Egmont key and a few at shell key recently. Behind the cold fronts the islands get fresh rounds of great shells and a few of these sharks’ teeth too!
We are seeing lots of active seabirds around the islands with the cooler temps some of our norther friends like bald eagles come down to join us on our beautiful beaches as well!
Plus, the dolphins have been very active as of late adding a special bonus to our ferry guests as they ride from Fort De Soto out to Egmont key or Shell Key islands!
The Egmont key ferry from Fort De Soto offers 11am ferry rides to the island Tuesday- Sunday this time of year out to Egmont Key Island! You get three hours on the island after around a 20-30 minute ride out and back to the island. Plus, we often see dolphins, seabirds and sometimes even sea turtles on the ride out and back thus the ride time can fluctuate a bit depending on what we spot during the cruise out to your island oasis! For more info on the Egmont key ferry, visit this page of the Hubbard’s Marina website – https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/egmont-key-ferry-cruise/
Our
Shell key ferry trips are a great way to spend the day and offer more flexible
schedules compared to the rigid Egmont key schedule! We offer these trips Firday
through Monday until the end of November from the boat ramp at Fort De Soto
County Park and they run at 10am, noon and 2pm and the final return time is
4pm! You have much more flexibility during the shell key trips compared to our
Egmont key ferry because you get to choose the time you return to fort de Soto
from Shell key! If you’re looking for plenty of time on the island and great
shelling opportunities then the shell key ferry trip is your best bet! Check
out all the information on this special ferry ride at this link – https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/shell-key-ferry/
Regular’s club
We have finished our regular’s club renewals for 2020. We have officially called and emailed all the guests who were active members this year to see if they are ready to renew. If you are an active member and have not renewed, there is no big rush but it helps a lot to get resigned up for next year sooner than later.
If you are not an active 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, 2019!
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
