Fishing report
Inshore- Weather this week was crazy, but we did get some reprieve from the chaos here early in the work week. During that brief weather window we did see lots of the whiting and silver trout landed from the jetties and beaches around the area. Plus, the sheepshead bite has been good, not crazy yet but definitely heating up. Also, a few local young anglers have been around catching redfish on pinfish free lined around the docks. Plus, they did see a huge black drum get landed from the beach behind Hubbard’s marina. There’s plentiful lady fish around right now too, chasing the large areas of white bait and other bait fish moving through the pass. The snook have been a little absent as of late, but that’s due to the water temps getting so low those snook go up into the super back bay waters and even the bayous where the mud flats and shallow waters allow better sun penetration and warmer water temps. Then venture back into deeper waters during the night to try and regulate their body temps. Big target for shore based anglers over the coming months should be the whiting, silver trout and sheepshead with the occasional black drum for excitement.
Near shore- Gags and hogs are the big story near shore with some large mangrove snapper and a few lanes mixed in. Even our 5 hour half day has been catching gag grouper this past week, but mainly due to having to fish deeper and further than normal due to turbulent conditions stirring up the water and making the close to shore waters very muddy and fishing slow. Once we get past these stirred up waters that is when we see the fishing action pick up and the bite improve. This past week we were fishing between 15-17 miles from Johns Pass on our half days but seeing 1-3 keeper gags, nearly half dozen hogs and then plenty of the grey snapper, porgies and seabass. However, the bite was a little slow Monday to start but then picked up towards the end of the trip. Tuesday the bite started slow but picked up faster. Wednesday the bite was good throughout the day. This perfectly illustrates the fact that the near shore fishing is highly affected by water temps, water clarity, and the barometer. As we got further from the nasty conditions last weekend and as the water warmed the bite picked up more and more. Behind these fronts you have to wait awhile for the water to clear up and warm up before you can expect great near shore fishing, but once they do finally pick up the fishing is HOT. Due to this, we have added in a SPECIAL 10 hour all day trip for December 24th which should be great weather and hot fishing behind this strong front coming through Friday the water should warm up a bit by they and the water will be calm and the winds laid down, so make sure to book now (727)393-1947 or book online – https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/fishing-trip-reservations/
Offshore – The fishing offshore this week when we could finally make it offshore has been CRAZY Monday and Tuesday was some of the best fishing on the Flying HUB 2 long range 12 hour extreme trips we have seen thus far. Monday limited out on gags for the boat in less than 3 hours and Tuesday they limited out in just over 3 hours! Wednesday was supposed to be great weather again but the forecast seriously screwed us and the weather went bad much earlier than forecasted so the fishing was great to start Wednesday but once the weather went bad it was like someone flicked the light switch off and the bite went off. However, we are expecting this light switch to be kicked back on hopefully Sunday offshore behind this big front. It takes longer for the near shore areas to recover from the poor weather however.
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Upcoming up at Hubbard’s Marina
We have added a SPECIAL NEW 10 hour all day to capitalize on the beautiful weather conditions and what we hope will be AWESOME FISHING on the backside of this weekend’s crazy front. This NEW 10 hour all day will be Christmas Eve December 24th, 7a-5p but don’t worry you will have plenty of time to get home after the trip and make it to your in-laws house! BOOK NOW because these trips will fill quickly (727)393-1947.
Red tide is completely gone in the state of Florida, all reading levels are below ‘background’ ratings! This is great news, now hopefully they tell the national news about it too!
2019 TRIPS FILLING FAST Book your 2019 10,12, 39 or 44 hour trip TODAY while there’s still tons of open room, these trips will fill quickly so book NOW. Last year red snapper trips were filled up by end of January, so don’t miss your chance at securing your favorite trip TODAY. Here’s the link for all your 2019 12,39 and 44 hour trips – https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/specialty-fishing-trip/
Want to learn more about fishing locally? Don’t forget we 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! Here’s the page to find the facebook event link, and view all the past LIVE Q&A fishing shows – https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/past-qanda-live-streams/
Want some FREE fishing trips with us at Hubbard’s Marina? Want to learn more about near shore and offshore fishing? Check out the upcoming Bass pro shops fishing seminar with Capt Dylan Hubbard at the Tampa bass pro location. The next seminar will be Saturday January 12th at 2pm. The fishing seminar or fishing conversation will be about an hour long of fishing conversation, tips, tricks and more! Plus, at the end of each seminar Capt Dylan gives away a FREE 10 hour all day for two guests and a FREE 5 hour half day for two guests to two lucky winners of the FREE raffle. To be entered in the raffle you just have to show up around 2pm and stay for the hour seminar. Check out the Facebook event for this upcoming seminar here – https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/bass-pro-fishing-seminars/ You can also view all the past bass pro shops seminars at this page too!
Don’t forget about your Hubbard’s Marina gift certificates for Christmas, if you’re looking for a great present for the fisherman, dolphin cruiser, island lover of sunset enthusiast in your family the Hubbard’s Marina gift certificate makes a killer gift for your friends, family and loved ones! Check out our gift certificate purchase link right here, you can send them to yourself and print them out for a gift at Christmas or you can email it to them directly it’s up to you! Here’s the link to buy your certificate today: https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/gift-certificates/
Captain Jack’s dolphin corner
Great time of year to join us for a dolphin watching nature cruise and eco tour, behind the fronts we have very active large groups of dolphins chasing the mullet schools flushing out of the pass into the Gulf of Mexico. These dolphins are actively feeding and spend plenty of time on the surface. Sometimes you can even get lucky and see them playing ‘catch’ with the mullet to teach the young juvenile dolphins how to hunt and use their sonar to catch these now stunned mullet when they get tossed back and forth. Here’s all the information on our dolphin watching nature cruise and eco tour – https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/dolphin-watching-cruises/
Also, our sunset cruise with FREE beer and wine has been often spotting dolphins along the beaches feeding on the mullet so it’s a beautiful time of year for a relaxing and fun ‘party’ cruise during the sunset tour at Hubbard’s Marina. To learn more about the fun filled sunset cruise with free beer and wine check out this link – https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/sunset-cruise/
Were also spotting lots of bald eagles in the area right now too. Since the weather is cold up north these beautiful large birds of prey head south to hangout in our area for the winter.
We are also spotting lots of manatees lately as they exit the passes and cruise the beaches up north to the Homosassa and Ocala area to hangout in the springs and stay warm in the regulated springs which stay 72 degrees all year long!
Hubbard’s Marina Sea Adventures and Tampa Bay ferry are both 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
The shell key ferry has been spotting lots of manatees around shell key and bunces pass lately while cruising to and from the island. This island ferry ride is a great way to experience shell key and offers tons of flexibility on how long or how short you want to spend time on the island shelling, swimming and exploring this pristine island paradise! For more info on how you can join us for a ride to shell key aboard the shell key ferry by Tampa bay ferry and Hubbard’s Marina check out this page – https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/shell-key-ferry/
We have had some great shelling lately out at Shell key and Egmont key and next week behind the strong front Tuesday the shelling and sharks teeth hunting should be STELLAR, if you want a chance to take advantage of all the great shelling to be had behind the front I would shoot to join the Egmont key ferry or Shell key ferry tours Thursday or Friday of next week behind the mid-week weather. That front will push tons of fresh shells and such onto our local beaches making it a great time to get out to the island and it will be nice and cool and mostly bug free thanks to the cooler temps.
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/
Regular’s club
We have finished 2019 regular’s club renewals and we are starting on signing up NEW MEMBERS, if you are interested in becoming a 2019 regular’s club loyalty program member please reach out to Capt. Dylan Hubbard by sending him your name and cell number via email to CaptHubbard@HubbardsMarina.com. He will be in touch in the coming few weeks about the loyalty program that offers discounted trips if you fish more than 10,15 or 20 times a year with us at Hubbard’s Marina. It also comes with some free gifts and other benefits too besides discounted trips, but it’s NOT simply a discount program. It’s a loyalty program and it requires fishing often and being a model Hubbard’s Marina guest and showing the passion shared by all of us at Hubbard’s Marina for fishing and our fellow anglers.
PAST AND PRESENT MEMBERS: be sure to renew your membership before 2018 ends!
Captain Dylan Hubbard
Vice president and Co-Owner
(727)393-1947 ext. 306
CaptHubbard@HubbardsMarina.com
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