Hubbard’s Marina Fishing Report 2-8-19

Fishing report

 

Inshore- Finally a gorgeous week of weather this past week and the inshore waters really cleared up tremendously due to this. We have nearly crystal clear waters in the back bays making it easy to sight fish the trout and red fish in upper Boca Ceiga bay. Those trout venture into the shallower muddy areas around the deeper grass flat areas to warm up and once you find them there’s typically quite a few around the area live shrimp or a super slow moving DOA shrimp is a great method to catch plenty of trout inshore right now. Red fish have been more common around the oyster beds and in the passes on large live shrimp. The black drum are thick around the passes and the sheepshead are as well. Now with the clearer waters it’s easy to spot these fish and target them with small pieces of shrimp, fiddler crabs, barnacles or cut oysters. However, the bigger black drum love the bigger crabs or larger live shrimp instead of the small pieces you would use for the sheepshead. There’s quite a few anglers around the jetties in the early morning catching some pompano on the doc’s jigs or Nekid ball jigz but they are a little sparse and hard to get this early in the year but they are starting to show up. The whiting are definitely more plentiful around the beaches and easier to target. Bonnet head sharks are definitely the big news lately around the pass, beaches and jetties and many anglers are catching them on live shrimp free lined or weighted to the bottom just past the surf or off the jetties of Johns Pass. Snook have been spotted around the pass and just inside the pass and the clearer waters help you find them, but they are very lethargic and slow to feed in the super cooler waters.

Near shore- The hogfish, mangrove snapper and sheepshead are the big news in the near shore waters with a really good bite of hogfish taking the lead in this week’s fishing report. This past Tuesday’s 10 hour all day had a total of eighteen keeper hogfish that’s how hot the bite has been for hogfish this past week. Plus, our HUB private fishing charters have been tearing up the hogfish as well this past week. They love the live shrimp on a 1oz knocker rig with a 4ot hook or a 1oz Nekid ball jig both with pieces of live shrimp. The mangrove snapper have also been biting well for us near shore on the double snell rig with a chunk of threadfin or the live shrimp when targeting hogfish. On a recent ten hour we had over 75 nice mangrove snapper brought into the boat using the double snell thread fin method. The sheepshead have been a bonus as well, not as common as the hogfish and mangroves have been but this is the time of year they spend spawning above the near shore artificial reefs and rock piles and we catch them floating down the live shrimp targeting hogfish most commonly. Plus, were seeing good action on the lane snapper as of late too with plenty of them coming into the docks as well on small chunks of squid or live shrimp. As always the grey snapper or white grunt bite along with the porgies has been consistent when the weather has been nice so it’s a great time to get near shore and do some catching!

Offshore – We did not have a long range 39 or 44 hour this past weekend to report on, but we did have a 12 hour extreme yesterday that did very well on the red grouper and added plenty of mangrove snapper, vermilions and a few yellowtails to the box as well. We are seeing lots of cobia around offshore right now and it’s important to keep a rod rigged and ready to rock for those great eating shark looking fish. The blackfin tuna haven’t been super thick like they normally are each January and February but were hoping the full moon next week will ramp up their action offshore. We have the 20 fathom closure on grouper in effect right now so were careful to be fishing inside the closure line when targeting and harvesting the red and scamp grouper but we often will fish for snapper beyond the closure line before moving shallower inside the closure line to catch and keep those red grouper and scamp before heading in!

 

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

 

GIVING AWAY OVER $700 IN FREE FISHING TRIPS this Sunday during our weekly live stream fishing conversation Q&A show! Want to learn more about fishing locally and WIN FREE FISHING TRIPS without leaving your house? Don’t forget we have the Weekly fishing conversation or seminar by Capt Dylan Hubbard LIVE on the Hubbard’s Marina Facebook & YouTube page if you don’t want to leave your house to catch a seminar! 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/

 

We have super light loads coming up in February on our 39 hour long range trips and our February 44 hour full moon long range trip! Especially the Tuesday 39 hour in February is super light, below are the dates of the trips and these are GREAT opportunities to get tons of the big mangrove snapper, vermillion snapper, yellowtail snapper, porgies and more that we have been seeing and hopefully plentiful blackfin tuna and more as well!
February 15th – Friday 44 HOUR full moon trip

Feb 19th – Tuesday 39 hour

Feb 22nd – Friday 39 hour

BOOK YOUR TRIP TODAY BY CALLING US AT (727)393-1947 OR BOOKING ONLINE – https://HubbardsMarina.com/reservations

 

Our 12 hour extreme trips right now also are going out with super light loads as well, if you are ready for some big red grouper, scamp and mangrove snapper and plenty of others it’s a great time to get out on the flying HUB 2 for some offshore fishing fun with us at Hubbard’s Marina on a Wednesday or Sunday.

 

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 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 February 16th at 2:30 pm. 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!

Captain Jack’s dolphin corner

 

Water is super clear right now in our back bay waters thanks to the super nice and calm weather we have been having and light winds. The water is not stirred up in the slightest and the cooler temps keeps the algae down which allows for some of the clearest water conditions of the year in our ‘spring time’ when water temps are in the mid 60’s to mid 70’s and the weather is nice this time of year it gets crystal clear in the bays and along the passes and on the beaches making it a great time to do a dolphin watching nature cruise and eco tour with us or our famous sunset cruise that offers FREE beer and wine!

 

The dolphins are in very large pods right now hunting the plentiful sheepshead, black drum and mullet so it’s a great time to catch a relaxing cruise and enjoy the playful groups of dolphins and super clear back bay waters around Johns Pass at Hubbard’s Marina. Here’s all the information on our dolphin watching nature cruise and eco tour – https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/dolphin-watching-cruises/

 

Along with the playful large groups of dolphins, we have our local bird nesting island called dog leg key which we cruise past during our dolphin watching nature cruise and eco tour is a beautiful sight this time of year as our local seabird population starts to dawn their mating plumage. As the local seabirds prepare for mating season they get very colorful and decorative plumage or feathers and it makes for a super special viewing experience this time of year aboard our dolphin watching nature cruise and eco tour!

 

Our sunset cruise is starting to ramp up in its availability! We normally run our sunset cruise on weekends only in our ‘winter’ season but now as we approach the spring the weather is so nice, the sunsets are so colorful and the people are starting to show up so we are starting to offer the sunset cruise more regularly so call us today to book a relaxing hour and a half sunset cruise with Hubbard’s Marina! It’s a bit more of a party atmosphere compared to our dolphin watching nature cruise and eco tour, and it doesn’t offer the full narration like the dolphin tour but there’s great music and some great jokes. Plus, the sunset cruise takes you down the beautiful gulf beaches at the golden hour with the sunset to your left and the beautiful beaches to your right. Plus, we often spot pods of the dolphins cruising the beaches too while enjoying the free beer and wine offered aboard our sunset cruise at Hubbard’s Marina inside Johns Pass Madeira Beach. To learn more about the fun filled sunset cruise with free beer and wine check out this link – https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/sunset-cruise/

 

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

 

You have to get out to Egmont key island sometime soon with us at Hubbard’s Marina! The weather has been spectacular lately and since its still a little cooler at night and not so bad during the day it’s a great time to explore the island and see the plentiful gopher tortoise that are easy to spot out sunning themselves each morning. Plus the waters around the island is super clear right now thanks to the super calm waters and winds we have had lately. The shelling is great this time of year as well thanks to the cooler conditions keeping island traffic low and the occasional cold front stirring up new shells onto our local islands! The Tampa bay ferry by Hubbard’s Marina offers 11am ferry rides to the island Wednesday through Sunday this time of year. You get two 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/

 

The Shell key ferry trip is not running or offered this time of year due to the low amount of interest in the area. However, it will resume this spring starting in March with daily rides out to shell Key Island multiple times per day! For now, the only option is a day out at Egmont key with the Tampa Bay Ferry by Hubbard’s Marina.

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

UPDATED Coupon information

 

OVER $700 IN FREE TRIPS coming up this Sunday, you could win a FREE 39 HOUR FISHING TRIP, plus TWO of the FREE 10 HOUR ALL DAY TRIPS FOR TWO GUESTS this Sunday during our live stream Q&A fishing conversation show!  Tune in THIS SUNDAY February 10th at 8:30pm Capt Dylan will be giving away the free fishing trip for two during the show, all you have to do is tune in and watch the entire hour live Q &A fishing show! Here’s more info on the show – https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/live-q-and-a-fishing-shows/

 

WIN FREE TRIPS also at the February 16th bass pro shops seminar at the tampa bass pro shops, the seminar is 2pm and if you join us for the whole hour seminar we will give away a FREE ten hour all day for two guests and a five hour half day for two guests as well!

 

If you miss both of the events above, don’t forget our live stream show is every Sunday night at 8:30pm so tune in to join the show and get a chance to win FREE FISHING TRIPS!