Fishing report
Inshore- The white bait is finally showing up strong inside the bait and just off the beaches. Snook season is now closed and you know that means they start biting better. We have seen a surge in the amount of snook being caught off the jetty around Hubbard’s Marina especially around first light and dusk. The trout are still flooding the lights of Johns Pass at night biting live shrimp or Nekid ball jigz. Red fish are biting well around the oyster bars of our back bays, just this past week before the front one of the kayak renters brought a fishing pole and caught 5 around the islands inside Johns Pass using a gold spoon and soft plastic with a ¼ jig head. The sharks are heating up too as the water warms, more and more are being caught along the jetties and docks especially the bonnet heads and black tips.
Near shore- The weather lately has been tough to get offshore, but the beginning of the week was producing large numbers of snapper. The mangroves, lanes, and grey snapper are all aggressive and feeding well right now as the water warms up. These snapper species spawn over the warm summer so as the water warms the bite should only increase. The red grouper bite is improving if you can avoid the prolific gag grouper. Looking forward to June first when we can start harvesting those gags! The kingfish have really moved in but they are hit and miss with the weather the sunny days with few people on board are helping us nail them. Recently, we had a super light all day trip with gorgeous weather not only did we land nearly 20 kingfish we also caught a big fat blackfin tuna in around 70-100 foot of water.
Offshore- The offshore bite has been going nuts for the mangrove snapper they are practically ready to jump in the boat when we can get out there to them. They are getting larger as the water warms it seems just yesterday we were out fishing ahead of the front on the HUB during a private charter nailing 6-8lb mangroves in 120-140 foot of water. The amberjack were up on the surface eating poppers, sardines, buck tails, Nekid ball jigs and anything else we threw at them one even ate a wrench with trailer hooks attached! Kingfish bite is slowing down a bit offshore this past week was slow on the kingfish especially compared to this past weekend’s 63 hour when we were catching a few every hour while trolling out. Yesterday’s HUB private charter did hook up to three but only landed one due to wire issues and bending hooks out. The red snapper are everywhere we must’ve caught 150 or more yesterday aboard the HUB and even more during the mid-week 39 hour. The gulf council is simply ridiculous to call them endangered any longer. They have become a nuisance displacing other species off our offshore spots. Cannot wait until June when we get 46 days to thin out the heard!
Want to read the past reports? Check out this link: https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/hubbards-marina-fishing-reports/
Captain Jack’s dolphin corner
Just this past week we saw the dolphins playing with a monster snook, and by playing we mean they were playing catch with this trophy gamefish. No one must have told our local dolphins that the FWC closed snook season.
Manatees are prolific right now we’re seeing plenty of them in our local waters, just this week one day we saw manatees on every dolphin watching nature cruise and eco tour which is very unique for any time of year. This is a great sign to see such large numbers of these docile creatures. We have even had a handful come cruising by Hubbard’s Marina to visit us at the dock.
We just recently witnessed a beautiful brood of roseate spoonbills at dog leg key. Most years their nests are tucked so far into the mangroves they are hard to spot but this year there’s two nest with juvenile spoonbills right on the edge of the mangroves making spotting these light pink juveniles very easy!
The recent newborn dolphin to our area were spotted playing in a herd together recently during the Hubbard’s Marina dolphin watching nature cruise and eco tour! So awesome to see these young dolphin learning how to hunt and socialize in large groups of beautiful dolphin.
At the beginning of this week snorkeling was perfect out at Egmont key during our Egmont key ferry from Fort Desoto County Park. The water was crystal clear and warming up nicely. However, the recent wind and waves will cause murky waters for a few days till the turbulence settles down. Typically May and June are the best month of the year to snorkel because they offer the clearest waters.
The wind and waves may have stirred up the water making it murky but that also means that brand new piles of shells are being pushed up onto our beaches. Join Hubbard’s Marina for our fun filled 3 hour shelling cruise or our special Egmont key ferry to get a chance to get a pile of great shells! For more info on our special 3 hour shelling cruise, visit this link: https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/florida-shelling-cruise/
The cooler weather this weekend is your perfect chance to go investigate and explore the interior of Egmont key state park before it warms up too much to make it fun!
We had quite the unique and rare sight this week on the way to Egmont key from Fort Desoto, we witnessed a green sea turtle making its way out to Egmont key which is so awesome and special. These turtles have become so rare it was quite a pleasure to witness a healthy one in the wild heading to the island to lay eggs.
New baby manatee was spotted cruising through the backwaters or Boca Ceiga bay! She was spotted cruising next to her mother just inside the mouth of Johns Pass cruising the docks looking for fresh patches of sea grass. These pair is just too cute not to come check out first hand. We look forward to seeing you for a dolphin watching nature cruise and eco tour sometime soon we even guarantee dolphin sightings!
Our sunset cruise with free beer and wine is now a daily cruise once again as the weather gets nicer! Join us sometime soon for a fun filled trip and a beautiful view of the sunset. It’s the best bar on the water guaranteed! For more info on the sunset cruise, visit this link: http://deepseafishingtampabay.com/sunset-cruise/
Upcoming up at Hubbard’s Marina
RED SNAPPER SEASON IS ALMOST HERE AND HUBBARD’S MARINA HAS 46 DAYS! You read that right red snapper season starts June first and runs until July 17th at 12:01am. This means you have 46 days to join us for a 12 hour day trip, 39 hour or the special 44 hour to target red snapper! We also have TONS of private charter options and the Flying HUB 1 will be ready for action! Don’t forget the Flying HUB 2 is on its way expected early June. Also, the HUB can do red snapper too at the lowest price but it just takes more time to get out there leaving you with less fishing time than if you were to book the Flying HUB 1. Also, we always have the Mrs. HUB if you wanted to fish for red snapper in high class! All our boats have special federal permits allowing us this longer 46 day season!
Check out our UPDATED specialty schedule to see the BRAND NEW 12 and 39 hour trips we have added to make more room for more interested guests to fish for red snapper: https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/specialty-fishing-trip-schedule/
Don’t forget that Hubbard’s Marina offers a very wide variety of private charters along with our party boat options. Many people don’t realize how many different boats and options we offer for these private excursions. At Hubbard’s Marina we have 4 smaller fishing vessels for charter than can take 1-6, 7-14 or 14-24 plus we have two large party boats that can allow 17-110 so no matter what your groups size and no matter where or how they want to fish or cruise we have the perfect charter options for you and your group no matter your size! Check out the options at this link, and fill out the form to get your very own detailed quote based on exactly what you’d like included and what you’d like to target: https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/private-charters/
We have three 39 hour overnight trip in the month of May coming up, don’t miss your shot at 20 hours of bottom fishing time a 100 miles from shore! May 3rd, 6th and 31st we have these special long range party boat trips they are very fun and unique hope you get a shot to get ‘hooked’ on deep water fishing at Hubbard’s Marina! To learn more about the trip, check out the updated site: https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/39hr-overnight-fishing-trip/
Want to try out our unique 44 hour full moon trip? This trip offers a full night of fishing on a full moon rather than the partial night of fishing time the 39 hour offers. The next 44 hour is coming up is going out fishing on May 20th at 10am. This trip gives you around 25-26 hours bottom fishing time and tons of daytime trolling on the way out to the bottom fishing areas. To learn more about our 44 hours check out this link, but don’t forget that you can’t book our 44 or 63 hour trips via our website you still have to call us for these very special trips at (727)393-1947 but here’s the link to learn more about the trip before you call to book it up! https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/44hr-full-moon-fishing-trip/
The next 63 hour deep drop pelagic trip at Hubbard’s Marina is coming up on May 12th, unfortunately it is currently sold out. The next one we have with room left is coming August 11th but it is nearly sold out too if you want a shot to join us book now. We are going to be heading out 150 miles from Johns Pass but never more than 100 miles from shore. The targeted depth to start is 300 foot for mutton snapper, mangroves, red grouper and black grouper. Then we will be working out to around 700-800 foot for snowy grouper, yellowedge grouper, tilefish, deep water snapper and more unique deep water species before trolling back north to hit more deep water wrecks. To see more about these trips, check out the video on our new 63 hour deep drop pelagic trip page on the brand new website here’s the link: https://www.hubbardsmarina.com/63hr-pelagicdeep-drop-fishing-trip/
Keep in mind that 44 hours and 63 hour trips must be booked via phone, and cannot be booked via our online reservation system. We will be addressing this issue soon when we re do our online reservations system. Once this is done you will be able to book every trip through that system
Regular’s club
Regular’s club signups are coming to an end. If you fish more than 5, 10, 15 times a year or know someone who does let’s talk about getting you or your friends into the club before we close the ranks until 2017 club signups. Typically we do this around May each year so if you want to get someone signed up for discounts on the trips and other great benefits for fishing multiples times throughout the year then call Dylan Hubbard or email him today!
Dylan Hubbard
Vice president and Regular’s club manager Hubbard’s Marina
(727)393-1947 ext 306
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