Fishing Reports

Well folks, after reviewing our January weather, the average wind speeds for the month were 16 knots. Finding a nice day to fish last month was a chore and this past week wasn't any better. To make matters worse, this coming weekend will be blown out offshore with winds gusting up to 20 knots on Saturday and 15 knots on Sunday. Another event closing down the south end of the Mosquito Lagoon and the down range safety zones offshore is the Space Shuttle Launch scheduled for 4 am Sunday morning. On last check the weather was go for launch, so it might be worth getting up and watching the shuttle turn night into day. Additionally, both Monday and Tuesday look like good days to fish weather wise. Tough weather kept me off of the Lagoon this past week, but I did hear some reports of both ...full report

This transplanted Buckeye realized that bass in FL are line watchers unlike their cousins in the OH River Valley that may still see the line but not as easy due to water clarity. After going 4 to zip against a friend and using the same trick worms, I grabbed my spinning rod with 8# line and the smallest squeeze on worm weight I own. I used this rig with tubes at St Clair for Smallmouth. Haven't used tubes "YET" at Harris but that's on the agenda. Anyway the bite was on. We probably caught 20-25 Bass with largest only about 3.5#. We saw dozens of beds. The weather was rain and winds NE 10-20 at least, air temp mid 60's, water temp 57-61. Lure of choice was Zoom Trick Worms in Junebug & Redbug. The less visible the line the better. I've got a 100 miles of various fluorescent ...full report

Sunday’s trip was scheduled to start late morning to trying and stay warm as the temperatures had dropped from the day prior. With time to spare I ran to the Skyway Bridge looking for white bait. I was pleasantly surprised as my first toss of the cast net in weeks resulted in a nice haul of white baits. We would not be doing any chumming today so we did not need many baits. Along with the white baits I had live shrimp in the forward live well. Our very first stop was the same canal we scored on the day prior. It’s a deep wide open area where 4 canals merge with good water flow and plenty of oyster bars. With both live shrimp and white baits in the water the wait for action would not be long. I knew by the fight we had a Redfish on, several bulldog type runs and a skinny 22” Redfish ...full report

Wind and fog with cooler temperatures has made Sanibel fishing a challenge. I like a challenge. I like the change in seasons. This time of year is always a nice change from the hot temperatures we endure in the summer and fall. Many of my days now are focused on the tides and wind direction to set up long drifts. Water levels are lower and I find Snook, Redfish, and Trout, staged near sand pockets and oyster bars. Bait starts to be scarce, and I like artificials anyway. I think finger Mullet is on the menu for most every type of fish at this time, so I like to use something that resembles a finger Mullet. Most of my trips at this time of year are clients coming from somewhere cold. They want to get away from ice and snow. I don’t blame them. One thing I do remind people is ...full report

Dr. Lee and his four buddies joined the Lady Pamela II for his 50th birthday celebration in Fort Lauderdale. With our solid Sailfish bite, Google-Eye were a good decision. We loaded up with live bait and headed offshore to 170ft of water. Fishing was slow for the first hour then out of no where it was a feeding frenzy just feet from a freight ship. One minute everyone was just enjoying the weather, the next we had two Sails in our spread. Captain Paul set the hook and Dr. Lee fought his first Sailfish ever over the water in our new and improved fighting chair. If you think our pictures came out great, imagine all that action happening right in front of your eyes while you’re suspended over the water. After our meet and greet, we released the Billfish back into the blue and went on our ...full report

Well those of you that live in our great state FLORIDA know that the weather has not been very Florida like for the past few days. I’m afraid that old man winter has started his stay. With the mornings being cold and not really warming up until later in the day its made that early morning bite hard to come by. The wind has changed from a warm tropical breeze from the south to a not so warm constant 10 to 15 from the north east. This type of wind will keep our tides lower than normal and some times make it so that there is no returning water at all. What I like to do on days like this. Is find area where we can put the boat in a small cove where the wind is blocked by the mangroves or a bend in a creek where the bottom is cover with rocks or kelp stalks. These two things are some of the ...full report

Started fishing at 6:45am. Quit at 3pm. 12 Boats in club tournament. It seemed all but 2 boats headed upstream. The results were as follows. 36 Bass caught, 1st place 10.8 for 3 Bass. They looked like footballs. 2nd place 10.1 for 5 Bass. Big Bass was 4 even. Lipless crankbaits (chrome/black) ripped through the grass seemed to be the lure of choice with best results. Anglers said you'd pick up 1 here & there. Winds were 20-30 mph, air temp 70, water temp 59-61. Personally did not see any beds yet. ...full report

Large schools of Redfish continue to patrol the backwater creek systems here in Jacksonville. Since the water temperature is cold, the packs of Redfish are usually hunkered down along oyster beds. It can be pretty easy fishing, or I should say "catching" once the schools are located. Last week during the last of the falling and first of the incoming tides I had outstanding trips of over 35 Redfish each day. We were able to sight cast to several Reds in shallow water using soft plastics and fished deeper holes and drop-offs on the higher water with quarter once jigs with mud minnows and shrimp. Wednesday I had the opportunity to fish with a longtime client and friend Kelly Stacy and two of his business partners. We fished two spots all day and went through 7 dozen mud minnows and ...full report