Central West Region

You’ve got to love Florida winter fishing. I was fortunate enough to get a call from Phil about fishing in the Bradenton area. I live in Clearwater, but I have been fishing all over the bay area my whole life. So when Phil said he wanted to fish up the Manatee River I was very excited. The plan was to pick up at Fort Hammer and fish with live shrimp. The morning was very cold so we had to ...full report

2012 Fishing Schedule & Report Hello from Anna Maria, I hope everyone had a great holiday and a happy new year. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for a strong and prosperous 2012. I want to thank everyone for keeping me on the water despite the sluggish economy. I know it’s been tuff on all businesses the last few years. It looks optimistic this year though. We are going into a new year with ...full report

Happy New Year!! As much as I hate to see the Awesome fishing of 2011 go, I honestly can’t wait for the future fishing adventures that are in store for us during 2012. And if the weather is any indicator at how well our fishing year is going to be, folks we may be in store for another record breaking year. The weather seems to be the major headline thus far going into 2012. With a few cooler ...full report

Nice redfish have been grouped up in the mangroves on a high tide. Good trout in the 16 to 24 inch slot have been stacking up in the potholes a few trout and pompano have been caught in the out flow of the power plant especially when the plant releases warm water! ...full report

Mid December Fishing Report Our weather couldn’t be any nicer, with sunny skies and temperatures in the high 70s by the afternoon. The fishing is really good. With October like conditions everything is biting. Last year, and the year before, we were out there freezing our butts off. Catching lots of Redfish but still it was cold, 50deg in the afternoon; we call that cold in these parts. ...full report

My clients in the Venice beach area have brought news of Blacktips along the beaches. The largest one this week I have seen was 3 feet long, caught on live shrimp. Large Flounder, the biggest one 20 inches are also along the beaches. The best technique I know and heard used this week was using pieces of squid cut into strips and then threaded onto a jig head, bounced off the bottom with a lift-pause-reel, ...full report

Richie27" Snook6/30/11 Caspersons BeachThe Snook have been hitting on shrimp, Pinfish, small white jigs as well as top water baits during the mornings & throughout the afternoon. Early evening, watch near rock piles and lighted areas such as bridge bumpers where these fish have been holding. Top water baits resembling small Baitfish are the most effective for night time. For Redfish, outgoing ...full report

Pasco County waters have been heating up, with a number of King Mackerel, Spanish Mackerel, Cobia, and Trout being caught in virtually any depth of water. The tides have been strong, and so has the bite on live and artificial baits. Movement of the bait has been the key to targeting different species. Faster movements with flashy baits will produce the Kings and Spanish. Slower movement on the top ...full report

Launched at the RV campground and went East with the wind down the channel to the bend to the left and had to anchor on the power pole to stay out of the stumps. Tried Shiners and spec minnows and nothing doing. Went back past the campground and worked the channels, again nothing... wind was awful. Gave up, only one other boat reported fish. ...full report

My son-in-law and I went fishing yesterday and were in about 8-10 feet of water. We decided to use new Penny jig head with 3" gulp shrimp instead of live srimp for a change. We started getting hits rights away. We did try one live shrimp and never got a hit on it. We ended up catching 4 Trout, 5 Black Sea Bass, a lizard fish and a Catfish. None were keepers. We fished for about 2.5 hours ...full report