4-7-10 report

Spring fishing is getting started.

Monday we had a mess of Spanish Mackerel and five pompano with Dale and; Allison from Upstate New York, and her folks, Doug and Anne of Venice. Lots of mackerel in and around Stump Pass and off Englewood Beach.

Jason and Gary Roberts enjoyed some hot action with big drum Tuesday. Jason had a 34# monster and Gary’s was only 30 # both caught on our pompano rods with fourteen pound FireLine. It was so exciting to see the school of about fifty huge drum swimming around on white sand hanging out while we cast to them. The double hook up kept us busy for about a half hour. We also had Spanish Mackerel and sheepshead for their dinner. We saw a big cobia on a leopard ray but could not get a shot. Jason caught a small one while we were jigging for pompano. Slow tides slowed the pomp bite this trip.

Ernie Brunitte of Venice and his friend Gabe of Chicago enjoyed a short but hot big trout bite in AM. They were huge gator trout in numbers like I have not seen in years; none under twenty inches and up to twenty six inch specks. They caught a few nice snook that had a healthy appetite because local waters have warmed up. Nice to see some snook again, finally! The “pet snook” have started hanging around the Stump Pass marina bait shop again. We are starting to see some snook already and will know soon how many survived the freezes last winter. They also enjoyed and noon bite of snook, trout, and jacks to wrap up our trip. We found plenty of Spanish and a few smaller kings in the near shore Gulf off Englewood Beach. I know the hot action is closer every warm day.

I took some great kids out Thursday morning. Gabe, Chance and Pierce all on Spring Break from the Atlanta area. They were excited to catch some Spanish and couple of fat trout plus a bunch of ladyfish. We checked my baitfish traps on our way out to show them some of the various crabs and critters we have locally; queen, blue, stone, spider, and various small bait crabs; plus starfish, pinfish, and a conch. They had plenty of memories to take back home to Georgia.

Monday the 12th of April Dr. Tina Babiak and her parents joined me for a morning on Lemon Bay waters. We found some minnows and caught a half dozen fat, seventeen to twenty inch, speckled trout for their dinner. We had some mackerel chase us around but the ladyfish took over and ran us off. They also released several nice snook. We watched several eagles play with each other and chase some osprey. They flew around chasing each other while we fished. The dolphins were every where and we got so immersed watching the birds and dolphin they missed several fish and laughed about it. We had fun, dinner and some nice new memories to cherish.

I expect to get back to excellent fishing as soon as the weather straightens out. Let’s Go Fishin’ Soon! The best action is about to kick off any day now! Tarpon will be here soon.