Our Venice weather and fishing have been great. 1-8-12

We are currently enjoying some of the best “Winter” weather I can remember. Welcome to Southwest Florida. Yes we did have a couple of cold mornings last week, but this is January! Cold fronts come and go, but it eighty degrees right now. If you are around for a few days we can usually choose some good weather. Also an additional benefit of inshore and inside fishing is that we can find a protected shoreline to enjoy our outing. No rough water fishing! It’s always best to select a day early in your vacation so we can adjust our trip date with the weather conditions if possible. Now back to that fishing part.

Pompano have been cooperating on most trips recently. These can be challenging to get going but are great when they bite. Pompano pull hard, taste great, and are healthy for us. We and use light spinning gear and custom pompano jigs sweetened with a small piece of shrimp. I usually start out around our local Gulf Passes; Stump Pass, by Englewood Beach, is my home port and always first. Some days we go north to Venice Inlet or south as far as Boca Grande Pass.  Fishing has been better south recently.  We also catch a large variety while targeting the golden nuggets; ladyfish, trout, flounder, jacks, whiting, and many more. This variety keeps poles bent and clients smiling.

Trout are open now plus we always have redfish. Sheepshead and flounder are starting to show up and add to our table fare. Some days we can mix it up and catch multiple species while other times it’s best to concentrate our efforts if you want specific fish. We usually fish live shrimp now under rattle corks on spinning gear. We fish some lures if you wish, even fly fishing if that’s your desire. Just watch out for each other when casting, please.

Some snook are around now but cooler waters mean more effort per fish. Snook are a sub-tropical species and thrive in hot water. April thru October is prime times for snook. We enjoy awesome catch and release snook action in the heat of Summer, if want hot action with both numbers and big fish.  We can sometimes mix up our tarpon fishing adventures with some snook action also. Remember, it’s time to make your plans for our awesome Spring and Summer tarpon and snook fishing soon. The Spring mackerel migration could be early if the weather stays mild!

The weather is great and fish hungry so Let’s Go Fishin’ soon. Captain Van Hubbard.  <wwwcaptvan.com>