2012-2-9 Good fishing continues from Englewood to Venice Florida.

Our Venice weather has continued to amaze us and catching has been good.

 Victor wanted to take his wonderful wife Liz fishing for her birthday. Liz wanted to learn about fishing and while Victor obviously loved his wife she said he didn’t have the patience to teach her about fishing. Victor claimed he had worked to hard taking care of teaching their kids and he wanted to bird watch. Advertising does work but referrals are even better and my eye doctor, Dr. Helen had assured them I would take good care of em. It is always a pleasure to share time with happy people; especially when they have shared over thirty years together. Anyway we got off from Stump Pass Marina at eight AM. The day was beautiful and fish cooperated.

Our first stop was the try for some trout and reds along a deeper grassy edge in Lemon Bay. The trout were hungry but not big enough to come home with us for dinner.  I tried both live shrimp and white bait. Yes, I know it’s February but when minnows are available and easy I like to have some. As I chummed with the minnows to attract fish I was surprised by a very large fish popping a minnow in casting range. It had to be a medium sized tarpon but it was so big I did not cast at it! The dolphins came to visit and ran our trout off. We tried the other side of the area and observed a flock of white pelicans feeding during the very low tide. Birds and fish eat the same critters so we cast near them and got two bites right away. Liz got a trout and a bluefish grabbed the other rod but got off. We didn’t get any more bites and moved on.

We saw a bunch of sheepshead but most were too small and we continued to look around. A dozen redfish interrupted us and even cooperated. I chummed with a few minnows and we could actually watch some nice reds tease us right by the boat. Our water has been crystal clear allowing some sight fishing.  In the next half hour Liz landed seven redfish up to twenty-five+ inches. They had their limits of reds so we tried a long shot.

Liz mentioned she really wanted to catch a snook so why not give it a try. Water temps were up to about seventy-three degrees and we had live minnows. I anchored up by an oyster bar we had caught a couple last week.  After a few minutes and some more minnows for chum I saw a pop. We cast and she had her first Grand Slam of trout, redfish and this snook; plus a very large smile! She managed to catch seven snook before lunch time. I guess she ended up with seven Grand Slams? What a day and it was great to share the experience and memories for all of us. Guiding may not be as profitable as in past, healthier economies but it still provides riches to enjoy! I want to thank Victor for sharing his lovely wife’s company with me! He got to see; eagles, osprey, and many other birds plus see huge smiles all day long.

We are still catching a few nice pompano, sheepshead, as well as the trout, reds and snook. Winds have picked up and cooler days are forecast for the weekend. I have some projects to catch up on so I am glad to see some winds so I don’t feel I’m missing the awesome experiences on our warm waters. White bait should stick around if it doesn’t get too cold. Cooler water could actually help catching by bunching fish up better. Some tarpon have been reported from Boca Grande south recently. I’m going to say we will enjoy good action early this year IF it stays warm! Spanish and king mackerel could show up in about two weeks. Some cobia are already off shore on the deeper wreaks and will drop closer as it warms up and more minnows draw em in. The stone crabbers are seeing a few tripletail but not many. If you are planning a Spring Break or Easter trip reservations are recommended.  Let’s Go Fishin’ soon. Captain Van Hubbard <www.captvan.com>