Looks like Spring is arriving here in Venice Florida.

         It was chilly this past week and it slowed our catching down. Our coming week we anticipate warming temperatures and better fishing. Our fishing depends upon the weather conditions; we will adjust our times, even dates if we can, to ensure your best probabilities. The beauty of inside fishing is we can usually find a productive, protected area to hide and catch a mess of fish. Warmer helps and it looks like the cold and red tide are gone.

          We did enjoy a good redfish bite when we got lucky and had the right tides along with south breezes to turn on the bite. Snook were cold last week but I do expect them to get hungry when waters warm up into the seventies any time. Trout are around and we just could not cruise around last week because it was too cold and windy. We did manage some more pompano but you will need to invest some time and efforts to enjoy this gourmet dinner. They are some around but they keep it challenging. More pompano and the mackerel migration should drop into our Boca Grande area any day.

          Tarpon are not in range for a month or so would be my best guess; but Mother Nature can push fish north faster or hold them south. I’m optimistic that we will see more manners around the Boca Grande Pass this year; yes I’m crazy but I believe many will see we all benefit from “happy tarpon”! It seems to me most of us should be able to comprehend that scared fish are not good for fishing or businesses. Please follow “Save the Tarpon” on facebook or the web site to stay up on happenings. Public awareness should maintain the push to regain respect for our silver kings!

          With Easter early this year if you haven’t made your fishing reservations for the week before or after I’ll try to help but those weeks are reserved as of now. I do have March 20^th and 22^nd open plus some dates after April the 11^th! Other guide friends have a few holes but everyone wants to go at the same time with the holiday. May and June have good week days still open but business has picked up so don’t wait too long to lock in your reservations, please.

          Lots of tiny glass minnows are showing up inside so I expect to see some whitebait any day with the warming trends. We have had it off and on all year so they should be close by? We are having a fun Mack Attack event at Whidden’s Marina on Boca Grande the 7^th of April. This is a family event and prizes will be awarded by raffle so everyone that brings in fish will have the same chance of winning. This is a family friendly event, not a competition, and we’ll cook the fish and enjoy sharing stories after fishing. There should be plenty of mackerel action to keep everyone smiling, so don’t miss out; only fifteen boats to make sure we have fun.

          Like Captain Wilson Hubbard used to say, “If your too busy to go fishin’ your just too busy” don’t miss spring fishing action! Put mackerel back on your menu and enjoy our piece of paradise. Get your boats and gear ready spring is here. Captain Van Hubbard. <www.captvan.com>