mrmacwvu1

My best baits this year have been 1/8 jigs with mirror lure marsh minnows in white behind them. I was averaging over 10 snook a day on them. Spooks are my go to baits first thing in the morning.

I really don't know tampa area. I fish mainly punta gorda area. My advice would be to find some mom and pop bait shops. Almost everyone I have found have been really helpful. If you need help with baits or anything let me know.

Hope you made it back to Motown. Just to let you know I fished the Elk and holly and williams over the last month. Bunch of brookies and still some browns and rainbows. Have a good year and tight lines. I am back in Florida, going out to brave the red tide for some snook and reds next week.

I prefer to use a double uni knot for line to line stop in at fishing franks in port charolette he is actually online with a fishing report as well it has nothing to do with seeing it all of these fish have teeth they cut through braid

I use 30 pound flouro leader for everything down there except tarpon. A spoon is a good bait. However if you want to catch everything under the sun get some 1/8 and 1/4 ounce jigs and tip them with 4 inch mirror lure swim baits in the clear or white. gulp shrimp on those same jigheads will also catch a bunch of fish.

sept and oct are the best times to fish out of Venice La supposed to be the best in the world

great fish the red tide has chased them out down here when do you have to go back to morgantown

Fishing franks is great. I actually go to his shop at least once a month. If you can bass fish, you can snook fish. Same techniques just bigger fish and more fun. Most of snook come on two lures, soft swimbaits and spook type lures

No I live here. Although it is the Tarpon capital of the world. It also has world class snook redfish and trout fishing. Grouper and snapper and can be caught on the reefs just a few miles out. Kings are currently running as will.

Had a sailcat poke through my sandal last year. Lost feeling in my big toe for months. That is why I never use live bait when snook or red fishing. d**n cats everywhere down here. BTW the red tide is finally moving out. Had a 50 trout day the other day with 15 over 15 inches and 6 over 20. The largest was 26. All were caught on an 1/8 ounce jig with a mirror lure paddle tail.

Not trying to be rude here. But you came here and asked questions. You just started fishing last week. People that have been fishing for years provided you with advice. Your last post all you did was shoot down their knowledge and explain how you are doing things. Most fishermen I know will help out anyone that is willing to listen. Just a piece of advice.

when I first moved to Florida I caught my first one they do have teeth that look like humans

It depends on how long the affect will be. If it kills the breeding females it can hurt the fishery for 3 or more years. Big snook do not breed every year. The bull reds will move out of the area and could take months to come back. It is really messing with the businesses down here. Nobody at the beach means nobody at the beach bars and restaurants.

I have been fishing these waters for 15 years. I know it will rebound. However just three weeks ago I was catching at least 2 snook over the slot every trip out, having 50 trout days. I was done Tarpon fishing for the year. The water from Okochobee is making it worse. I just hate to see thousands of fish dead, not to mention it makes it hard to breath. I guess I will just golf for the next few weeks.

Red tide has killed thousands of fish in my area. Big breeder snook, red fish, tarpon, trout and flounder. It breaks my heart but money talks. It might not be preventable but we could limit it if we tried.

Fishing for brookies on a fly rod is my favorite fresh water fishing

very nice flyfishing is my first love

but yesterday was a great day for me. It all started two days before when my buddy, Howard called and said that my other buddy cancelled. Earlier in that day I gave up my normal Wednesday fishing with Howard so he could go and learn from the guy I call the master. He always catches fish as he has been fishing here in the harbor for over 33 years. I told him sure I would go. I wake up at 430 in the morning and walk outside and it is raining so I text him and say I will see him tomorrow as I was going to get paperwork done. The wife had been asking me to do it for a week and she is so awesome that she lets me fish anytime that I am not working. About 5 hours later I get a text from my buddy saying that he caught a 38 inch 36 inch and a 40 inch snook at first light and since my lazy butt was not there he got no photos. We bantered back and forth. I would tell him that he was too old and was reading the tape wrong and so on and so forth. He told me to be at his house at 530 the next day or else. First off this is one of the greatest human beings that I have ever met. I was just a bass fisherman and trout fisherman from up north. We met at a little local pub two years ago. He invited me to go on his boat and teach me how to fish these waters. He has never allowed me to pay for gas or for any other repairs on his boat. All I do is wash his boat after everytime we fish and buy him three beers at a the same watering hole we met at. Second, This was the first and only time that I have ever cancelled on him. He is 74 years old now and does not like to go by himself. The waters down here are constantly changing and even though you have local knowledge it is still easy to get stuck. For anyone that has fished for snook or redfish they know that if your boat is not getting hung up or your baits are not getting caught in the mangroves you are not catching fish. Sorry I am long winded so I will get to the story. We launch at first light and make a short run to where he caught his fish the day before. I am still a little skeptical until my third cast. I catch a nice 32 inch snook. I am happy that is my biggest in a few weeks and he giggles. Nowhere near what they were yesterday. We beat the bank and pick up about ten more snook nothing great. Then I am watching his spook as I was trying to see where to cast and it disappeared. No sound. Quiet as it could be for 2 seconds. It seemed like an eternity. Then this big girl came out of the water and splashed harder than a fat kid doing a cannon ball at 12 year olds birthday party. Then there was the whine. The whine that makes most people cringe as they are listing to Fran Dresher talk. But this the whine of line being pulled from a nearly fully set drag. The frantic moments over the next minutes included raising the trim on the outboard. Next was trading spots on the boat. I set the trolling motor to five to move away from shore as fast I could. That little minkota had a fight on its hand. As he was yelling get me away from shore I am yelling I am trying. Many runs later and finally getting the boat away from shore, she gave up. She circles around and I am there waiting with net. He artfully handles her one last run and guides her gently in my net. Holly crap I said. I went to lift her out of the water and the handle broke. I grabbed the netting and pulled her into the boat. She went just over 44 inches and his personal best in 33 years. I got his pictures and apologized for the net and not being there the day before. He said F it totally worth it. We fished the rest of the morning knowing it would be hard to top that. At the end of the day I wash his boat, took him for a few beers and at the end of the day shook his hand and said see you Wednesday. He said thanks see you then.

Not bragging but I kind of am. Last Tuesday I caught a Tarpon that went over a hundred pounds on a medium rod with a pen spinning reel on it. I was fishing docks and hoping to pick up a snook. He almost spooled me twice but I got him in. The only thing that I will say is if you are fishing lighter gear it does stress the fish more than if you have the proper set up.

So my ole lady divorced me today. She took half of everything I had. I never thought it would get this bad. She knew I was sneaking out on her a couple times a week. In my defense she was slender and always jumped up and smiled, but so was the other one when i caught her attention. I was only gone a couple hours a time in the morning as she still asleep yet I know she knew my heart was elsewhere. It all started out a few years ago as I was on vacation down in Florida. I was so excited to get away from the cold that I could not contain myself. With a few beverages in hand I made my way out. At first it was the little ones that always pounce on the fresh meat. That was not for me. As much as I loved them I knew there was more, as I felt bad for my woman waiting by the door. As I aged I knew that the more mature ladies would be harder to get but in the end more rewarding. My friends always laughed at me because I was not getting any, but the ones I did were overweight or too big as they would say. Yet they always made me smile. They had been around the block a time or two. They were not always the most good looking but they always aimed to please. Sometime they were harder to get, other times they were harder to let go, but they always had my heart. However a short while ago I was busted. My wife caught up to me as I was sneaking out. She confronted me about the affair. She asked if she could meet the loves of my life. So without anyway of getting out of it I had to to take her. So she caught a Tarpon, snook, redfish and a bunch of trout. On the way home she bought her own tackle box and started taking half of my lures. I have never been more proud. I can't wait to fish with her Tuesday. It is a joy to be able to fish with the love of your life. ps other than the fish.

Don't know about the golf courses. But nice fish. The snook fishing has been rough the last few months here in Charlotte harbor. However have caught a few tarpon over the last few weeks. Keep catching them and tight lines.

Ended up catching 3 sharks yesterday as well. Biggest was around 4 foot. I have a buddy down here that targets them and he wants me to go with him. He showed me a video and it really makes you think about wading down here. Last year I was fly fishing for trout. I was about two hundred yards from shore while my buddy was fly fishing the mangroves.A six foot bull shark swam between us. Now I fish mostly from the boat. My buddy in that video caught a Tiger, a bull and hammerhead all within a week and all within 500 yards of the beach at boca grande beach.

i fish was days like today. I took a buddy out today and put him on his first tarpon. The look on his face when that 125lb beauty jumped for the first time was something that I will always remember. If you ever have a chance to go tarpon fishing do it.

trout magnets, inline spinners and gulp minnows are my go to baits. all three slightly cast up stream and retrieve just fast enough to keep them off the bottom. I always start down stream and fish up stream. Most of the time trout will be facing upstream. Look for eddies, those are little swirls that will be caused by rocks and longs in the stream. These little breaks are where trout like to lay as they ambush prey that floats or swims by them. I like to use 6 pound line however if they are picky I will drop down to 4lb line. Remember to be quiet and move slowly. If they see you they won't usually hit. If the water is really slack I have good luck bouncing trout magnets off the bottom. Believe it or not one of my favorite colors is the hot pick one. White and Chartruese are my next two best colors. Good luck and tight lines.

heading out in two days boat has been out of commission for a few weeks will be hitting the snook, red fish and tarpon can't wait