Date: March 26, 2014
Inshore– Cas Hans, of Delaware, has been fishing from the beach behind our shop a lot this past week. He was picking off some large sheepshead from underneath our main dock on dead shrimp with a 2ot hook. The weight he needed depended on the tide, but he was fishing flat on the bottom the whole time with great success. Tom McDowell, a St. Petersburg local, was fishing under Johns Pass bridge with a gulp jig catching nice flounder. He was working it slow along the bottom when he hooked the nice ones. Marty Jensen, from Homestead Florida, and Sam Cunningham from Indiana were both fishing from the North jetty of Johns pass with live shrimp on the bottom and were both catching nice flounder. Marty’s biggest one was over 18 inches! Jamie Charlton, another St. Petersburg local, was fishing further down the jetty with live shrimp catching speckled trout on a bobber and sheepshead off the bottom. Mike Miller, from Seminole, and Rick Jones, from St. Pete were both fishing from the beach north of the jetty catching nice whiting in the surf. Mike was using live shrimp on the bottom and Rick was using squid. The mackerel are thicker now, but when we took catch information the bite was weak due to the cooler water following last week’s cold front. It took 4 days or so for the temperature to make a come-back.
Near shore– THE KINGFISH BITE IS ON! Our five hour Am half day today brought home fourteen keeper kings! They were skyrocketing left and right. Last Sunday the water temp hit 72 degrees and it was like someone turned on the kingfish bite switch. We brought in 6 Sunday between our two half days and the all day trip. Monday’s double half days brought in a total of seven. Today’s (3/24/14) half day got 14, who knows how many the all day will bring in, but were expecting a ton! The mackerel are around too, but now our focused has shifted to kingfish. Our first shark trip did well bringing home a 7ft black tip shark! We are starting to see more of these toothy critters coming up as the water warms.
Offshore– We haven’t had an overnight trip lately, but did run a long-range 12 hour trip last Thursday. We were super successful too! Not only did we haul in 25 or more, nice keeper sized jacks. We also brought home 6 really nice sized African pompano. Check out our Facebook for the great photos from this trip. We also caught two really nice cobias out there as well. Plus, we had mangrove snapper, vermilions, lanes & some yellowtail!
Up Next at Hubbard’s Marina– We have gotten a new bait freezer in our shop at Hubbard’s Marina! With the new room we have seriously increased our frozen bait selection. We now carry five lb. boxes of cigar minnows, three lb. bags of baby octopus, rock shrimp, clam strips, sand fleas, shrimp and squid. Were working to secure frozen oysters and fiddler crabs! Also, added a beer cooler to our shop! Now you can get all your tackle, bait and beer in the same place for shore fishing! Or you can pick up a case on the way home from a successful fishing day! This beer will still not be allowed on our boats, however, due to the stringent alcohol licensing rules. During April – offering two 39 hour long-range deep sea fishing trips! First is a full moon trip – Fri. April 11. & a new moon trip on April 25!
“If your too busy to go fishing, Your just too busy!” – Salty Sol Fleishman
Johns Pass Fishing Report 3/26/14
Written by Mark and Dylan Hubbard