Bridge Fishing!
1/16/2009

Captains Journal:

Mangos GALORE!

These guys were happy and coming from different countries could not have had a better day. The bite was slow in the morning but ended with a great bite at the end. A extra hour to hit the fish did not hurt. If fishing is slow you need to do that for your VIP’s!

Be good and have a nice read!

Keeper grouper and nice mangrove snapper are key to making a really good day. We started on some of the inshore wrecks and migrated to where the bite had been. A fellow fisherman was on the spot and he had seen me before. Shure.. Come in and anchor! Verterans know that anchoring does not shut the bite off in these spots.

Correct bait and gear allowed us to take 12 mangos up to 2.5 lbs and one keeper grouper 24 inches. NICE Day and you can see the net full of fillets.

YUM!!

Dave
Where do I start! It has been all a blurr after running 20 strait days on the water.

A ton out of down town Tampa to hit the HUGE jacks in the 17-25lb class. On buggie whips it feels like hooking up to a whale. Jigs work best with shrimp tips. Be careful of the catfish!

Tarpon have been on the move down there, at least during that spell of hot weather we hooked and played one for about 15 minutes and it ended by running us around the wall. Very cool for guys from Canada used to catching brook trout!

Permit on the banks and please keep that one to yourself. These things are real rod bending action so if you know where they are, do not tell anyone. If you want to hit a couple. Give me a call. Really odd I think in the cold weather like it is but who am I to begrudge one of the prominent sportsters!

Trout... well I catch them but I can not say that the small ones provide me with a real thrill but clients like the consistency! On the outgoing tide they stage in any of the deeper holes and are easy pickins on artificial! The big guns are good sport and one over 20 is good eating in the cold water. Very different tasting in the winter than in the warmer months. I would rate it near Grouper when fried! YUMMM!!

Snook. I do not even look for them but I found it interesting to hit two consecutive linesiders out of Gandy after a trip out of the Vinoy! Funny how things work. You pick up your charter with 5 people. Hit Mangrove snapper and grouper Red and Gag. Smash some Bonita on light tackle buggie whips and then come home to hit two monster Snooks! I can not think of anything better.

I have not personally done well with the Red Fish but I have fished them, seen hundreds of them and I think they saw me too! Boy can that throw a wrench in the works! Everything but the kitchen sink and nada! A few small ones and the large ones just turned a nose up and went around my baits. Nice frisky livies too! Shrimp on cork as well. Sometimes fishing is fishing!

Offshore within 9 miles is off the hook!!! I mean KINGS!!! 7 to the boat on light tackle. One ran 50-60lbs. 24lbs dressed weight! I do not think you will believe me but it was on 30 lb flouro with a 1/0 owner Mlightwire. They all hit scalies and the biggest of all of them were circling under the boat biting on dead, stinky, rotten, chum! I mean little itty bitty pieces! I have the pictures to prove it and to top it all off a nice woman was the one to best the biggest of all! Bonita all you want. I had clients say " That is all" and want to come home an hour early after catching nice 3-4lb mangos, red, gag, scamp, and probably 20 Bonita sight casting! REALLY COOL!

Bridge fishing is fun! I had a client bringing up a Mangrove snapper and whack! The guy put about 40 turns in on a 400lb flipper after 4 runs. 10 turns per run and actually got the entire rig back, hook, leader, sinker. Never seen that before and he has a cracked nail to prove the battle. Most are not so lucky when trying to take fish away from Flipper! Those things are killers! Hold on to small children soon! HAHAH!

It got cold, I went to the hospital for 4 days with a catfish sting that the hospital miss-diagnosed and here I am writing for you guys so you can get on-em!

Enjoy the break and expect serious action after this cold front! stay in front of the fish. I am hoping to go out off the coast on Saturday on my own dime so I will report back to you guys!

Enjoy!

Dave
813-758-1947
www.shallowpoint.com
david@shallowpointcharters.com