Flordia fishing charters? 2/14/23 Report

[reeltrout]

Hi all, One more week of muzzleloader hunting for me, still looking for a good buck. Not sure if this is the place to ask about Flordia fishing, Starting to plan a Flordia trip in middle February and I'm looking for a fishing charter within a few hours of Sarasota probably offshore. Anyone  have any reccomendations?

[HB2]

My Dad wintered in Venice about an hr south of Sarasota . We went out on a head boat a few times.  It was fun and relatively cheap . 

 

But I had fun on the Venice jetties . Caught a variety of species . 

Best setups were 1/4 to 1/2 oz jigs with shrimp on 7 ft med spin rods or  I used a 9 ft steelhead rod with a float with shrimp . I let it drift with the current along the rocks . 

 

Enjoy the nice weather down there .

[sherman brown]

you might want to check into a charter going to the dry Tortugas. or charter out for goliath grouper fishing if you just want a hard pull on your line. and I believe the red snapper fishing is great off the west coast with bunches of charters. they eat really good plus you may catch about anything while red snapper fishing. just search for fishing near Saratoga Fl.

[TyeeTanic]

The Gulf is VERY shallow, which means warmer water.

You have to go really offshore to get into some really big game fish.

 

Now, February water will be colder, so I've seen on occasion people catching smaller tuna,

or wahoo. I've caught a 15 lb Amberjack ... that was a nice fight, but it was a few days after a huge storm, and that's what brought them in. I'd say you have to be pretty lucky to get one of these types of larger fish.

Typically what is caught is red snapper, hog fish, grouper (check whether season is open for grouper) ... smaller fish are what you get ... around the 2 lb to 5 lb mark. It's more volume than fighting.

 

The most fun I've had on the Gulf is booking a charter that took us to a sunken ship,

and we fished Goliath Grouper (catch and release). 

 

What I've always missed, due to not being there at the right time, is Tarpon fishing.

From what I recall, in the Sarasota area ... May is the best month.

 

[reeltrout]

Thanks guys. I ended up booking a 6 hr charter out of Fort Myers. He said grouper, maybe cobia and kingfish. He did mention depending on weather we could go after goliath grouper which has been good lately. Either way it should be fun and a different type of fishing for me.

[GAMBLER]

Go to Stuart Florida and fish with Chew On This Charters.  He specializes in Goliath Grouper.  My buddy went and it was a blast!  

[sherman brown]

10 hours ago, reeltrout said:

Thanks guys. I ended up booking a 6 hr charter out of Fort Myers. He said grouper, maybe cobia and kingfish. He did mention depending on weather we could go after goliath grouper which has been good lately. Either way it should be fun and a different type of fishing for me.

one thing to remember is the goliath grouper is catch and release only unless the rules change for 2023 as far as i know. but i haven't been down in a few yrs. but if you're just fishing for fun they are a hoot to catch. if you want good eating fish see how the red snapper fishing is over there. i didn't really care for king mackerel to eat but they do put up a fight. i have never caught or eat the cobia but my bil that lived down there said they were great catching and eating fish. so good luck and most of all be safe and have lots of fun. then report back on your trip.

[reeltrout]

1 hour ago, sherman brown said:

one thing to remember is the goliath grouper is catch and release only unless the rules change for 2023 as far as i know. but i haven't been down in a few yrs. but if you're just fishing for fun they are a hoot to catch. if you want good eating fish see how the red snapper fishing is over there. i didn't really care for king mackerel to eat but they do put up a fight. i have never caught or eat the cobia but my bil that lived down there said they were great catching and eating fish. so good luck and most of all be safe and have lots of fun. then report back on your trip.

Yeah, catch and release on goliath grouper. I think red grouper might be open, but I don't think they get very big. Hopefully the weather is calm and I have a few pics to post on here.

[reeltrout]

8 hours ago, GAMBLER said:

Go to Stuart Florida and fish with Chew On This Charters.  He specializes in Goliath Grouper.  My buddy went and it was a blast!  

Nice! That looks like a good one to.

[TyeeTanic]

4 hours ago, reeltrout said:

Nice! That looks like a good one to.

 

Yeah, if you want Goliath Grouper, you really need a charter that specializes in them. I wouldn't go to a regular Bob for that.

[HB2]

There is offshore and inshore fishing down there . Both are fun . 

 

 

If you or anyone is driving down and you are on I 95 , make a point of stopping at Buc EE's in Florence. 

It's quite the travel plaza experience . 

Get a brisket or what I got , a club melt sandwich . Incredible . 

[whaler1]

Red Tide on parts of the gulf coast. 
Worth looking into depending on where you’ll be. 

[reeltrout]

A little late on the report here. I booked a charter with Ft Myers fishing Charters out of Ft Myers beach (captain Joe Greco) he also does charters on lake George in adirondacks in the summer. Had booked for Feb 13 but there was a cold front the 2 days before an it was still rolling to much to get out , he was open the 14th so luckly we were able to push it of and get offshore. Was still a little choppy but not bad, he took us to a spot above a reef 18 mile ride (10 miles offshore) We didnt catch anything big but we caught plenty. Grunts, Red snapper, Sheepshead, 1 Snook, 1 small red grouper. Also hooked a few goliath on light tackle but were'nt able to move them ended up cutting the line. He had a big rod out for the goliath but it never got touched. Beautiful weather down there!

[whaler1]

That’s awesome!

[woody 184]

How is Fort. Myers’s recovering from the Hurricane….

[HB2]

Just got home from a 9 day ride to Key west and back . Down the east coast of FLA and bak up the west with stops in between. Saw a lot  . Those pics are my nephews boat he made from scratch from carbon fiber.  Its 30 ft with 2 jacked up 300 hp mercs . It tops at about 110 mph . Weighs in at about 1600 lbs 

 

The other is a new one he is working on and he has orders for 17 more . He also is making custom racing parts for merc motors . I was impressed . 

 

Took a boat ride around Naples bay . A lot of dead fish floating from the Red Tide. It made us cough. Saw a 42 ft center console with 4 400 hp outboards . The money down there is absolutely insane . 

 

And the best thing , I never wet a line 

[reeltrout]

34 minutes ago, woody 184 said:

How is Fort. Myers’s recovering from the Hurricane….

Still a lot of work to do. There is building going on everywhere. The charter captain said there is money there they will build it back better than before. Older boats that were left in water where piled up on shore. Kinda hard to comprehend the damage till you drive through and see it.

[HB2]

Anything on the water is priced astronomical . Houses being sold for 2 to 6 million $ . They level them and put a 3 to 12 million $ house on a postage stamp size lot on  a canal that attaches to Naples bay with access to the ocean  . I saw boats , lots of them that dwarf anything in LO.a lot of big center console. One that had  2 600 hp outboards  . I saw houses on Naples bay up to 50 million . My nephew sells real estate so he kind of knows . If I did not see it with my own eyes I would not believe it .  

 

I saw boats from the Keys up washed up on rocks .  Naples  did not get it as bad as Ft Myers .