February 18th - Surprise Fishing Trip

I was heading down to Gulfport on some photography business with a plan for when I finished to stop by and see Capt Dave Dant to have him help me set up my new fly rod that I am taking to Alaska this summer. So as soon as I finished, I called Capt Dave to see where he was and of course he was out fishing...he said, where are you and I said not far from Gulfport marina, he said lets go fish, we'll come in and pick you up, bring along the fly rod I'll get it set up while you fish for some nice sheepshead!

Now - who could turn down an offer like that, so 20 minutes later, I am climbing on the boat and off we go!

First stop right in Boca Ciega Bay near the marina, we fish some pilings and in no time we have a couple real nice sheepshead in the well. I had no fish at home, so decided to keep a few for dinner.

We fished most of the day and even managed to get my fly rod set up. Although, I have ordered some better line which I will put on when it gets here.

Fish for dinner - had 4 real nice keepers, we released the rest, but these guys are good eating.

Capt Jim Lucas

Feb 16, 2010

My apologies for the time lapse since my last report. I had a little problem with the cord which downloads the pictures to the cameras. All is good now.

The weather is the big story. When is it going to turn nice and stay nice? The fish are here, but the changes in the pressure with each front makes it tough to stay on top of them. For those of you who like to chase Redfish, the most consistent fishing is in coves and basins where the weather changes do not effect them that much. Usually this time of year our water temperature is 5 to 7 degrees warmer and you can have great sight fishing on the open flats, but with the fronts this year it has really sent the fish to find stable water. I do feel like we are only a week or two away from some warm weather.
The Trout fishing has been hit or miss over the last week depending on the weather. On the coldest days the Trout are holding better in 5-7 feet of water on a hard edge.
The Sheephead fishing is really good, though I had a couple of kids out last week and had trouble with catching them a whole bunch of Sheephead. I did go out the next day and really got into them good with a half dozen over 4lbs and a total of two dozen fish in a hour. We have caught a couple of Black Drum while Sheephead fishing which helps mix it up.

The weather forecast is for it to be warmer with less wind, so my next report should be a little better. Tight Lines.

Feb. 5, 2010

The Trout fishing remains good. The big Trout are shallow and are eating a variety of artificial lures. The Redfish fishing is still slow. We are having to work hard for every fish we catch. I have gotten reports of others doing well and finding some schools of fish. It appears the Redfish are moving around a lot, probably looking for flats that are holding bait. Speaking of bait. We are starting to see some bait return to the flats. The Pinfish are holding on the deeper edges and I've seen some fry bait along with pelicans diving and Ladyfish. If we can get the weather to hold a little and keep the high pressure around, the Redfish will settle down and spread out on the flat were we can sight fish them more consistently.