Tampa Bay offshore
RECEIVE FISHING REPORT UPDATES!
Rating - Very_Good
Friday, May 19 2023
Provided by Hubbard's Marina- Red grouper action is going really well offshore right now were seeing a lot of those red grouper around 120 to about 200 foot of water. As we get deeper red grouper seem to cooperate better and generally are larger. We are finding the red grouper on live bait and a lot of them caught on deadbeat like threadfin with the tail cut. We generally target red grouper with about 60 pound leaders and about a 6 to 8 ot Hook. Red grouper unlike gags wont rock you up and break you off, so they dont need heavier tackle or as large reel on average. Scamp Grouper action is going pretty well offshore too were seeing quite a few scamp especially as we get deeper closer to that 200 foot mark. Scamp grouper love cut threadfins, vertical jigs or small to medium Pinfish. We do catch scamp grouper on those mangrove snapper set ups while targeting mangrove snapper as well. for a few more weeks once water really warms up generally the blackfin tuna subside and our chance of mahi-mahi increases. However for now weve seen almost exclusively blackfin tuna and a few kingfish lately. Mangrove snapper have been super prolific and pretty large lately. Our last offshore adventure aboard our 39 hour long range overnight trip had almost everyone on the boat catch a two day limit of mangrove snapper. We are really seeing good numbers of mangrove snapper around the area. They love the cut threadfins and the double snell rig. Were even seeing some big mangroves caught on smaller Pinfish. Mangrove snapper are very quick, biting smart fish, so it takes a really good presentation and some patience to really catch them effectively. Red snapper season was officially finalized this past week and the announcement was made. We can expect red snapper season to open June 1 as expected and remain open as expected until late August. The end date is August 25 at 12:01 AM meaning we have through end of day August 24 to catch and keep red snapper offshore. Remember this season applies to us at Hubbards Marina and any charter boat or party boat in the Gulf of Mexico. This is the federally permitted for higher recreational red snapper season. The private, recreational red snapper season is a little different. It starts later in June and ends at the end of July but they will have some weekend dates open in the fall which at this time we do not expect. Also, on that note of regulations, we got an announcement today that red grouper are going to close July 21 at 12:01 AM making July 20 the last day to catch and keep red grouper. Wow this is super frustrating news we were expecting this sort of closure. Weve been talking about it quite a bit on our live shows every Sunday night. If youve been following us on social media or listening to the shows, you probably are already aware this was coming. And honestly we were expecting a red grouper closure in June so the fact that its later July is a surprise and somewhat positive news. Wow this really stinks and its going to be really tough for a lot of people including us. The one positive silver lining is the red grouper Fishery is healthy. The health of the fishery is rebounded quickly and theres more fish out there and everybody agrees to this. However, federal law states that they must end overfishing prior to increasing quotas. So when the fishery like red grouper, has a stock assessment showing the fisheries in trouble, and the court is being exceeded. Even though everyone agrees a Fishery is healthier they cant increase catch levels. This years early closure of red grouper should hopefully prevent an overage. If the recreational Fishery doesnt over fish like it has the last two years pretty exponentially, then potentially 2024 we will see an increase in catch level. At the beginning of this year the interim analysis showed the Fishery was healthy and we were do a catch level increase but because of the overfishing that occurred in the private recreational fishery in 2021, and again, in 2022 we were unable to see a catch level increase. So long story short in the short term, this red grouper closure is gonna hurt. Its gonna stink. Its gonna be tough but big picture long-term Fishery is healthy and its only gonna get better from here.
Friday, May 19 2023
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Tampa Bay offshore
RECEIVE FISHING REPORT UPDATES!
Rating - Very_Good
Provided by Hubbard's Marina- Red grouper action is going really well offshore right now were seeing a lot of those red grouper around 120 to about 200 foot of water. As we get deeper red grouper seem to cooperate better and generally are larger. We are finding the red grouper on live bait and a lot of them caught on deadbeat like threadfin with the tail cut. We generally target red grouper with about 60 pound leaders and about a 6 to 8 ot Hook. Red grouper unlike gags wont rock you up and break you off, so they dont need heavier tackle or as large reel on average. Scamp Grouper action is going pretty well offshore too were seeing quite a few scamp especially as we get deeper closer to that 200 foot mark. Scamp grouper love cut threadfins, vertical jigs or small to medium Pinfish. We do catch scamp grouper on those mangrove snapper set ups while targeting mangrove snapper as well. for a few more weeks once water really warms up generally the blackfin tuna subside and our chance of mahi-mahi increases. However for now weve seen almost exclusively blackfin tuna and a few kingfish lately. Mangrove snapper have been super prolific and pretty large lately. Our last offshore adventure aboard our 39 hour long range overnight trip had almost everyone on the boat catch a two day limit of mangrove snapper. We are really seeing good numbers of mangrove snapper around the area. They love the cut threadfins and the double snell rig. Were even seeing some big mangroves caught on smaller Pinfish. Mangrove snapper are very quick, biting smart fish, so it takes a really good presentation and some patience to really catch them effectively. Red snapper season was officially finalized this past week and the announcement was made. We can expect red snapper season to open June 1 as expected and remain open as expected until late August. The end date is August 25 at 12:01 AM meaning we have through end of day August 24 to catch and keep red snapper offshore. Remember this season applies to us at Hubbards Marina and any charter boat or party boat in the Gulf of Mexico. This is the federally permitted for higher recreational red snapper season. The private, recreational red snapper season is a little different. It starts later in June and ends at the end of July but they will have some weekend dates open in the fall which at this time we do not expect. Also, on that note of regulations, we got an announcement today that red grouper are going to close July 21 at 12:01 AM making July 20 the last day to catch and keep red grouper. Wow this is super frustrating news we were expecting this sort of closure. Weve been talking about it quite a bit on our live shows every Sunday night. If youve been following us on social media or listening to the shows, you probably are already aware this was coming. And honestly we were expecting a red grouper closure in June so the fact that its later July is a surprise and somewhat positive news. Wow this really stinks and its going to be really tough for a lot of people including us. The one positive silver lining is the red grouper Fishery is healthy. The health of the fishery is rebounded quickly and theres more fish out there and everybody agrees to this. However, federal law states that they must end overfishing prior to increasing quotas. So when the fishery like red grouper, has a stock assessment showing the fisheries in trouble, and the court is being exceeded. Even though everyone agrees a Fishery is healthier they cant increase catch levels. This years early closure of red grouper should hopefully prevent an overage. If the recreational Fishery doesnt over fish like it has the last two years pretty exponentially, then potentially 2024 we will see an increase in catch level. At the beginning of this year the interim analysis showed the Fishery was healthy and we were do a catch level increase but because of the overfishing that occurred in the private recreational fishery in 2021, and again, in 2022 we were unable to see a catch level increase. So long story short in the short term, this red grouper closure is gonna hurt. Its gonna stink. Its gonna be tough but big picture long-term Fishery is healthy and its only gonna get better from here.
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