Capt. Rick Davidson (grassflats2@yahoo.com), Editor
Things really exploded this month in the waters around Steinhatchee. While we still had the occasional inconsistent days, things improved significantly and most of the time the fish were waiting. The cleaning tables were full of grouper, amberjacks, kingfish, tons of redfish and trout, and buckets of Florida snapper. And the sheepshead made their annual spawning foray to offshore structure. Matt Dixon sent in the pic of his day's catch of Steinhatchee 'stripers'. I had several excellent trips this month, one early and one late. The first weekend of the month Doug Barrett and I found some great trout action on topwater plugs in the face of threatening skies. Later in the month I took my brother-in-law, Mike Holman from Shelby, N.C. out for a two-day trip. We caught some nice fish, one of which was momentous for me--the largest inshore redfish I have ever caught, 38 inches long and around 25 pounds. This fish was caught on a topwater plug in 2 feet of water and took quite a while to get to the boat. Schools of jacks up to ten pounds were also harassing inshore pods of bait and schools of mullet, and smaller Spanish made an appearance.
In short, it was a very good month, both inshore and offshore, and one of the best additions was the opening of the Sea Hag Tiki Bar to provide some cooling refreshment after a busy day on the water. Audrey and the bar got a good workout during the Relay for Life Tournament which was held on April 25th . There were some fine catches, as you can see in this list of the winners.
Suzanne Lewis, 2nd Place Grouper (13.65lbs), Relay for Life Tournament (click to see enlarged)
MAY 2009 FISHING FORECAST
May is always one of the very best months of the year. In addition to the current residents, kingfish and larger Spanish mackerel will arrive in large numbers, and cobia will be migrating through our area. We'll even begin to see some pods of tarpon moving through the area, especially around some of the offshore sand bars that hold schools of large whitebait. While it's difficult to target tarpon in our area, I almost always have a heavy spinning rod rigged and ready for the sudden appearance of either a tarpon or a cobia in the shallows. When I'm fishing for trout or redfish, I always keep another rod rigged with wire leader and a small Clark Spoon or jig for casting to schools of Spanish mackerel. When they come around sandbars in large numbers, you can catch as many as you want. In short, it will be a wonderful month for fishing at Steinhatchee. The Perry Optimist Club tournament will weigh in at the marina the first weekend of the month, and there are several redfish tournaments on May 23. You can get all your tournament needs, including live pinfish and shrimp, at the Ship's Store.
Our guides had good months as well, as you can see in their reports.
Captain Tommy Thompson, www.saltwateranglersguide.com (352) 284-1763
I hate wind, and this past month's winds resulted in the postponement of several charters. It's tough to sight fish or even hold the boat still when the wind's howling at 20 knots. 'Tiki Bar Audrey' and her BFF William fished with me for the Steinhatchee Community Tournament. We had a great time, but no big fish to speak of. Seems all the winning fish were taken in waters 'elsewhere' than Steinhatchee proper. I didn't know that all of Taylor County was included in the geographic term, "Steinhatchee Community" and hope this tournament will become a truly local one in the future. Otherwise, I've been getting ready for a busy May and June and am keeping my eyes peeled for scallops. Water temperatures are getting close to 80-degrees and the scallops will start showing up then. I'm ready!
My new fishing book, The Saltwater Angler's Guide To Florida's Big Bend and Emerald Coast, is finally out and on sale. It's got LOTS of secrets, tips and trick, so don't forget to pick up a copy at the Sea Hag Ship's Store the next time you're at the marina.
If you're interested in a 'catch-and-release hunting for big fish' trip, please give me a call. And if you're interested in some more in-depth information about fishing our beautiful Big Bend, take a look at my weekly Fishing4Cast on the Florida Sportsman Magazine website at http://www.floridasportsman.com/4cast/bb/index.html or at the Florida Sportsman Big Bend Action Spotter column in each month's issue.
Captain Steve Hart, www.legallimitscharters.com (352) 498-0299
April has been a pretty good month; grouper fishing has been good but early in the month I had to do a lot of moving around picking up one or two here and there using live pin fish or cut bait. Cobia are starting to show up and I've had some spectacular days with amberjack, along with the occasional kingfish. May is one of the best months of the year so come on and let's go fishing.
Captain Brian Smith, www.bigbendcharters.com
Grouper are the fish most offshore anglers are interested in the Steinhatchee area. I wish I could say the bite was as fantastic as last year but the crazy weather and winds have pushed the bite to and fro. One day you'll have a strong bite in one area and the next day there is no bite at all. There hasn't been a pattern develop, unless the pattern is running around trying to find the bite. One point is trolling hasn't been as successful as bottom fishing. The bait for bottom is whatever you decide to offer. Trolling will produce some kingfish action. If the day is calm, bait pods will dimple the surface of the morning and evening. If you see bait fish, troll the area. I've recently had some great kingfish steaks.
Amberjack are on their usual haunts and the bite is strong like the fish. Live baits and butterfly jigs are the joy ticket. I've recently had some tasty amberjack come out of Lake Crisco. For the pure joy of fishing take ten minutes and a tube lure to a wreck and light up a barracuda. Some people eat them. Some people don't, but who cares! Watching a large barracuda explode and launch is exciting. Exercise caution while doing the live release. Barracuda have more purpose in the sea than we do. Florida snapper and sea bass on hard bottom using light tackle are always good for a 45 minute jam session. It takes no talent to catch them but nobody seems to care about that around the dinner table.
Captain Wiley Horton, www.tunersportfishing.com
I had some fun trips in April. On the 18th , the Langston family from Atlanta spent Friday fishing inshore and wanted to try for some offshore action on Saturday. The East wind was a constant 20 knots....we spent a couple of hours trolling for Spanish and catching slab sheepshead waiting to see if it would lay down, which it did. By noon we were offshore looking for a small spot when we ran across a fishy looking rock. We worked hard all day to catch three legal groupers, including two nice reds. The rest of the day was spent looking for fish to fill out a limit.... before we found several curious AJs. Nice folks to spend time with, come back soon!
I'm a big believer in customer service. On the 25 th , one of North Florida's premier trucking companies wanted to take some customers fishing...a couple had been offshore and a couple had not. No one had caught a big fish before...Stanley caught the first good fish, a nice 18lb king pictured here...he said it pulled a little better than a bream. The grouper trolling has been slow so we mostly anchored during the day and caught tons of shorts as well as several limits of red snapper...can't wait for the June 1st opening of snapper season. We finished the day with grouper, large Florida snappers, sea bass and several large AJs. Hopefully one of the guys will send a group photo for me to post.
