Good family fishing now!
Capt. Van Hubbard
August 6, 2011
Venice - Saltwater Fishing Report
2011-8-5 Fishing report for Venice/Englewood, Florida by Captain Van Hubbard.
Venice/Englewood fishing is not easy but very productive.
I've been fishing a lot this week and enjoying catching fish! Yes, it is hot, I recommend morning trips but we usually have a refreshing breeze and always have shade under the T-Top. Several recent trips are families getting in a beach break before school starts shortly. The bite is not hot but we are doing well with catch and release snook; most are under five pounds but also some big trophy snook available. Baitfish are plentiful; we have small minnows,(both whitebait and threadfins) everywhere. Just be careful and don't use a cast net unless the meshes are tiny! The bigger fish are not as excited about the smaller minnows. Big threadfins are hard to find right now but pinfish and pigfish are working too.
Red fishing has improved has improved; but most are too small, many are too big, but a few are just right. Redfish require more patience and some luck. I am starting to see a few groups of fish. No big schools like I hope to see any time but many more than I've seen over the Summer. We are using the minnows and pinfish under rattle corks to hold baits out of the grass. If it's calm be still and rattle things up if you have a chop on the water. You must be careful to slowly move around, and not bang hatches fishing our shy redfish around shallow waters! They are extremely spooky because of intense pressure and almost impossible if it's calm. The best news is we do have some redfish again.
Trout have been plentiful but most are smaller. We have some fine fish available if you have the patience to pick thru the smaller ones and ladyfish. The good part here is we have action most of the time even if we need to release many. We have some smaller sharks mixed in helping keep kids excited, note it was "Shark Week" on Discovery Channel.
While it's not prime time we do still enjoy some quality fishing and hot action. Tarpon can be caught if we can track them down. I can not promise fish but we enjoy good action if we can get lucky. The ride can be fun also; we see dolphins, manatees, eagles, and much more while looking for tarpon.
We can find action near shore if winds cooperate; catching barracuda, snapper, Spanish and king mackerel, sharks, or even a shot at permit or cobia if we are lucky. We usually stop and catch or baitfish on the way out; of course we carry shrimp and crabs if we can get any. The Gulf fishing is good when we can match trips with weather conditions. I'm looking forward to cooler temps in October to when the big migrations of fish travel past offering red hot action!
Friday's trip was a good example of our weeks fishing. it started off iffy weather with drizzling rain but no wind. Seas were calm and no lightening so we went fishing. We ran down from Englewood to Boca Grande to find some speckled trout for their dinner. The action was sporadic but young Christian landed a trout on his first cast. We picked thru at least twenty fish to get five nice seventeen inch fish. We moved around a got a nice twenty inch speck to make a meal before heading back towards Englewood. We observed manatees, dolphins, and an eagle while cruising. A dark storm was brewing up by Venice and I wanted to be closer to Stump Pass Marina if it got nasty. We tried a spot close by and got lucky. Ann and Chris both landed nice slot redfish to make their day complete. Ann even tangled with a very nice forty inch snook; she got it right next to the boat before it chewed thru our leader so we missed out on the pictures. Ann was very impressed with the strength of both her redfish and especially that trophy snook. She got to see her prize and enjoy the special memories family fishing and outing celebrating her birthday. Like Trace Atkins's says in his beautiful hit song about fishing with his daughter; "and she just thinks we're fishing"! There is so much more to enjoy.
While our world around us goes crazy, try to make the time to escape and Let's Go Fishin', soon. Captain Van Hubbard. www.captvan.com for more info.
Thank you!
Venice Fishing Forecast:
action is not fast but good fish. redfish are improving every day. snook actio still good. tarpon available if you feel lucky!
Target Species:
snook, redfish, trout, and much more.
More Fishing Reports:
