Tuesday, 5/31/11 … some of my favorite Hank fishing videos

Posted by Charlie & Tim Landon
Sunrise on the flats, Captiva.

Hank and I are doing various maintenance chores today, including changing the oil.

We’re getting ready for the rest of the week.

I thought I would link to some of my favorite Hank youtube videos …

Hank Tubing Off Captiva

Hank Jumping On A Tarpon

Sanibel Sunset … Look For The Green Flash

Fair winds and following seas,

Captain Joey Burnsed ~ call 239-472-8658 or email captjoefred@gmail to book a charter.

Sunday, 5/29/11 … best ways to catch redfish around Sanibel & Captiva & weekly outlook

Posted by Charlie & Tim Landon
Redfish, Hank & friends!

People often ask me for advice how to catch redfish around Sanibel and Captiva …

Redfish were a staple of fishing years ago.   Now they’re tougher to find in the last 3-4 years.

Nice redfish, Roosevelt Channel.

If you are looking for redfish, you want to try mangrove shorelines and oyster beds an hour before high tide, the 30 mins during, and an hour after high tide (please see tide info for this coming week listed below).

You can use cut bait, like ladyfish, spanish sardines, or mullet.   Live bait also works, such as pilchards, shrimp, and pinfish.

Try to find an area where the wind and tide are moving in the same direction.   Fish a spot for 15 minutes, then move down a hundred yards or so.   Keep moving until you find fish.

When you find fish, don’t go back day after day.   Keep moving and looking for more spots.  This will enable you to learn about different places and conditions and develop a portfolio of a variety of fishing holes.

You will find some areas are better on certain winds and tides, and others on slightly different conditions.   Always take note of the tie and wind conditions, because fish in the same spot will behave very differently depending on conditions.

Hank, redfish & another friend!

Redfish like water depths of 3 – 4 feet.   If you are trying for redfish at low tide, try the outter edges of large grass flats.  Look for white sand holes to toss your bait into.

You can also try fishing the inlets with pinfish.  Inlets are usually best on an outgoing tide.

Other strategies include trying around docks or drifting down shorelines with the current.

Redfish have to be between 18″ and 27″,. but they’re best for eating on the smaller side.

I usually release anything over 25″; they are not the best for eating and are less than 1-2 years from being mature fish and good breeding stock.

Double hookup in the mangroves!

Here’s the tide outlook for the coming week.   I like to plan my redfish strategy, what places and when, in the context of the tides.  You can too – it just takes practice and continuous learning.

Monday 05-30-2011
Sunrise  6:36 AM EDT, Sunset  8:16 PM EDT
Moonrise  4:46 AM EDT, Moonset  6:31 PM EDT
High Tide:   1:40 AM EDT   1.3
Low Tide:   4:59 AM EDT   1.1
High Tide:  11:29 AM EDT   2.1
Low Tide:   7:02 PM EDT  -0.1

Tuesday 05-31-2011
Sunrise  6:35 AM EDT, Sunset  8:17 PM EDT
Moonrise  5:28 AM EDT, Moonset  7:27 PM EDT
High Tide:   2:32 AM EDT   1.3
Low Tide:   5:25 AM EDT   1.2
High Tide:  11:58 AM EDT   2.3
Low Tide:   7:41 PM EDT  -0.2

Wednesday 06-01-2011   New Moon
Sunrise  6:35 AM EDT, Sunset  8:17 PM EDT
Moonrise  6:15 AM EDT, Moonset  8:22 PM EDT
High Tide:   3:20 AM EDT   1.3
Low Tide:   5:48 AM EDT   1.2
High Tide:  12:30 PM EDT   2.3
Low Tide:   8:20 PM EDT  -0.2

Thursday 06-02-2011
Sunrise  6:35 AM EDT, Sunset  8:17 PM EDT
Moonrise  7:06 AM EDT, Moonset  9:16 PM EDT
High Tide:   4:07 AM EDT   1.3
Low Tide:   6:16 AM EDT   1.2
High Tide:   1:06 PM EDT   2.4
Low Tide:   9:01 PM EDT  -0.3

Friday 06-03-2011
Sunrise  6:35 AM EDT, Sunset  8:18 PM EDT
Moonrise  8:03 AM EDT, Moonset 10:06 PM EDT
High Tide:   4:49 AM EDT   1.3
Low Tide:   6:54 AM EDT   1.2
High Tide:   1:47 PM EDT   2.4
Low Tide:   9:43 PM EDT  -0.3

Saturday 06-04-2011
Sunrise  6:35 AM EDT, Sunset  8:18 PM EDT
Moonrise  9:02 AM EDT, Moonset 10:53 PM EDT
High Tide:   5:27 AM EDT   1.3
Low Tide:   7:46 AM EDT   1.2
High Tide:   2:33 PM EDT   2.4
Low Tide:  10:25 PM EDT  -0.3

Sunday 06-05-2011
Sunrise  6:35 AM EDT, Sunset  8:19 PM EDT
Moonrise 10:03 AM EDT, Moonset 11:36 PM EDT
High Tide:   5:59 AM EDT   1.3
Low Tide:   8:48 AM EDT   1.2
High Tide:   3:26 PM EDT   2.3
Low Tide:  11:08 PM EDT  -0.2

Fair winds and following seas,

Captain Joey Burnsed ~ call 239-472-8658 or email captjoefred@gmail to book a charter.

Saturday, 5/28/11 … tough at Boca Grande but very good at Captiva Pass

Posted by Charlie & Tim Landon
 

A lot of boats out today for the holiday.

We were back in in Boca Grande Pass for a good part of this morning.

Things continued to be slow.  The stronger the tides, the tougher the fishing in Boca Grande.

Tarpon fishing is somewhat counterintuitive to most of the other fishing we do.  Most of the fish we target are more active and easier to catch when they are feeding on a strong incoming or outgoing tide.  Snapper and tarpon are two of the few fish that bite great when the water is barely moving in the inlets.  Fishing for tarpon is generally most productive on nearly slack tides.

So when fishing for tarpon in Boca Grande Pass, it is easier to get bites with a slower tidal flow.  Today, the tide was not slow.  The current was strong at 1.7 knots around 8:30 AM.

This made for a slow Saturday with few bites for the lady’s professional tarpon tournament held today at Boca Grande.  Only a few of the approximately 150 pro anglers were able to hook up a tarpon and weigh a fish in.

My clients fought two nice tarpon this morning, but we never got one to the boat.  There are many rock ledges in Boca Grande Pass that enable the fish to cut the line, and that was probably how the two fish broke off.

Tomorrow, Sunday, will be another day of competition for the men’s division.  I’m captain of Team Organized Chaos.

Unfortunately, we are expecting even tougher conditions than we faced today.  Our strategy will likely be to take the first fish we catch to the scale.  We may not get a second tarpon.

Back to today … we moved out of Boca Grande after the morning and had some fun.

This afternoon was great action throwing imitation glass minnow buck tail jigs.

Small black tip shark.

There have been many very small grey back pilchards and large glass minnows moving in from the gulf.  We can catch a lot of these very small bait fish, but they are too small to fish on a hook.  In a month or so, they will have grown and be terrific bait.  In the meantime, we have been using small jigs and they are working very well.

While tarpon were tough today, the other fishing was great.  My recommendation is to go out early.   Look for birds diving in water deeper than three feet to find fish that are feeding on the schools of small pilchards and glass minnows and cast imitation glass minnow buck tail jigs into the mix.

We caught many jacks, lady fish, trout and mackerel this afternoon.  We also fished just inside Captiva Pass on the strong outgoing tide and caught many black nose and black tip sharks with cut up ladyfish.

It may have been tough at Boca Grande this morning, but it was a good day of fishing off Sanibel & Captiva, despite all the holiday boat traffic.

Tight lines this memorial day weekend!  Hoping our luck changes for tarpon at Boca Grande tomorrow!

Fair winds and following seas,

Captain Joey Burnsed ~ call 239-472-8658 or email captjoefred@gmail to book a charter.