October has flown by with many great catches and memories made on the water. Inshore fishing has been incredible over the last few weeks. Ive been seeing plenty of BIG fish as well as our average size juvenile species. This is a great sign for our fishery. Small steps in rebounding from the tragic red tide event. We are still reporting CLEAN water in our area this week, and FWC red tide testing confirms our area was negative in recent testing. Darin pictured with a 41 inch snook. WOAH! Cooling temps and abundant bait in the area has our inshore species FIRED UP! Monster snook are prowling the flats and red drum are schooling in Gasparilla sound and Charlotte Harbor. Looking for dinner? We have plenty of inshore edible species, such as mangrove snapper, trout, triple tail and cobia!

This species frequents the Gulf of Mexico in our fall/ winter months. They like to hide under floating structure and dock pilings. A fun sight cast as these fish are aggressive eaters attacking what floats or swims by in the current. It is a favorite for the dinner table. Tagged and released a few today. Remember if you recapture ANY of the species we’ve tagged and report your recapture to Gray FishTag Research and they will rewarded with a pair of FREE Costa Sunglasses! All in the name of fish science! To book a charter to catch a few of these tasty triple tail book your trip online now! My calendar is updated daily.

Heading into fall the bigger fish are still biting. Goliath grouper have been making anglers leave with lower back pain all week. Fishing mostly nearshore anglers have had the opportunity to hook and land multiple fish. After breaking countless store bought fishing rods on these massive grouper, I decided to have a custom rod built. Local rod builder "Reaper Rods" did a fantastic job building a tough and possibly indestructible rod. It is an unlimited class blank ready to take on the toughest fish on the wreck.