Booking another overnight on Jan 10th Jan 17th out of Hubbard's marina. Last one was a big success. It would be cool if more forum folks join us so this is an open invitation.
Joe is already booked. I'll book as soon as my wife gets around to sending the gift cert email.
Anyone do any reef fishing in the Gulf in January? What should I expect?
I've gone out on charters in late December and early January. Lots of grunts and some big mangrove snappers.
Quote from: JasonGotaProblem on December 30, 2024, 05:09:41 PMAnyone do any reef fishing in the Gulf in January? What should I expect?
I answer your question after I try my luck in the Gulf near South Padre the same weekend in Jan. We can compare notes.
I'm booked if it turns super cold like roughly half the reports are showing I'm sure they'll cancel. I can deal with fishing in the 40s the catch stays fresher
Good luck Jason! - john
Jason, hope the weather cooperates. I've had some really good fishing trips in the GOM in Jan and Feb, but daytime only. I don't know how deep Hubbard's goes on their overnighters, but I believe you'll see lots of gray snapper, porgies, and lane snapper, and possibly African pompano, yellowtail snapper, and red grouper. When we get into the snapper bite, it's usually fast and furious so high speed is better. I also like the double snell hook set up as snappers get their name for a reason. Not sure how the grays school up, but I've found the bigger red snapper are often a little higher up than the smaller ones. Good luck!
I'm getting myself packed, but I'm also scared it's maybe gonna be 20mph winds and there might not be enough folks booked for the trip to go.
Yeah I'm getting excited.
I'm a bit south of you Jason, and was planning to go out Saturday for red grouper. NOAA now calling for 3-5' with occasional 6'. Forecast looked ok a day or so ago. Sometimes the forecast changes for the better about 36 hours out. Hope your forecast gets better. We're staying home.
Go get em!
The Man
Thank you thank you. It's 1 am here and I just finished packing. Why'd I stay up tonight doing it? So I can actually rest tomorrow night for once. I usually go on these things with like 2 hours sleep. Trying to do better this time.
What are you taking from the arsenal? Don't catchem' all now :fish
Quote from: jgp12000 on January 09, 2025, 02:15:47 PMWhat are you taking from the arsenal? Don't catchem' all now :fish
Newell 220 (40# braid 80# leader) on purpose-built rod with 3 double snell 2/0 hooks on dropper loops (so 6 hooks total)
Accurate 270 magnum on the Newell Rod's prettier cousin with 2 sets of double snell 4/0 hooks (same braid and leader)
Penn Baja special on a 60-100# rod with 1 set double snell 8/0 hooks (65# braid 80# leader)
Gonna get some big fat shrimp, and will likely primarily use the supplied cut squid and threadfins.
Gonna start with the shrimp on the Newell and probably end up cutting the 2nd hooks off to switch to squid cubes.
Will switch to the accurate with threadfins as soon as I see bigger stuff start coming over the rail.
If I get a small grunt on any of the above I'll probably send him back out on the Baja to try for grouper.
Probably not gonna bother trolling on the way out. we were going way too fast last time, and frankly on the way back in I was glad nothing hit because I woulda been too tired to fight a big mahi or wahoo anyway.
Your set up for grouper is the same as mine, although my rod is a little lighter. Recently, I've been using lighter leader, 40lb, for snapper with good success. I've heard they have keen eyesight, however I've never fished for them at night. Will be watching this thread for some good results.
Good luck tomorrow, Jason, post lots of pictures.
Cancelled due to weather. Coast guard rules apparently.
I was so ready. I lost so much sleep for nothing.
You'll get them next time Jason. 5 - 6 foot seas are not fun to fish in.
That's a bummer, at least you got some notice before hand. Paying some dues for the next one
I feel your pain Jason
A few years back I had reserved 3 albacore charter trips(6 months in advance), each about 2 weeks apart, and all 3 were cancelled due to bad ocean conditions
I'm looking at next week. Gotta ask the boss but she's already asleep.
Quote from: JasonGotaProblem on January 09, 2025, 11:51:14 PMCancelled due to weather. . I lost so much sleep for nothing.
You can always sleep 2x to recoger but a Windy ocean is not something to ignore.
Quote from: Maxed Out on January 10, 2025, 03:18:29 AMI feel your pain Jason
A few years back I had reserved 3 albacore charter trips(6 months in advance), each about 2 weeks apart, and all 3 were cancelled due to bad ocean conditions
Holy Crap Ted, the last trip was scetch even by our PNW standards!
Rebooked for next Friday. Come join the fun!
:) I will rebook in the morning !
All set for friday
There's only 8 people booked that I see. Come on Florida folks! 227 before tip! Come get some fish.
:0(
:D I walked in and asked "Who wants to go fishing "
These stick screamed the loudest !! Just got to tie a few hook and leaders ..
Alright, "Quick-Man Joe".
How does it get handled when the charter gets canceled? Refunds; full? Partial?. Rescheduling; whenever you can? When they decide?
Quote from: Gfish on January 15, 2025, 07:20:30 PMAlright, "Quick-Man Joe".
How does it get handled when the charter gets canceled? Refunds; full? Partial?. Rescheduling; whenever you can? When they decide?
When it got cancelled last week they asked if I wanted to reschedule on the phone right then, get a full refund, or get the balance on a gift cert to schedule later. I went with option 3 (so the wife can't suggest maybe it's a sign that we actually need that money for something else)
Sounds right to me.
It's funny, to me at least, how many East Coast guys fish with spinners off a boat.
Good luck tomorrow Jason & Joe!
Pictures or it didn't happen!
8)
Funny I'm thinking about bringing one. Just in case my right arm starts hurting I can still fish.
Pics will come. I should be sleeping.
The countdown has begun.
7.5 hours. Trying to concentrate at work is nearly impossible.
What am I forgetting? I think I got everything.
Trip was great. Really really great. Had a few dead periods but had a few really hot bites too. Didn't take many pics.
If I seem grumpy holding the red snapper it's because I had to throw them back. Had to throw the grouper back too but that was a really fun fight on the baja.
Joe caught way more fish than I did. Including a big bonito that I never got a pic of.
No sign of barotrauma on the fish you had to release, how deep were you fishing?
Quote from: Keta on January 18, 2025, 03:52:07 PMNo sign of barotrauma on the fish you had to release, how deep were you fishing?
About 100' most the time. About 30 miles out
Glad y'all caught some,my coworker used to take his boat Maybe 50 miles out oil rig fishing in the gulf & always slayed em' have you guys ever tried that? I guess with most captains fuel & time would be too costly when they know all the good spots closer in.
Quote from: JasonGotaProblem on January 18, 2025, 03:56:41 PMQuote from: Keta on January 18, 2025, 03:52:07 PMNo sign of barotrauma on the fish you had to release, how deep were you fishing?
About 100' most the time. About 30 miles out
These fish are tougher than ours, baratroma happens on fish brought up from 100' in the Pacific.
Had some fun, caught some fish, weather looked good. A successful outing. Thanks for the report
Good trip, and Turtle Soup!
My Florida friends complain about the Red Snapper regs too.
Glad you caught fish. Looks like a nice gag and red snapper that you can catch again later. How was the gray snapper bite?
seems like a good trip compa Jason, I see water, fish, fishing rods, its all good
While fighting the bonito , I had a death grip on the reel so much so that I took some skin off the reel . But that brick Mason was use to scrapping some skin . I am going to clean the reel and shoot some clear over it , to preserve the memory .
Good trip throwed a lot of fish back thou . I didn`t take any pictures ,battery dumped on my phone .
Am I crazy for thinking that happened from the reel stem flexing under load? One heck of a fish to land on a reel that size.
The only flexing I felt was the blank hitting in the middle of the reel seat , but it is still a stock rod ...
I was thinking the same thing, Jason.
I'm doing it again. January 16th
Hope you get better weather this time.
Weather is looking good on the forecast. I'm mostly packed. My enthusiasm is growing
Does Hubbard's sell live bait like pinfish on these trips? Fished on their boats many years ago, and the fishers that had live bait usually caught the biggest fish. Does this trip target gray snapper? Hope you catch 'em up Jason.
Trip cancelled due to weather. Maybe they're reading the forecast differently than I am.
Jason - that is a bummer, but hopefully it was before you traveled all the way to the landing and THEN find out it is a "No-Go" and probably preferable to being pounded. - john
Yeah I got the message first thing this morning. It was all supposed to calm down well before this evening and be much warmer tonight than last night was, but I assume it was a scrub for all trips for the whole day because of what it's like this morning (near freezing and windy)
I'm just annoyed because I moved mountains and used PTO to have everything ready so I could actually get to bed at a reasonable hour, which is a first in my brief history of offshore fishing. And it was all for nothing.
I'm rescheduled for next Friday. This weekend is new moon, so I was expecting a good turnout
Bummer. "Near freezing and windy" sounds like it wouldn't be worth it to be out there. Really cold here too. We ain't used to it! A tropical thing happening now?...
Check your PM Jason.
So instead of going to fish, I'm gonna go look at fish. The teco manatee viewing center is crazy. Ridiculously crowded these days, but you see a ton of tarpon, sharks, cobia, snook, jack, oh and manatees. But I'm not there for the 'tees. It makes the kids happy though.
Think Hubbard's made a good call, and so did you. We went out this am, and bay and near shore looked fine. Got about 15 miles out and it was a different story: 3 footers packed really tight with occasional 4 and 5 footers. Turned around and came home. Had to be worse last night.
Dang I'm sorry to hear that. I saw a ton of fish. Those are all baby snook in the 2nd one gives me hope for the future of Tampa Bay
Have you ever considered one of these? They interest me.
39 Hour Overnight Fishing Trip | Hubbard's Marina | John's Pass | Madeira Beach FL https://share.google/P8ZLyRR7aTUz36yK7
Rebooked for February 6th.
I've looked at the 39h it's just a bit out of my budget range at the moment.
With house payments and kids it happens.
Quote from: JasonGotaProblem on January 20, 2026, 08:18:16 PMRebooked for February 6th.
I've looked at the 39h it's just a bit out of my budget range at the moment.
Ok I lock in for the 2/6 Starboard 13
Sweet I'm spot #9
Seems odd to me that no one seems willing to operate a San Diego-style long range trip out of Florida. Can someone tell me why? I'm curious.
Quote from: akfish on January 21, 2026, 08:00:58 PMSeems odd to me that no one seems willing to operate a San Diego-style long range trip out of Florida. Can someone tell me why? I'm curious.
The fishery on the West Coast is very different from that of Florida.
The realities of fishing in FL differ almost as much.
They have multi day trips, and there's definitely "regular" charter operations. Hubbards is the only one I'm aware of in the area doing "party boats".
A big factor is we don't have tuna. At least not like you guys do. 100 miles out isn't much different from 30 miles out. And weather changes so much here, it's hard to stomach shelling out a few thousand on booking a trip weeks or months in advance. Odds of 5-10 non-horrible days in a row are roughly zero. I have about $250 invested in this trip and I can cancel or reschedule up to the day before.
Also the thousands of dollars those trips cost compares a lot less favorably to the wages/cost of living down here. If you can afford to regularly take those trips down here you're probably not far from affording your own suitable offshore fishing boat.
It's just too different.
(https://alantani.com/gallery/38/17471-081023145622-383432237.gif)
I am not going to beat around the bush : What takes them 10 days , we do in 10 hours .
Quote from: akfish on January 21, 2026, 08:00:58 PMSeems odd to me that no one seems willing to operate a San Diego-style long range trip out of Florida. Can someone tell me why? I'm curious.
Firstly, I'm doing a rain dance/voodoo incantations for Jason and Joe: they deserve a good trip!As far as a San Diego-type long range, while I am sure there are other parts of the world where it "might" work and be economically viable, San Diego is pretty geographically unique. For the Florida folks, you have the "superhighway" of fish, the Gulf Stream that is really not that far off shore. I mean places like Bimini and Cuba are not that far away by Long Range standards. It's like the times I have been fishing in Kona: you are 10 minutes out of the harbor and are in solid trolling grounds for pelagics. Not sure about Australia but guessing it is kinda the same way? For San Diego it is giving anglers a chance at solid fish that would not otherwise be possible closer to home. And with many of the top boats this is done with resort level accommodations; they cannot control the fishing but they sure as hell can control the quality of your experience on the boat. - john
2 days! If they don't cancel for weather.
Joe, you ready?
Later on tonight ,I will see what 2 sticks want to go fishing !! Look like a full boat .
Quote from: akfish on January 21, 2026, 08:00:58 PMSeems odd to me that no one seems willing to operate a San Diego-style long range trip out of Florida. Can someone tell me why? I'm curious.
There are some large boats running out of Key West, the "Yankee Capts" and Marco Island, the "American Patriot" that offer two to five day trips fishing the Dry Tortugas. They catch a a pretty big variety of fish from what I've heard.
Cancelled again due to weather. Can't say I blame them, but I woulda rode it out if the fish are biting
Rescheduled for February 27th
Ugh...this north wind won't let up. Yeah, 5-6' seas are no fun.
Miserable weather can still = a good trip, but for me it depends on who's out there with you. Some folks who wanna make everyone else as miserable as they are, you just can't completely ignore.
Then again, when I was younger and stupid'er and meaner, during a workplace sponsored trip, I really enjoyed the experience of watching the uppity office queen turning lite green and barfing up her pretty guts on a Salmon fishing excursion. Man did she look and sound bad. But, she was one of those who, I figured at the time, deserved it, because of the way she used her looks and phony personality(around the bosses) to abuse lower echelon employees.
Weather looks like it's holding steady, no sign of cancellation. Car is packed. Hopefully I can get a good night sleep tomorrow night.
Shoulders and elbows are giving me hell. It's like they knew. Packing a spinner in case the right arm craps out on me.
And the Tylenol and roll on lidocaine. Weather looks like rain at night (it's an overnight trip). But the fish are wet anyway. I can dress appropriately.
Did you make it out Jason? I'm south of you and we had some pretty good storms last night.
Joe and I made it out, and it was a very interesting trip. Weather was far rougher and wetter than predicted, and I think they went to less active spots that were out of the path of the rain. Half the boat was a hearing-impaired veterans group, many were fishing for their first time. Everyone interacted with was super cool, but there were a lot more tangles this trip.
Some good sized fish still came over the rail but neither Joe nor myself got many keepers this trip.
I hooked onto something while I was using my accurate 270. Initially I thought it was the bottom, but it was swimming hard, and I was gaining line. But barely. I was essentially leaning over the rail thumbing the spool and getting 2-3' of line at a time using the rise and fall of the waves for some version of a pump n reel, because my rod was far too bendy to lift whatever this was, and when I remembered to push the button and lock down the drag I started being able to reel a bit, but I remembered I'm using 40' braid so I didn't wanna rush it and snap my line. About 50' from the surface a tangle with someone else's line saw the fish escape. I heard what sounded like a pop or a crack, and now that reel feels rough on retrieve. I may have screwed up a bearing. Time for a service.
Happy you and Joe finally made it out and caught some fish. Hard to say what the big one was, but I have noticed the bigger grouper and snapper, 27"+, give a lot of head shakes until you get them pretty close to the boat. What fish won the pool?
Bummer about the fish and the reel Jason, hopefully nothing too serious. - john
A hearing impaired Vet. group. Probably easier to fish with than vision impaired persons. "Fish-on!, What? Fish-on coming down the rail! What? Fish-on right behind you! What? Hey I'm fishing here, back-off and give me some room!"