Who cares that Gags are closed in federal waters when you can catch SNAPPER!?

Well, actually it is a travesty of common human rights that Gag fishing is going to be closed for six months this year. The fall/winter 2010 season of grouper fishing has been one of the best in terms of quantity of fish and quality of fish being landed. Full limits of Red and Gag grouper with majority of fish well over the minimum size limit would sort of indicate that the stocks are in good shape??? Well, the fisheries scientists do not think so. So be it, there are other fish in the sea! I know one thing, the Snapper and Amberjack are going to suffer under the hands of my crew. We have already been filling the coolers with many different species of Snapper. The bag limits of Greater Amberjack are easy to attain. Along the way we are forced to catch and release Gag grouper that are absolutely beautiful, healthy, and delicious. But really? When you are catching 7 pound Mangrove Snapper and 12 pound Mutton Snapper on light spinning gear and having a blast doing it, you forget all about the pain of releasing Grouper. And believe me, a bag limit of Snapper is more fun, and tastes better than a bag limit of Grouper!

Call Captain Travis Ormond for a wicked hott Snapper trip! 941.374.1669.

weather is cold... fishing is HOT

I dont want to come off as bragging or gloating... but five days into the new year and I have already logged three very epic fishing trips.The weather had been nasty, windy, cold. Luckily the last 5 days have been warm, sunny, and agreeable. And the fish have been cooperating as well. Inshore fishing has some rod bending action, and offshore is producing coolers full of delicious seafood. Here's what I have been up to.

Sunday 1/2 I fished inshore with Chad Nelson and his father Eric. Chad has fished with me many times and we always have a good time. We had a negative tide in the backcountry and the first pothole we set up in produced the best trout of the day, a nice 22inch fish that ate a shrimp under a cork.

The same pothole was productive for some time, and we caught about 2 dozen small Redfish and several nice Trout. When the bite waned there we proceeded to the adjacent sandy depressions and picked up a few more bites from Redfish and Trout. The real sweet action came a few hours later when the tide turned and started the outgoing phase. Chad makes a perfect cast to the back side of a pothole. He immediately hooks up with a stud of a Redfish that blisters drag and send boils of turbulent water swirling to the surface. Chad fought the fish with expertise and kept the rod tip high with constant pressure on the fish as it took him in a 360 around the boat. Soon the battle royale was over and I landed the fish for him, congratulating by saying "great fish! biggest Red on my boat this year!"

We settled into that pothole and a steady bite of 17-20 inch trout and 15-25 inch Redfish ensued. We finished off the last of the shrimp for the day and also caught a few fish on plastic jigs and jerkbaits. We ended up keeping a 25 inch Red and five nice Trout for Chad and his family to fry up for dinner. I felt very priviledged to guide a father and son and put them on some good fish and make memories for them!