Boca Grande/Charlotte Harbor, Florida – Fishing Report
2-20-2015 6:40am
Spring is almost here!
March and April is approaching fast bringing with it the best snook fishing of the year. Lots of snook will be moving out of their winter haunts to meet the hordes of bait that will be all over.
We are now at the tail end of the winter fishing season. Overall it has been pretty good. Watching the weather the rest of the country has been getting on the news I can say it has been great. With the temperatures in the high 70’s/low 80’s most days, we caught a lot of redfish and trout with a few snook mixed in each day that I went.
I have spent the better part of the last month working on both of my boats. Getting them ready for the upcoming season. I completely refinished the interior of my big boat. I built the boat myself so I don’t feel right having anyone else do the work on it. That feeling almost changed after three weeks of sanding…lol
My Silver King skiff has also been completely updated and refit. It is a new boat again. After 23 years I finally re-powered it. The old 90 Yamaha never gave up. I just felt after 23 years it was time to upgrade. I recently got sponsored by Evinrude/BRP. The new Evinrude 90hp E-tec is an impressive motor. I am planning to put it through it’s paces over the next month or so. It has some big shoes to fill. I also put a new Minn Kota iPilot trolling motor, lights, baitwell plumbing, pumps and I am waiting on a new Humminbird for it as well. My big boat will still be my main rig for tarpon fishing but, I will be using this boat a lot more in the future. It’s ability to run and fish the skinny water undetected is a huge benefit. After a few weeks I will update everyone on the new motor’s performance.
Although I have been spending a lot of time working on my boats and guiding, I have been getting out fly fishing almost every afternoon. Baby tarpon on top water bugs is a blast!!! I have been fishing a lot of different backwater creeks and and areas not accessible to regular boats. My sneak boat/canoe has come in real handy. It has been in preparation for a top secret boat project coming next winter.
Jenni has been the best fly fishing guide ever. She has kept a perfect record all winter long. Most days she put me on a fish in less than 5 minutes. We haven’t got skunked, not once. In fact, I think our worst day was 2 tarpon to the boat. I just can’t talk her into carrying the trolling motor battery…lol
I will update this report as often as I can, but you can get reports more frequently by visiting my Facebook page. I will be posting new photos every week.
Tarpon season is approaching fast. I am already booking dates for the 2015 Tarpon Season, late April-October. If you have specific dates you need, shoot me an email or call before they are booked.
Keep the line tight and bow when they jump!
Capt. Mark Bennett
captmark3@comcast.net
