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SAY WHAT FISHING CHARTERS NEWSLETTER February 2007
Hello fellow anglers and welcome from beautiful Southwest Florida
I would like to start out this news letter with important information about what is happening in the fishing business. Last week National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) conducted a meeting in Alabama pertaining to the Gulf of Mexico fishing industy. One of the issues on our plate offshore of Marco Island is what to do with the Goliath Grouper problem we continue to face on our offshore reefs and hard bottoms. We are making steady but slow progress towards a limited opening of the species but aleast we are making progress on getting Florida Fish and Wildlife as well as NMFS to start a study on the Goliath Grouper and what action to take. Hopefully we can get this fast tracked so we can enjoy fishing without loosing our catch to these garbage pails of the sea. Captain Fred Lifton President of the Marco Island Charter Captains Association and on the National Board of Directors for North American Charter Boat Operators (NACO) was at the meeting and fought hard for us on this issue. Keep up the good work Fred as we all depend on people like you to protect our future as recreational anglers.
I have been nominated to join Captain Fred and all the great board members and people who make up NACO to sit on the board of directors. If elected I will continue to work hard at fishery issues so you as my clients or those who recreational fish can continue to do so without a lot of government B.S.
I would like to also take to time to thank the many people who visited my web-site and look forward to meeting and enjoying great fishing trips with you in the future. There are some great months ahead of us for some of the larger game fish.
Now onto fishing!! This past January has been one of the warmest months I have seen in many years. On one side this hurt certain fish and on the other hand brought us fishing that we would never consider in January. With the Gulf temperatures hanging around 75 degrees, usually 65-67 degrees, bringing large quantities of bait to the near shore bait areas which is great for fishing just not the type of fishing we like to target this time of year. Usually gag grouper and snapper are the main fare but with the temps being so warm it was a hit or miss on both. Although we did have some nice grouper and snapper days.
What did come to feed was fish we generally see in early spring thru early fall and that was Bonito, King and Spanish mackerel, Black Tip Shark, and I enjoyed two great weeks of large Tarpon fishing just offshore of Marco. The Tarpon ranged from 80lbs to 160lbs and were hungry. Fun was had by all and it just goes to show as many years as I spent fishing the Gulf, things can change that you would not typical expect. Finally, we got a string of cold weather last week and the snapper bite was on good numbers of medium to large snapper were caught on my last batch of trips and grouper bite is picking up. For those snapper eaters Feb. is a great month to catch a nice amount of snapper.
On the near shore reefs the mackerel have basically left but with the drop in water temperature the sheepshead, trigger fish, and snapper bite is picking right up. Grouper will also begin to migrate into the near shore areas so we should begin to see nice catches of Gag Grouper
Remember spring fishing is right around the corner, so you may want to think about making your fishing reservations soon as March and April are very busy months.
If anyone has any questions regarding what we do or about fishing off Marco, shoot me a call or e-mail with your questions and I would love to answer what ever questions you have.
Best Regards and Happy Fishing
Captain Sean Black
Say What Fishing Charters
Visit our Website at www.SayWhatFishing.com
Say What Fishing Charters
with Capt. Sean Black
Docked at Marco River Marina
Office: (239) 389-7823 Mobile: (239) 398-1817
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