ishing Captain Favorite's Fishing Forum June 4, 2012

Catch of the Week

Michael Ameres caught this 27-inch snook on a shiner in Miguel Bay.

BRADENTON – This weekend, bring the family out to Fire Charity Fishing Tournament June 8-10 at the Bradenton Yacht Club. It’s also the first time they are holding a kids fishing tournament --  $10 entry fee includes lunch on Saturday and Sunday! Anglers can help the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission biologists aquire valuable information regarding red snapper and other reef fish just by filling out a survey card and with information and making a quick phone call. Next weekend a boat show and nautical fleamarket will be held in Cape Coral.  

Fishing Updates

5th Annual Fishing Tournament to Benefit Children’s Burn Camp 

• Remember when your dad took you fishing?  How about Grand Dad? NO? Create a memory with your kids and bring them fishing at this special weekend event. Create your own Corporate Team. How about an all Women’s Team!
• There’s even a special Trophy for the winning Firefighter’s Team.
• This fishing tournament will run from June 8-10th along the Manatee River. Besides fishing, there will be live music and family entertainment at Bradenton Yacht Club, located in Palmetto, Florida. 
• Kids can get their faces painted, participate in arts and crafts, pick up beads, and much more. An art auction and raffles will be done to add even more money to the charity. 
• This year’s event was created to bring families together on the water enjoying one of Florida’s favorite sports. AND this Fun FAMILY event is FREE to attend, beginning at 1 pm on Sunday for the Weigh In Party.
• This year the first kids tournament will be held on Saturday June 9 and Sunday June 10 a $10 entry fee includes lunch. 

2012 Cape Coral Summer Boat Show & Nautical Flea Market

• The Lee County Nautical Flea Market and BBQ Festival will be held Saturday and Sunday, June 16-17, 2012, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the centrally located German America Club, 2101 Southwest Pine Island Road, Cape Coral, FL 33991.
• The Lee County Nautical Flea Market and BBQ Festival is the best place to find bargains, quality and a wide variety of fishing equipment and supplies, restock up here.
• No other event can match the depth of this fishing and boating trade event. People come to flea markets ready to buy or sell, so this is the perfect opportunity to get fishing and boating bargains. 
• A public boat auction will be held with over 100 boat repossessions, short sales, dealer trades, and private liquidations will be up for sale. 
• The auction boat preview is all day Saturday June 16, 2012 and the sale starts at 11:00 am Sunday June 17, 2011. As many as 10,000 boat enthusiasts have attended past editions of this two day event.
• To pre register to sell or buy a boat, go to www.FLNauticalFleaMarket.com.
• The boat corral area is completely separate from the nautical flea market area. It is designed for private and dealer new and used boat sales. Customers can shop, compare and make deals directly with the seller. All boats in the corral are for sale. The boat corral is where individuals offer boats and watercraft only (no parts, etc) for sale. 
• All boat corral spots are $25.00 and can be reserved in advance. Visit the 2012 Lee County Nautical Flea Market and BBQ Festival website for more information, special hotel rates and specific driving directions. Vendor applications are still being accepted. For information and discount tickets, visit the website or contact Under the Sun Promotions, Inc. at 954-205-7813.

Captain Chad Gamble’s Fishing Report

The Gulf of Mexico has been invaded by air breathing, silver scaled, drag screaming monsters! Yes the tarpon are here and they are chewing aboard the ”Hook and Ladder.“  

The last few weeks have been awesome with multiple fish landed over 130 pounds and lots of smaller and bigger ones hooked and later lost. We have been fishing for tarpon exclusively on all of my trips where Mother Nature allowed us to venture into the Gulf.  Greenbacks have been the bait of choice with threadfin herring a close second. We are using 60 pound test leaders with 9/0 circle hooks.

The reason I mentioned the fish that were 130 pounds, is because I personally believe that is the number where tarpon go from fun acrobatic fighters, to downright nasty gut bruisers. For example, my clients landed a few fish last week from 50-100 pounds. We were using 80 pound ”Power Pro“ spooled onto ”Battle 8000’s“ with 8ft“ Crowder“ rods. Each fish took about 15-30 minutes depending on the angler. Then we hooked one that went 130 pounds on the girth length formula and it took about an hour and a half. These tarpon have personalities and the 130-150 pounders seem to be the young athletes of the species. The tactic on these fish is to not give them a break. If you are not sweating when you are fighting your tarpon, then your tarpon is not sweating fighting you.  

I filmed a great video with clients Ken and Chris Francis of ArizonaÉ.  Enjoy

USCG Captain Chad Gamble

HookandLadderCharters.com

Email at Hookandladdercharters@gmail.com

Call (941) 809-8922

To create a forecast specific to your zip code visit www.wunderground.com

Fishing Forecast

A ridge of high pressure over the Gulf and Florida this afternoon drifts southward into the Florida Straits Monday as a frontal boundary sags into the Gulf Coast by Tuesday. This boundary becomes stationary near the border of Florida and Georgia Wednesday.

Monday

West winds around 15 knots. Bay and inland waters a moderate chop.

Tuesday

West winds around 15 knots. Bay and inland waters a moderate chop. A slight chance of thunderstorms in the morning, then a chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Tuesday night will bring west winds around 15 knots. Bay and inland waters a moderate chop. A slight chance of thunderstorms.

Wednesday 

Southwest winds around 10 knots. Bay and inland waters a light chop. A chance of thunderstorms.

Thursday

Southwest winds around 10 knots. Bay and inland waters a light chop. A chance of thunderstorms. Thursday night will bring west winds around 10 knots. Bay and inland waters a light chop. A chance of thunderstorms.

Friday

West winds around 10 knots. Bay and inland waters a light chop. A chance of thunderstorms.

Solunar Forecast