Who Want's to Be A Fishing Rockstar?

Part of the draw to fish as a sport or hobby is not just the heart-pounding fight of the fish, or the sense of accomplishment when one reels an impressive big one, but the bragging rights & picture taken to show ones' friends of that glorious moment in time. We've all heard grand fish stories, with the obligatory follow up of: "pics or it didn't happen!" Capt. Larry goes one step further and not only takes pictures of the fishers on his boat, he submits them to local & fishing publications like The Coastal Angler, Anna Maria Islander, Manatee River News, Florida Marine Times, Long Boat Key News, Florida Mariner and many more. Not to mention some recaps of fishing good times end up right here, on the Show Me The Fish Blog! Sending your friends a link of your fishing story, complete with fishing picture insde inside trumps a mere picture... Here are some of the latest rockstars that fished with Capt. Larry. Above is Jessica Kreke from Cincinnati, Ohio looking cool in rockstar sunglasses, holding a tremendous smoker Kingfish caught with a sardine, about 45 ft offshore of Anna Maria Island.

Next, is Trey Walding,from Lakeland, with rocking out a substantially large firetruck red grouper he caught during a spirited fight, also offshore of Anna Maria Island, but he was a bit farther out at 140ft & was using live pinfish instead.The last fishing rockstars we have are a father and daughter team! Fifteen year old Madison Banks, and her dad Jerry Banks, caught some burly gag groupers while fishing with pinfish, about 60 ft offshore of Anna Maria Island.

Do YOU want to be the next fishing rockstar? Contact Capt. Larry & he'll get you to where the action is. Lately, he's been catching enormous amounts of fish whether he's farther out at 130 ft offshore- where he's noticed live pinfish & grunts work best, but he's also been getting considerably large catches closer in around 50 ft. There, it seems is an extensive variety of fish: kingfish, sharks, snapper, and even some considerable sized gag grouper. In the passes, along the beach and Skyway bridge tarpon are plentiful. Now is the time to come out, get in on the action, and be a fishing rockstar!

Thanks,
Capt Larry McGuire
Show Me The Fish Charters
Cell: 941-720-6475 | Email captlarrymcguire@gmail.com
Operating out of the Cortez Fishing Center, Bradenton, FL

Go Deep To Beat The Summer Heat!

Offshore fishing has been and will continue to be great this summer in the West Central Florida area, with no signs of oil in the water or on the beaches in these parts. Monster red grouper are one of the hottest species this month, however the best action you'll find is out around 120 ft and deeper for those fire truck red grouper. Along with those champions of grouper, full of fight, we’ve been catching gag & scamp grouper, that will also leave your upper arms hurting the next day from reeling those bad boys in! We have also been getting snapper happy, catching American red, mangrove, yellowtail, & lane snapper. We’ve been finding those on the offshore reefs & wrecks, with tilefish, and mahi-mahi there also keeping that wide variety of snapper company. In those same areas, we've been catching many amberjacks, smoker kingfish, cobia, barracudas, and a myriad of large sharks lately.

We start out on Swiss cheese bottoms that range from 120-160 ft, using dead sardines and squid for best results on our red grouper trips. This combination of bait gets the red grouper’s appetite wetted, and then follow that meal up with live bait for dessert- such as pinfish, sand perch, and grunts…that's when we catch the serious monsters. Sometimes even our most fit anglers tap out, and many of the fishers on our boat need assistance or even a spotter to help get these ocean beasts off the bottom because of how much they weigh!

July and August are awesome months for deep water pelagic, especially bull dolphin. You can almost always catch schoolies 100ft out and deeper, but the bull mahi-mahi are usually farther out past 150 ft, which seems to be the hot zone of the month! We like to troll skirted bally-hoo at about 5 knots at this time of the year. Using that trolling method, you can certainly catch wahoo, billfish, and blackfin tuna... It's both exciting and intense! While trolling, I'm always watching my depth finder, and ferreting out new grouper and snapper spots… they are out there, sometimes right under your pole!

Below is Leah & Brent Brown of Bradenton with a large reef shark, caught off Anna Maria Island, using part of an amberjack that was bit in half by a barracuda attack!

As I mentioned in my last fishing report, red snapper will be out of season as of July 23, in state and Federal waters, so the clock is ticking & days dwindling when you’ll be able to catch these snapperlicious treats. Remember to stay hydrated and drink plenty of liquids, because that summer heat can catch you off guard & stop your fishing fun or other summer activities. Par for the course, it’s a hot summer, with offshore fishing being even hotter! So now is the time for you to come out and get ya' some, while the action is happening & the snapper can still be caught!

Thanks,
Capt. Larry McGuire
Show Me The Fish Charters
Located at the Cortez Fishing Center, Bradenton, FL
cell: (941) 720 - 6475 | email: captlarrymcguire@gmail.com

Capt. Larry DOESN'T go to Scotland!

Many of you might have received an email yesterday morning saying Capt. Larry was in Scotland, in trouble, & needed money. Now, we hope that most everyone has enough sense to realize this is a scam, because frankly, Scotland doesn't hold much interest for Capt. Larry; unless maybe he was there to fish for the Loch Ness Monster... and if he tried, be rest assured he would catch that beast!

What Capt. Larry and his fishing parties HAVE been catching some awesome groupers- blacks, gags, & reds. Along with those tasty treats of fish, his trips have been bringing home a plethora of cobias, kingfish, porgies, amberjacks, barracudas, Mahi-Mahi [dolphin type fish, but NOT flipper], and a variety of large sharks! Red snapper may be going out of season July 23rd, but we've been catching a heck of a lot of them, and good news is that the mangrove snappers that cant help themselves from biting ARE in season all summer long!


The best action starts at about 125 ft out, using live baits- pinfish especially. The larger red grouper are moving in to this depth, and should continually improve their feasting on our hooks as the summer progresses. On my half day trips, they usually run closer in (around 50 ft), we are catching smoker kingfish,gag grouper of keep-able size, and sharks; seems no matter how far out we are, we still get a sizable amount of different kinds of sharks. Nearer to shore, tarpon are thick around all the passes, like Egmont key and the Skyway bridge. While on the outgoing tide in the inter coastal waterway (and the passes), try to scoop up as many pass crabs for bait as you can, because they will be your little fishing buddies as they are fantastic for hooking a big tarpon.

Back to offshore, we had a trip recently where while catching humongous amberjacks on a large ledge, when suddenly about a 50 lb cobia swam up to the boat! The first mate was quick on the draw and put a live grunt by one of the cobia, he immediately grabbed it, spit it out and circled around, still deciding what to do. He couldn't resist the grunt very long, and one bite became two, and the cobia didn't realize he was hooked until it was too late! He didn't give much of a fight until the gaff hit him. Capt. Larry had already briefed everyone to stand clear when a green cobia comes aboard. That unexpected passenger caused everyone to scramble as this wild & crazy fish hit the deck, thrashing violently. We all scrammbled when this wild and crazy fish hit the deck thrashing violently. The party said they knew it was a serious situation when the captain and first mate start running for cover! That was almost as much fun as wrestling large sharks for a photo before their release, and certainly gets the blood pumping!

Like I often say, now is the time to come out and get ya' some of this hot action, as that could've been you with the epic cobia wrestling story of a lifetime!

Thanks,
Capt Larry McGuire
SHOW ME THE FISH CHARTERS
Cell 941-720-6475
Email captlarrymcguire@gmail.com
Operating out of the Cortez Fishing Center Bradenton, FL.