Oooh Barracuda!

One of the fish Capt. Larry often gets asked about it is barracudas.  Perhaps because of their fearsome reputation, they are a source of interest for many people, whether they are from the local area or just visiting.  Ernie Sbaschik from Tampa, got to see this beast up close & personal when he caught  a barracuda recently on a trip with Capt. Larry.  

Before the barracuda was caught, it managed to eat three of their hooked groupers. Ernie and party were fishing in about 85 ft offshore of Anna Maria Island, and besides the toothy barracuda pictured above, they also caught many red and gag grouper, snapper and a feisty tiger shark that was carefully released. 

To the left is Capt. Larry holding two nice gag groupers caught using sardines in about 80 ft offshore of Anna Maria Island (photo by Bill Evans). On the same trip, they also wrangled more gag and red grouper, plus some miscellaneous snappers, sharks, and two smoker kingfish. The grouper bite was so hot Capt. Larry had to go back for more  after his charter ended! Now is the time to come on out and you get some of this sweet gag grouper action. 

Capt. Larry McGuire

SHOW ME THE FISH CHARTERS

OPERATING OUT OF THE BRADENTON BEACH MARINA

Cell: (941) 720 - 6475

Email: Captlarrymcguire@gmail.com

facebook.com/ShowMeTheFish

Fireworks exploding on offshore action

On Show Me The Fish Charters, parties are watching explosions of all American amberjacks, kaleidoscopes of kingfish, roaring red snapper (& vermilion with voracious appetites), robust red grouper, monstrous mangrove snappers, along with powerful porgies, salacious sharks, and barracudas big enough to boast over. Stare into the mouth of the barracuda Rokey Vious Williams holds ... IF YOU DARE! It was his 1st barracuda ever, and caught with a tube lure 15 miles offshore Anna Maria.

Like the rockets red glare, and bombs bursting in air, Capt. Larry's trips gave proof that the fishing is blowing up off of both Longboat Key & Anna Maria Island, around 150 ft. Sardines are what the fish are salivating for, but live and cut bait both are bringing in a plentiful parade of fish.

How many red snapper have you caught this year? Whatever the answer, it's probably not enough; remember, American red snapper go out of season July 19 12:01 am! Soon, it will be too late to get what are some of the tastiest fish in the gulf, so now is the time to get as much red snapper as possible...Capt. Larry's Tip of the week-> Freeze any extra red snapper by adding enough water to fully cover the fish in a ziplock bag & make sure all of air is out of the freezer bag. This ensures you have red snapper to fill your frying pans to make it through until the season opens again.

Capt. Larry hopes your 4th of July was fun F squared; fish & fireworks! Happy Independence Day everyone!

Thanks,
Capt. Larry McGuire
SHOW ME THE FISH CHARTERS
NOW OPERATING OUT OF THE BRADENTON BEACH MARINA
Cell: (941) 720 - 6475
Email: Captlarrymcguire@gmail.com
facebook.com/ShowMeTheFish

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

Sharkfest!

On our trips offshore of Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key have been quite fruitful lately! Between catching bountiful black grouper [carborita], gag and red grouper, as well as our catch and release red snapper, we have our hands full! But that's a good thing, when you're catching beasts of fish without even trying to get them; there seems to be no shortage of these tasty treats! We couldn't wait for June 1st to get here & the red snapper season to open.

In the meantime, we had been catching awesome amberjacks, meaty mangrove and yellowtail snappers, large porgies, killer kingfish, monster barracuda and a variety of other sharks. On some spots, after we're catching a serious bunch of fish for awhile, the sharks smell blood, get riled up & join in the action. That's what I call a sharkfest! Kids definitely get excited when catching sharks.

The pictures below are of Capt. Larry with a massive red grouper, following with a firetruck red groupers caught on May 21st by Jack O'Hara and Luis Newcomer, both of Bradenton. That's only part of their catch that included (but wasn't limited to) grouper, miscellaneous snapper, porgies and different kinds of sharks. The last picture is of Jack O'Hara again and Anthony Leverett, both with with red grouper. Notice how the grouper on the left has a bite mark... That shows the sharks were interested in what we were doing, and took a piece out on the grouper's trip back p to the boat! We were offshore of Anna Maria Island in about 125 ft using live pinfish on this charter.

On another note I haven't seen any signs of tar balls or anything else that comes with oil spills off of our coast or beaches. We need to keep praying it does not reach our coast and hope this is cleaned up as soon as possible!

Life is good the weather is perfect and the fishing is great.Now is the time to come out and getcha' some.

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