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.

Best Bachelor Party Ever!

Even when we aren't on a bachelor party, it gets absolutely wild and crazy with some parties, with the result being the trip of a lifetime! Going deep will net you monster grouper, so take the extra time, spend the extra gas because June is the month for the true black grouper, also called June fish. It does seem the best month to catch one of those bad boys.

Speaking of parties, May 20th, we went out for assistant fire Chief Ezell, of the Bradenton Fire Dept's, belated bachelor party. Below is a picture of him on the right, holding a monster true black grouper, that Bobby Dodge on the left caught. That same trip we also caught 6 huge gag grouper, 7 big bright red grouper, as well as catch and release red snapper, porgies and lots of sharks. The group was using live pinfish, in about 200 ft offshore of Anna Maria Island. The other picture below is of Bobby Dodge, Keith Roderick, Anthony Leverett, Ron Kinlaw and Randy McCaskill all of whom are from Bradenton.

Some recent closer inshore fishing accomplishments have been around 50 ft. There, the kingfish are in schools, guaranteed to keep your rods screaming! I always like to keep a flat line out and a chum bag over the side; that ensures that the fish come to me. That way I cover the entire water column and catch everything that swims. Remember to keep and eye peeled for cobia or a school of mahi-mahi, because they could swim right up to the boat this summer.

Tarpon are very thick during the summer around the Skyway bridge, and a lot of boats have been hooking up with them. It's a secret, so don't tell anyone how many gag grouper, Spanish mackerel, mangrove snapper and sharks inside the Tampa bay shipping channel.

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

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

May Recap of The Fantastic Fishing!

I am pleased to announced the kingfish and cobia are here! As I'm sure everyone's noticed, the warmer the water gets, the bigger fish are getting hungry & ready to bite on your line. These past couple months, we made the most of many people's spring breaks, bringing in more fish than in past April or Mays. Our area really needed the hotter temperatures, after that brutal winter. My boat ran almost three weeks non-stop & we caught a plethora of gag and red grouper. In the mix also was (but not limited to): amberjack, kingfish, cobia, blacktip and other large sharks... notable but not nearly as exciting were a variety of snappers, triggerfish, and porgies.

The slideshow below stars Scott Taylor from Tampa, with his Smoker Kingfish around 40 lbs. Scott was using a flatlined sardine, in about 150 ft offshore of Anna Maria Island, on 5-6-2010. The second picture is of Margie Ferrantegennaro, also from Tampa, with one of her mighty gag grouper. She caught it using a live pinfish in about 60 ft offshore of Anna Maria Island, while fishing out with her family. The happy family also caught more grouper, kingfish. Margie even caught a Hogfish [Hogsnapper] on hook and line. The final picture has Robert Guidry of Tampa, with his first amberjack EVER, caught using a live pinfish in 150 ft offshore of Anna Maria Island on 5-06-10.

This heavy biting is happening at most depths, with the kingfish hitting mostly around 40 to 50 ft depths offshore of Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key. Cobia are on almost any kind of underwater edifice, natural reefs or an artificial structures like a wreck. Lately, Gag grouper are hanging out on the ledges that have the least amount of pressure, and the monster red grouper are hungry out deeper (in around 170 ft) and are moving in closer as the water heats up. We've been seeing a lot of cobia these past couple of months, and have even had them swimming around the boat! Of course there are days that the fish just don't act interested in biting, but then the next day they are so easy to catch a caveman could do it.

Kingfish are definitely back & begging for some attention! We caught large ones almost every day we went out fishing this past month. However, I predict that the real big Mac(krel) attack will be happen any day now, but it will definitely be sometimes this June. That's when the mackrel will school around the boat in a feeding frenzy, hitting everything but the kitchen sink! Some of my clients get tired of catching so many, that we move on to spots that are known for other species- that's another positive aspect of fishing with me: I have a spot for every type of fish!

As usual, fishing is great, the weather is beautiful, and life is good. Now is the time to enjoy paradise and come out and get ya' 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
12700 Cortez Rd. west
Bradenton, FL 34215