Florida fishing

[pikerliker]

Hey guys I'm going down to Disney (Florida) with the family leaving Saturday morning. We will be at Disney for a few days and then we are going to stay in the Clearwater beach area on the Gulf coast for a couple of days. I wanted to try a 1/2 day or longer fishing trip with a charter or similar service while we are in the Clearwater area. Was wondering if any of you have done this or could give me some suggestions. I'm looking for some quality that isn't going to cost me an arm and a leg.

Thanks in advance ~piker

[marine_man]

Here are a couple of threads out of the archives:

Florida Fishing

Florida Fishing 2

They might not be quite the area you were looking for.. but they're probably worth the read...

Have a good vacation!

marine_man

[Ranger sport]

I went on a charter a few years ago out of Clearwater. All we caught were fish the size of crappies. There is one at Madaria beach (johns pass)also. I have went over there when the boat has came back in and it was the same deal. If I were you I would go bass fishing on Toho or Stick Marsh. My dad and I went to Toho a few years ago and caught about 20 bass and missed a few useing 12 inch shiners. The largest was 6 lbs. Toho is in the Orlando area.

[pikerliker]

Thanks Ranger. It kind of sounded the same in the old posts on this subject too (with the Crappie sized fish that is). That would not be something that I would want to pay money for! I'd like something with a little more weight and fight to it. Maybe I could just throw a line in from the swimming beach and catch a bull shark. They seem to be plentiful lately down there!

Thanks for the advice~piker

[MJCatfish]

There is some good fishing off the Redington Pier, close to Clearwater. I did see quite a few people fishing in the pass in Clearwater as well. I fished Redington Pier last year the first week of June. I did see some big fish caught, including some 80-100 lb Tarpon. I wasn't really rigged up for them, it was pretty cool watching them being played. We caught mackerel, speckled trout, etc., but nothing big. You could fish for sharks right of the beaches, but they don't allow it on the piers. Snoop around a little bit and stop at a few tackle stores, they may be able to help.

Good Luck!

MJ

[Sand Burr]

You do get what you pay for as far as Florida guides go.

I did the Disney vacation with the family and pulled a day for myself

to saltwater fish and it was so much fun! I caught a 45lb jack fish and

a 100plus tarpon. The tarpon took most of my time to pull in because

he uses light equipment which was the fight of a lifetime for me.

The guide picked me up right at the hotel and dropped me off.

Heck I can’t get my own buddies to do that. Top notch!

google up champion bass in Orlando and you will find him.

Let me know if you have any questions.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Several years ago for my graduation gift I got to go to Florida (Disney). We stayed at the wilderness lodge and went out on a couple bass fishing trips they have on the big lake next to the Disney. We caught atleast 10 fish a person each time out (each trip was 2 hours), but nothing was very big (4lb was the biggest), although we did get our lines snapped several times.

If you ever get a chance during your trip try getting to the docks of one of the hotels around dusk. Their are some huge gills around there my cousing and I got several over 10" each, and countless others around 9".

[carlcmc]

i would suggest The stick marsh as that is where i went the end of may when i was in florida. Caught a 9 1/2 lb lm, sever 6-7 lbs and the rest 3-4lbers. total of 50+ bass from 10-5.

[pikerliker]

I just wanted to update everybody on my trip. It was a great trip until my fishing day. We had booked a trip for an offshore charter with Flo Jo. They were great and I had worked out a good deal for price etc. Well the problem came in when I showed up at 0630 at the marina. I was informed that because of Hurricane Dennis the menace approach we would have 6-8ft swells to deal with and it would have been very rough and possibly dangerous for my two sons (and me for that matter) to go. We had to cancel. I was so bummed I think I could have cried. Better safe than drowned though! I couldn't fish shallow either because the whole Clearwater, St. Pete area has recently been hit by Red Tide and there were dead fish, crabs, etc everywhere. You had to go out deeper to get fish. I think it was kind of comming to an end while I was there but I was told that the beaches were coated with dead fish. When I got there on Wednesday evening I noticed several dead fish, and crabs on our beach and was wondering if something was up. I had it explained to me that red tide is an algea or bacteria that somehow takes the oxygen from the fish by attacking thier gills or something along those lines. Very similar to what happened at Clear Lake near Waseca in southern MN this year that killed a lot of sunfish and crappies. So thanks for the advice anyway guys.

By the way Turnupthefish I did notice some huge sunfish near the resort that I was staying at. They looked 10+ inches and there were several of them! We didn't have any gear with us to fish there though.

~piker