Cold, windy fishing for start of January 2024 – Boca Grande

January 11, 2024 Captain Kelly Leave a comment

Captains Jesse and Kelly McDowall

Inshore

It’s been a cold and windy winter so far for our Boca Grande fishing friends. Cold front after cold front has kept many fisherman off the water. High winds plus negative low tides made it hard for many to venture into the backcountry to experience the true excitement of winter fishing. Those with shallow running boats have been able to scoot on past the bay boats and get back to holes holding snook, redfish, and trout. For the folks unable to get deep into the backcountry, the sheepshead bite has been stellar, the trout bite around the deeper parts of the bay has been good, and there’s still snook and redfish that can be found around the bars and deeper holes and cuts of the bays and passes as well.

Shrimp has been the go to bait for catching everything. Shrimp under a popping cork has been working well for trout, pompano, ladyfish and jacks. We’ve been using a 1/4oz jighead tipped with a shrimp when targeting snook and redfish. Shrimp around the docks, bridges, and passes have been producing sheepshead, snapper, and occasional black drum. We are seeing live bait around but with the cool water temperatures the fish just aren’t ready to do much chasing yet.

Nearshore

Nearshore and offshore has been good for those able to get out between the breaks in wind. The nearshore reefs and hardbottom have been producing good numbers of sheepshead. Further out, keeper red grouper and large mangrove snapper are coming in from 25+ miles out.

Luckily, spring is right around the corner! With warmer temperatures and higher water, the fishing is only going to get better.

Tarpon and Goliath Grouper

It’s never too early to start planning your Boca Grande tarpon or goliath grouper fishing charter.

Boca Grande goliath grouper fishing charters

Florida Inshore Xtream
http://floridainshorextream.com
941-698-0323

Captains Jesse McDowall and Kelly McDowall
YouTube

Boca Grande tarpon fishing

April 28, 2023 Captain Kelly Leave a comment

Have the tarpon arrived?

Yes! Tarpon fishing is in full swing in Boca Grande. There are currently thousands of fish residing in Boca Grande Pass. The tarpon are 20-40ft thick at times on our Humminbird down imaging sonar. We’ve been averaging 7-13 tarpon per trip this season.

How do your tarpon fishing charters work?

We prefer to pick our customers up as early as possible…around 4am usually. The tarpon feed ferociously in the dark so this gives us a couple hours to target them before sunrise. As the sun rises, the bite usually starts slowing down and the hoard of other boats begin showing up. We usually have hooked at least 4 or 5 tarpon before any other boats have even shown up. Our preferred gear for targeting tarpon in Boca Grande Pass is conventional gear. We use Penn lever drag Fathom reels with 100lb braid, 60lb flourocarbon leader, 4oz lead, and 6/0 4X circle hook. We position the boat up current of the tarpon, lower our crabs or shrimp down to the depth of the tarpon, then drift through the fish. When the tarpon bite, your rod is usually slammed to the side of the boat. Within seconds, the tarpon is rushing to the surface and flying through the air! After either catching the fish or losing it, we repeat the drift over again until the trip has reached completion.

What are the tarpon eating?

The tarpon eat a wide range of things. Our preferred baits to use are crab and shrimp. They also eat threadfin herring, catfish, mullet, squirrelfish, etc.

Are there any tarpon on the beach yet?

We have not seen any tarpon on the beach yet but it shouldn’t be much longer. Once the tarpon start moving along the beaches of Boca Grande towards Englewood, we will occasionally target them using spinning gear. This allows you to get away from the crowd and have a more technical experience tarpon fishing.

Do you still have dates available for a tarpon fishing charter?

Yes, we have some dates left in both May and June if you are looking to get out and catch a silver king in the “tarpon capital of the world.”

If you’re interested in booking a charter, text or call us at 941-698-0323

Jesse and Kelly McDowall
www.floridainshorextream.com
https://www.youtube.com/@FloridaInshoreXtreamcharters
https://www.facebook.com/fixcharters

Fishing Charters Boca Grande report

March 2, 2023 Captain Kelly Leave a comment

Nearshore fishing

The nearshore fishing off of Boca Grande and Englewood has been on fire the last few weeks. We’ve been seeing a lot of sheepshead, snapper, triggerfish, smaller grouper, grunts, and plenty more on our nearshore fishing charters. We’ve been fishing 5-9 miles offshore. Our go to rig is a knocker rig with a 4/0 or 5/0 circle hook and a 1/2oz lead and bead. Our bait of choice right now is shrimp and we’ve been catching everything with it. Once the waters around Boca Grande start clearing up, we’ll be netting white bait and start primarily targeting snapper and grouper. We’ve also seen a few king mackerel making appearances so be on the lookout for one of those smokers.

Inshore Fishing

The inshore waters are heating up and the bite has been pretty good. Reds, snook, and trout are the main targets. Shrimp under a cork in the potholes or clear holes along the mangroves are sure to catch you a fish. Cut pinfish and ladyfish have been producing big snook.

Tarpon Fishing

Boca Grande tarpon season is right around the corner. We will start our Boca Grande tarpon fishing charters later this month and into April. May and June are the peak months when the most fish are in Boca Grande Pass. We start our tarpon fishing charters early to beat the crowds and heat.

Goliath Grouper Fishing

Our Boca Grande goliath grouper fishing charters will be starting this month as well. The waters are warming up and they should be feeding good.

Find us on YouTube or our websiteto see our videos and more information about our fishing charters.

BOCA GRANDE TARPON CHARTERS – BOOK NOW!

February 12, 2023 Captain Kelly Leave a comment

Boca Grande tarpon fishing will be upon us soon enough. Now is the time to look at your calendars and start planning your trip of a lifetime for the majestic silver king. Boca Grande Pass is one of the best locations to target tarpon. Nestled between the crowded cities of Sarasota and Ft Myers is our little slice of paradise. Tarpon begin arriving to our area in March and April. By May, there’s more tarpon here than imaginable. It’s not uncommon to see acres of rolling tarpon off the beaches of Boca Grande, Englewood, Placida and Captiva.

May and June are the peak times to catch Boca Grande tarpon but we’ll begin targeting tarpon in March and April and continue through July.

We have this term known as “hill tides” that we use when talking about the “best” tarpon fishing times. These are some of the biggest tides that we’ll see throughout the year. They occur around the new and full moon phases. We’ll see about a 2ft range of tide, which for our area is quite substantial. The dates below are Boca Grande’s new and full moons for 2023. On these strong hill tide days, the tide will begin to rage out of Boca Grande Pass…carrying crabs, threadies, and other food the tarpon sit waiting to devour. We usually begin these trips around 2 or 3pm and fish until sunset. It’s not uncommon to hook 10 fish during these trips.

BOCA GRANDE HILL TIDES

New moon – April 20
Full moon – May 5
New moon – May 19
Full moon – June 4
New moon – June 18

So if you’re looking to get into some Boca Grande tarpon action, give us a call today to secure your date for this tarpon season!

Florida Inshore Xtream
http://floridainshorextream.com
941-698-0323

Captains Jesse McDowall and Kelly McDowall
YouTube

CURRENT BOCA GRANDE AREA FISHING REPORT

The nearshore bite within 9 miles has been doing really well. We are seeing a good number of sheepshead, snapper, gag grouper, and smaller red grouper. As the water begins to warm up, we should start seeing mackerel move into the area.

Inshore, the redfish, snook, and trout bite has been consistent.

January 2023 Boca Grande fishing

January 24, 2023 Captain Kelly Leave a comment

Nearshore

2023 is off to a great start for the Charlotte Harbor and Boca Grande area. January has produced a great number of fish. When the weather has allowed, the nearshore bite has been on fire. Sheepshead, snapper, triggerfish, and grouper have been the main targets. We’ve been seeing some tripletail along the buoys as well. Further out, the red grouper bite has been consistent.

Inshore

Inshore, we’re seeing a lot of snook, redfish, and trout. For the snook and redfish, we’ve been soaking cut bait along the mangroves or in holes along the shorelines. Cut ladyfish has been producing better than cut pinfish. The white bait has been tough to find after the recent cold fronts, so we’ve been primarily using shrimp for bait. The inshore fish have been slurping them up. We’re seeing a lot of bait offshore so it’s only a matter of time before they head inshore and we’re consistently catching them. For the trout, we’ve been fishing in 3-4ft of water in what we call salt and pepper areas. These areas are comprised of a mix of sand holes (salt) and grass (pepper). A popper cork with either shrimp or white bait has been working great.

Tarpon and Goliath Grouper

In the coming weeks, we will begin targeting the ever sought after Boca Grande tarpon, aka silver king. The main season for Boca Grande tarpon fishing charters is May and June. We typically catch them throughout April as well when the waters are a lot less chaotic with a bunch of other boats. Another Boca Grande giant, the goliath grouper, has been making a comeback after the deadly red tide from 2018 that wiped out a significant number in our area. The cold front at the beginning of the year pushed some of the Boca Grande goliath grouper offshore but once the water continues to warm, they will be returning to fishable areas.

New Gear

Jesse and I have recently acquired a new sponsor, Bajio. This newly formed company places an emphasis on preserving and improving the environment around coastal communities. They go above and beyond what many other mainstream companies are doing. Bajio is carbon neutral and uses sustainable sources for most of their products.

Captains Jesse and Kelly McDowall
Florida Inshore Xtream charters
YouTube
941-698-0323

Boca Grande tarpon fishing charters – Book Now!

January 15, 2023 Captain Kelly Leave a comment

May and June are the peak times to catch Boca Grande tarpon but we’ll begin targeting tarpon in March and April and continue through July.

BOCA GRANDE HILL TIDES

New moon – April 20
Full moon – May 5
New moon – May 19
Full moon – June 4
New moon – June 18

So if you’re looking to get into some Boca Grande tarpon action, give us a call today to secure your date for this tarpon season!

Florida Inshore Xtream
http://floridainshorextream.com
941-698-0323

Captains Jesse McDowall and Kelly McDowall
YouTube

Current Boca Grande area fishing report

Inshore, the redfish, snook, and trout bite has been consistent.

Tarpon fishing April 28

April 29, 2022 Captain Jesse Leave a comment

The start to Boca Grande tarpon season has been nothing short of spectacular. Yesterday we took out Joe and Justin for a 40th birthday celebration. We wore them out!

We started early so we could catch the end of the outgoing tide bite and beat the crowds. We headed down to Boca Grande Pass and had 10 tarpon on before 7:30am. Joe and Justin were able to get 4 of the tarpon to the boat and the others came off during the fight.

Do you want to experience the thrill of catching the world famous Boca Grande tarpon? Give us a call and we can get you on the water chasing the silver kings.

Captains Jesse and Kelly McDowall

http://www.FloridaInshoreXtream.com

941-698-0323

http://Hukgear.com

Boca Grande tarpon fishing charter report

April 27, 2022 Captain Jesse Leave a comment

The last few days have been excellent for tarpon fishing around Boca Grande Pass.

Captains Jesse and Kelly McDowall

Florida Inshore Xtream

Boca Grande Apr 23 weekend fishing report

April 24, 2022 Captain Jesse Leave a comment

It was another good weekend of fishing in the Boca Grande Fl area. Saturday we solely targeted tarpon. We started off in Gasparilla Sound but there were few fish around. We headed down to Boca Grande Pass (tarpon capital on the world) and soon found thousands of fish. When fishing the pass, we prefer to use conventional reels and drop bait to the bottom. This allows us to know where exactly our baits are when presenting to the tarpon. We use either a 2 or 4oz lead, depending on current and conditions and have a 6-10ft leader with a 6/0 circle hook. Baits vary from crab, shrimp, pinfish, squirrelfish and more. We dropped baits down and within a couple drifts we hooked into our first tarpon. In the remaining 5hrs of the trip, our customers hooked into 8 more tarpon and missed a few more bites. The Boca Grande tarpon bite was hot that day.

Sunday we had a scheduled goliath grouper trip. Like always, we started out bowfishing for stingrays for bait. We put a few in the livewell and headed to Boca Grande Pass to catch the big dogs. Ben wasn’t on the fighting seat long before laying into his first goliath grouper. This was a little guy, estimated around 100lbs. We put on another bait and sent it down…bam! Goliath grouper on! Ben battled this one with all his might and we could tell it was a bigger grouper. He finally got it to the boat and we estimated the weight was 300-350lbs. After that fight with a giant goliath grouper, Ben called it quits and we headed to the dock.

Boca Grande fishing report – April 22

April 22, 2022 Captain Kelly Leave a comment

It was a windy day today! The negative tide coupled with a NE wind kept us out of some of our inshore spots we like to fish. We started off outside some of the bars catching trout and jacks while we waited for the incoming tide to bring in more water. We inched further into the bays and finished out the trip catching snook and redfish.

Boca Grande inshore fishing charter — Boca Grande redfish

Boca Grande inshore charter — Boca Grande snook

We also offer Boca Grande tarpon charters, goliath grouper, and nearshore charters. May and June we will be fishing for only goliath grouper and tarpon. The tarpon are starting to show up in Boca Grande Pass. We have a few days left so give us a call if you want to hook into a silver king.

Captains Jesse and Kelly McDowall
941-698-0323

Florida Inshore Xtream

YouTube