Entries by Capt. Billy Nobles

With the mild temps that we have been experiencing the fishing is absolutely on fire.  Earlier in the week Captain Mike and myself went out to film a show with one of the best artificial captains on the planet, Captain Geoff Page of Sarasota.  We caught a ton of speckled trout early in the morning on the negative low tide.  When the tide turned later we caught a hand full of redfish and headed out of New Pass and got beat up on by some boneheads or Bonita which ever you prefer.
 
Later in the week I fished in shore with E. C. Smith as we caught some beautiful trout the big one about  four or five pounds with quite a few snook as well with the big one just in the slot at 32-1/2”.  Look for these fish in their winter haunts where there is deep water close to shallow and that’s where they’ll be.
 
Friday we fished with Wayne Edmonds, Mike Moore, J.C., Wayne’s in-laws, Mike and Carol.  We headed off shore and came in with about 300 pounds of fish.  The lesser amberjack bite was incredible on top water, light tackle there’s no better.  The lesser AJ is an under rated fish when it comes to the table, they are fantastic and one of my favorites.  To catch these when you pull up to your spot and anchor put out a chum bag and start slinging live baits (greenies) and if there it won’t take long.
 
Be sure to check our TV show out on Saturday mornings at 6:30 and Sunday’s at 11:00 am on WFLA News Channel 8.   Call in on Sunday’s to WDAE the Sports Animal for our radio version of The Reel Animals Fishing Show to win some cool fish gear.  Until next week “Do yourself a favor and take a kid fishin’.”

With the wind blowing near twenty to twenty five knots out of the north northeast, fishing is tough.  If you are a die hard there are some places you can still fish.  One of my favorite places is the residential canals that we have all over Tampa Bay.  The water should be in early in the morning and by lunch time will be gone and way gone with the high winds.  When fishing the docks the higher the water the closer to the shore is where the fish will tend to lay.  As the water drops, they will move out to the end of the docks.  The fish that you can expect to catch there range from snook, redfish, trout, sheep head, snapper, and grouper.  If the wind is to tough for you to get out and catch bait don’t sweat it shrimp are great, as well as artificial, from jigs to hard baits, and hauling out a keeper snook from up under a dock is nothing short of heart stopping.
 
We fished a charity tournament on Friday, The Trey Curry Foundation Tournament, with Colton Curry, Morgan and Mark Proctor and there were some nice fish caught.  I thought, with the wind and the water temp dropping our 30” snook would do great, but we were beat out by a 31 ½” and a 31” snook.  So I thought that our 20” trout would be respectable and believe it or not a 26” trout was taken.  A lot of people caught a lot of fish for a great cause.
 
Offshore the kingfish are thick as thieves from the beaches of Anna Maria to the Clearwater hard bottom.  There is a tournament this weekend so there will be plenty of boats on the water.  If your looking for that one big smoker look inside the bay.
 
Be sure to catch us on Saturday mornings @ 6:30 and Sunday mornings at 11:00 on The Reel Animals Fishing Show, on WFLA News Channel 8 and call in Sunday’s from 7-9am to 620 AM WDAE The Sports Animal to win some cool fish gear.  Until next time do yourself a favor and take a kid fishin’.

With the temperatures dropping   the last or first cold front of the year let me tell ya the bite is on fire!!!  Not!  Folks this week’s bite has been tough.  We have caught fish but man we worked for it.  Captain Mike and I ran a trip on Thursday together and we caught keeper snook, redfish, and trout with a couple of small flounder in the mix but it was a struggle to put together a string of fish.  We have another front coming through this afternoon and judging the condition of the fish we caught the bite should be happening this morning ahead of the front.  The snook we caught earlier in the week were railed out, kinda looked like the Olsen twins, way too skinny so they should eat.  You’ve got to have a plan, not necessarily a good plan but a plan none the less.
 
The grouper bite continues to be great when the wind and waves will let you out we are also getting reports of black fin tuna out in the 90’ range.  The bite in the bay is going off as well as grouper trolling Guru Vance Tice of Tight Lines Tackle is absolutely smoking the grouper along the ship channel.  With the water temps in the mid seventies our fall kingfish run is in full swing with plenty of schoolies to be had along the beaches and the occasional smoker mixed in.  One of my favorite baits for the kings is when we catch a smaller sized Spanish mackerel put that guy out he won’t live long if there’s a smoker in the vicinity so be sure to have a reel with plenty of line capacity and run the drag at about four pounds of pressure to prevent the hooks from pulling.
 
Be sure to tune in to News Channel 8 on Saturday mornings at 6:30 and Sunday’s at eleven for The Reel Animals Fishing Show, and call in to WDAE 620 The Sports Animal on Sunday’s from 7-9am to win some cool fish gear on our call in radio show.  Until next time do yourself a favor and take a kid fishin’

Man is it ever going to cool down?  That is the question many are asking.  With temperatures reminding us of summer rather than that of fall it makes us tend to want to fish the summer time patterns.  That could be good but let’s ask the question what makes things do what they do?  Is it temperature, is it the moon, is it the tides and the answer is yes.  All of these factors play a part in making not only fish but animals and man behave a certain way.  I think especially in the fall the thing that makes “stuff” happen is the shorting of daylight.  I know with me during the summer I’ll slim down some but sure as God made little green apples come October I start to “bulk up”.  That being said our water temps are in the 80’s still and it is hot.  Now remember the days are getting shorter so therefore our fall redfish are here.  Not only are the redfish here but the King Mackerel are here, grouper are moving in closer.  So when you go out fishing you may start on the summer patterns but be willing to mix it up a little as the fish do have tails and know how to use them locating in different spots from day to day.

I spoke with Captain Shaun Crawford of Bradenton and he is killing the King’s right off the beach anchoring up and chumming for them on hard bottom.  I have also had quite a few reports of large gag grouper coming in from the forty foot deep water in the gulf.  I personally have not been out into the gulf this week because the grouper bite inshore is going off as well.  Weather your grouper fishing in the bay or in the gulf have a rod with a flat line at the ready as large cobia are about as well and in the gulf there are still schools of Mahi Mahi around.

With the days getting shorter and hopefully cooler in the near future it has our fish, namely grouper and cobia on the move.  This Wednesday I had the pleasure of fishing longtime friends Jack Thompson, Todd Frankel, and William Woodriff.  We sat off to hit an inshore wreck.  Captain Mike and I shot a show on Tuesday on this particular wreck catching Spanish mackerel, jack crevalle, and mangrove snapper.  On Wednesday morning we were catching Spanish when all of a sudden flying out of the water like a Polaris Missile was a tarpon in the 110 pound range.  This was way cool but not much could be done with him on 10 pound test line.  It wasn’t long after that the snapper showed up and then something big rocked Jack up.  We messed around with it for about 10 minutes after it tangled in our marker line we landed the fish and you guessed it was a gag grouper just a little of 26” long!  Now I no that it's no big deal, but on 10 pound test spinning gear, the stuff we use for snook and redfish.  We started pouring the chum to them and the grouper bite was on fish from 5 – 15 pounds coming over the rail, not to mention the snapper and Spanish in the mix.  Todd and I look over the side and there are two cobia by the transom in the 40 pound range just hanging out, William threw a bait out and bam fish on.  Unfortunately the brown bomber ran William into and around the wreck and it was over.  The day yielded a limit of grouper, plenty of Spanish, and snapper.  With the fall approaching this fishery should really heat up.  Be sure to really chum up these wrecks as this seems to be the key at least for me it is.
 
Be sure to check us out on Saturday mornings at 6:30 am on News Channel 8 and call in to our radio show The T. A. Mahoney Reel Animals Fishing Show on Sunday’s from 7-9 on 620 WDAE The Sports Animal to give us your reports and a chance to win some cool fish gear.  Also visit us on the web @ www.reelanimalsfishingshow.com or call 1-866-GAMEFISH to book your trip today.  Until next time, “Do yourself a favor and take a kid fishin’.”

Well the mornings this week seemed a little cooler letting us know that that fabulous fall fishing is upon us.  This week off-shore yielded plenty of grouper up to twenty five pounds with a nice mix of snapper in the lot.  I spoke with a gentleman out of O’Neill’s marinia on Tuesday and he reported good size wahoo out in 100’ of water due west of Egmont Key.  The deep water wrecks are covered in Bonita, sharks big sharks and amberjacks both lesser and greater.  I tell you the lesser amberjack is awesome table fare with some of the mildest whitest meat you’ll find and the limits are gracious.
 
Inshore, the snook bite has fired off in the typical summer/fall transition spots with a lot of big gals making their way back from the spawn.  Reports of large schools of redfish are pouring in around the bay it seems a new school shows up about every week.  Looking on the flats there are some huge I mean huge trout, not many but hopefully this is a great sign that our trout fishery has almost recovered from the red tide that happened a few years ago.
 
In the middle of the bay there are acres of Spanish mackerel from the beginning to the end of the shipping channel with large fish up to 7 pounds these fish are great for kids and grown ups alike.  The inshore wrecks are and rock piles are still holding mangrove or grey snapper which ever you prefer to call them.
 
It seems the best bite has been early and playing out by mid afternoon with water temps approaching the high 80’s by that point.  Be ready though, fall is just around the corner with promises of kingfish, and huge schools of redfish and the like, grouper are moving in closer and closer on each moon I promise it won’t be long.
 
Be sure to check us out on Saturday mornings on News Channel 8 at 6:30 am and on Sunday at 11 am for The Reel Animals Fishing Show and call in to 1040 am from 8-10am as next week we will be returning to WDAE 620 am The Sports Animal Sunday from 7-9 am where the Reel Animals Fishing Team got our start some nine years ago.  So until next time, “Do yourself a favor and take a kid fishin’.”

All of you have heard since boy scouts to be prepared.  This motto carries on through out life and especially when fishing.  Earlier this week we fished James Bubba Turner and E. C. Smith.  We left O’Neil’s Marina out of Saint Pete around seven in the morning.  Joining us was my longtime friend Captain Shaun Crawford of Bradenton.  We ran some thirty mile after catching a well full of bait.  The forecast was for calm seas but it was solid 3-5 footers in the morning so it took a while to find our spot.  Once we were anchored up it didn’t take long for the grouper bite to turn on.  We had been catching a lot of keeper fish on this spot but for some reason the shorts had moved in.  As we were chumming a school of dolphin, that’s right Mahi Mahi moved in to pull our attention away from the grouper.  As quickly as the appeared they disappeared and we were back to grouper.  About that time Bubba lands a nice 15 pound red grouper after getting broke off by a toad.  As we were thinking about leaving E. C. exclaims the flat line, the flat line he grabs the rod as goes even further, I’ve got a Sail Fish!”  Guys let me tell you this fish put on a show, with explosive runs and jumps this was the first sail I or Captain Shaun have caught of our Tampa Bay waters.  The sail made the trip worth while for all.  After the sail we ran to a near by wreck for some snapper and Amberjacks both greater and lesser and let me tell you the lesser AJ’s are great on the table, better than grouper to me.

With the temps being hot the water’s hot so you’ve gotta go deep.  Earlier this week I fished with Keith, Gene, Wade and Amy and to be honest this was the first day we were able to fish on Tampa Bay since returning from Boca Grande.  We tried to go out and scout prior to the trip but Mother Nature had other plans.  Our morning started out with Amy landing a 12 pound triple tail on our first cast.  Then we were off to one of my favorite snapper holes.  We caught a limit of snapper between 1-1/2 and 3 pounds, not too shabby for inside the bay.  Then we were after the silver king or should I say prince because the fish we were targeting are in the ten to thirty pound range but on light tackle and ten pound test line they are awesome.  We jumped ten or eleven and landed one that was around twenty pounds.

The Mangrove Snapper bite is on all over the bay as well as the Spanish mackerel bite. 

The bait of choice is as with everything this time of year is green backs, pilchards, or whitebait or scaled sardines they are all the same critter.  Just anchor up on a rock pile and start chumming.  Run a couple of flat lines out the back, a couple on the bottom and hold on.  Another tip is on you flat lines run with long shank hooks as the mackerel are rather toothy critters and this will help alleviate some of the cut offs.  Once catching a mackerel cut him in half and cast up current with a heavy rod and the man in the gray suit will be more that happy to play.  There are literally thousands of sharks in the bay during this time of year.

Be sure to check us out on Saturdays at 6:30 am and Sundays at 11:00 am for The Reel Animals Fishing Show on New Channel 8 and call on Sundays from 8-10am to 1040 ESPN Radio for a chance to win some cool fish gear.  Please visit us on the web @ www.reelanimalsfishingshow.com or call 1-866 GAMEFISH and until next time “Do yourself a favor and take a kid fishin’.”

I wish that I could tell you that we slayed them this week but all of you would know that I’d be lying but there were reports of huge schools of redfish on Progress Village Drive.  Wow what rain but we needed it.  That being said, I spoke with Captain Tommy LaOrange who reported last week while grouper and snapper fishing left out his flat line while changing locations when all of a sudden he hears the drag scream.  He didn’t realize the line was still out they reeled it in and there was a 17 pound Mahi or dolphin fish so he re-rigged started trolling again and bam a 22 pounder and they were only 20 miles off Clearwater Beach.  As I’ve been telling you the near shore wrecks are loaded with all the snappers, grouper, scamp, kingfish, cobia, and permit just to name a few.  The only thing is you need to be ready for anything, as anything can happen.  For instance a few years ago Captain Larry McQuire of Cortez just 26 miles off Bradenton Beach hooked up with a 350 pound Blue Marlin and was able to do so because of having the proper tackle and being quick on his feet and hooking up the fish when the opportunity presented itself.
 
We just got back from Boca Grande and I have to say we caught more fish this year than I have in the past 10 but the fish were acting weird you could not really pattern them what worked one day may not work the next you just had to figure it out on a day by day basis and there was no rhyme or reason to it.
 
In the bay snook are spawning so remember to treat momma with care, but it’s OK to give her a little exercise.  The mangrove snapper bite should be on absolute fire as well as the juvenile tarpon.  On the beaches tarpon remain king.  While snook fishing off the beach in Anna Maria Gary Caccippo hooked a tarpon on a green back on his snook outfit.  Needless to say he had to go home for more line.  Boy that had to be a hoot.
 
Be sure to tune in Saturday Mornings at 6:30 am and Sunday’s at 11 am for The Reel Animals Fishing Show and call in Sunday’s from 8-10 with your reports to ESPN Radio 1040 AM to win some cool stuff.  Please visit us on the web @ www.reelanimalsfishingshow.com or call 866-GAMEFISH to book your dream trip and until next time “Do yourself a favor and take a kid fishin’”.

Well the tarpon bite in Boca Grande this week just plain got weird. 

They didn’t really want to chew the first part of the week but according to Capt. Mike Thursday was pretty good in the harbor, the best all week. For the past couple of week’s threadfin herring has been the bait of choice up there which is weird because we all know that tarpon come to Boca to spawn and eat crabs, go figure.  Off shore was pretty insane on Thursday as well.  We fished Jim and Kim Crawford of Kansas City, MO our first stop yielded Amberjacks up to 40 pounds.  Jim kept on getting robbed or school girled (which ever you prefer) by a huge Jew fish every time he’d hook a grouper.  One of the smaller Amberjacks came up and looked like he’d be through an electric scaler our Volkswagen sized friend tried to eat but it didn’t work out for him but it did for us.  The next stop brought more AJ’s, Scamp, Yellowtail Snapper, Lesser Amberjacks, Mutton Snapper, Mangrove Snapper and Vermillion Snapper.  Earlier we had caught plenty of American Reds on this spot but I guess someone told them the season was open.  Captain Gunner Gause is absolutely hammering the big snook on the beaches with his client’s wade fishing using live green backs with fish over the forty inch mark.  It’s pretty much that time of year when you can do it all.
 
I spoke with Captain Rodney Martin of Tampa and he reports that the tarpon fishing in the bay is quote, “Off The Hook!” fishing the sky way they’re catching plenty of tarpon mixed in with cobia, king mackerel, and grouper.  The cool thing about fishing there is as hot as it is you get to sit in the shade until your line gets tight.  But according to Rodney there hasn’t been much sitting in the shade with all the hot action.

As you know Captain Mike and I are down south in Boca Grande until the end on this month and maybe a little into July.  The tarpon are everywhere; I have never seen so many fish on the beach in my 15 years of making the annual pilgrimage to the tarpon capital of the world.  The fishing last week was unreal.  I fished Ray Thill, Nate “The Whooper” and Dominic Cendric with one of the best trips thus far this year.  These guys hooked up a whopping 23 tarpon.  I think the slept good that night.  We even had a close call with a 17 foot giant hammerhead, a black behemoth, and captured the whole thing on video.  The secret to catching these fish on the beach and up in the harbor is to get by yourself, don’t pull in and get in the crowd.  It seems that when the fish are on the hill the pass mentality sets in and the pods of fish get over run with boats and fishermen that just don’t know better.  There is a big difference between 50 feet of water and 10.
 
Off shore Capt. Mike’s been whaling on the Kingfish up to 40 pounds.  I think his smallest is 25 with several 30-35 pounders.  It seems that every wreck is holding permit with different size fish on different wrecks.  For example on wreck will hold 10-15 pounders another 20-30’s and some 40 pounders.  The farther wrecks are holding great numbers of greater amberjack and lesser amberjack, scamp, black and red grouper, and snapper. 
 
Our typical day is tarpon in the morning, interrupted midday for the offshore stuff and then one last rally with the silver king in the afternoon.
 
Be sure to check us out on Saturday mornings on Channel 8 WFLA at 6:30 am and Sunday’s at 11 am.  Call in your fishing reports on Sunday’s from 8-10am on ESPN Radio 1040AM and until next week, “Do yourself a favor and take a kid fishin’

It would be easier for me to tell ya'll what's not biting rather than what is.  There are huge schools of redfish around the mouth of the bay, spanish all in the bay, snook in every pass around the bay, kingfish on fire along the beaches, cobia and permit on the nearshore wrecks, trout on the flats, snapper on docks, tarpon in the bay, huge sharks, what do you want.  On Thursday I fished long time client Tom Shiber, Wade Faircloth and Tom's son Drew.  I started fishing Drew when he was only five years old, he is now twelve.  I have watched this young man grow over the years and his passion for fishing has only grown each and every year.  On our trip we went permit fishing Drew caught and landed a twenty five pounder and a thirteen pounder respectively with our big fish weighing twenty eight pounds.  There were several cobia there as well we had one follow the twenty eight pounder that weighed sixty pounds if he was and ounce.  There was another charter captain on the spot, his name was Tom and sorry I can't remember his last name, but he and his clients landed an eight two pound cobia.
 
Mike has been working the bay area docks catching over the slot snook and snapper up to four pounds along with hundreds of redfish.  If you see him just pull up right beside him he loves that, tell him I told you it's OK.  Just kidding.  But seriously if you see someone working a school of reds or anything please be courteous and show them the same respect that you would like them to show you.
 
Bait is at all the area bridges and piers and has show up in droves on the flats.  In the deeper water marking them on the bottom machine has worked the best for me.  On the flats you can chum them up pretty easily or rodeo them (idle until you see them then throw the net).  Be sure to check us out on Saturday's at 6:30 am and Sunday's at 11 am Channel 8 WFLA on The Reel Animals Fishing Show and call in on Sunday's from 8-10 1040am ESPN radio as our guest this week is Art Paiva AKA Snooky Bear to win some cool fish stuff. 

In the Tampa Saint Pete area there are well over 2,000 licensed boat captains/fishing guides.  Out of these there is only a handful of "CHARTER CAPTAINS" in the area.  Let me tell you about our week as Captain Mike and myself are filming for the television show.
On Monday we were unsure if we would be able to film because of weather, we were scheduled to fish with Captain Doug Hemmer.  At four a.m. the wind was blowing only 11 knots, I called the troops and we were to meet seven a.m.  At seven the wind was howling about 20 knots and a front was bearing down scheduled to arrive around noon.  Folks we were in the 30' Dorado and it was too rough to get bait at the skyway.  Doug says,"Artificial it is" and we were off.  I didn't think we'd catch a fish but a true professional at his craft, Hemmer managed to put together a great string of trout for us just as the front arrived and the winds were approaching 30 knotsand blew us off the water.
 
On Thursday we were scheduled to fish with Captain Jamie Goodwin, we were to meet at 11:00am as the tide would not be high enough until then.  Jamie and Mike went out early caught bait and scouted around a bit before picking up myself and the crew.  We went and checked out a spot or two on the way to the redfish Jamie had been catching earlier in the week.  As we get there the tide is almost dead high so the fish were finicky and Capt. Goodwin has us throwing live bait, dead bait, half dead bait and on jig heads, hooks with split shots and just hooks.  Every combination caught fish but no more than one fish each.  When the tide turned to run out as our friend Captain Tommy LaOronge would say, "Oh Mylanta!!" it was like a switched flipped with double and triple hook ups on over slot and slot sized redfish.  It was so crazy the Mike (having take a fly fishing class) caught his first fish on a fly rod.  Jamie looked at me and said,"Come on it's your turn."  Guys the extent of my fly rod experience is as a kid using one as if it were a cane pole, suffice to say I ain't no Flip Pallot by any stretch.  With about 10 seconds of instruction from Jamie, I'm attempted to fly fish, but was accused of building a dream catcher.  I had two fish chase the fly as I was frantically stripping the line and the third time was the charm, FISH ON!!!!  We landed the fish and she was around the 29" mark. 
 
I guess the point of all of this is here are two guys that make there living on the water.  The first, Captain Doug Hemmer, didn't have a lot to work with weather wise, and worked hard and made it happen in spite of the conditions he was delt.  The second, Captain Jamie Goodwin, started out with no moving water, made the fish eat anyway, and when the fish went crazy, turned Mike and myself onto a whole new realm of fishing with the fly rod.  I tell you both of these gentlemen are not fishing guides.  THEY ARE CHARTER CAPTAINS.

The wind this week has made fishing tough. I have not ventured offshore, but I fished inshore on Wednesday, and it was howling. We were on a ton of fish, but we couldn’t really get them biting like they were before the funky weather pattern sat in.

Captain Mike and I got to do something really cool on Tuesday. We went and shot an episode of “The Reel Animals Fishing Show” in Orlando. And yes I know there is no saltwater in Orlando.
We went to Disney and fished for bass on the resort lakes with guide Carrie Bronson.

I was excited, because all of us have seen the Disney lakes on television with the BASS tournaments and all of the other fishing events that have been filmed there. Let me tell you, that is quite a fishery they have there.

They have tons of fish in the 2- to 5-pound range. Carrie said the largest she has pulled out weighed 14 pounds, but she said they are more the exception than the rule.

The guides offer live bait fishing for families of up to five, or you can run a strictly artificial trip. That’s what Mike and I did.

I thought we were special for being able to fish Disney, but then I found out that anyone can fish there anytime. You don’t even have to stay at the resort. All you have to do is call to book your trip, then show up and catch some bass, then go home.

I hope all of you fishermen are home today, as the forecast is calling for winds up to 30 knots. It’s a good time to get your house and boat in order.

On April 6 at Tight Lines Tackle at 6924 N. Armenia Ave. in Tampa, Vance Tice, The Reel Animals and a host of well-known charter captains and lure manufacturers are hosting the first class of The Reel Animals Fishing Academy.

We will be covering everything, from knots to offshore spreads and anything in between.