6.2.25 INLAND

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Name of Captain; John Grieder
Where were you fishing? OTHER
Is this a tournament entry Fishing Report; No
The date you went fishing; 06-02-2025
Your Name; John Grieder
Your Fishing Report: If this is a tournament report do not state the fish’s length in this box. State the length and species in the box below Close encounters of the alligator kind.

After doing a little yard work, I thought I’d take a quick break and see if the fish were biting in the pond behind my house.

While trying my luck with a jitterbug (a topwater lure) I attracted the attention of a good sized (6 foot) alligator who approached stealthily and came to a stop to check out what was causing the disturbance on the surface in front of him.  Since he was giving me the hairy eyeball I moved down along the bank of the pond, which, since there hadn’t been a lot of rain, was about a foot or two below normal with somewhat of a small flat area that tapered back to the water.  I wasn’t having much luck with the jitterbug so I had switched up to a gold minnow crankbait.

Right about then I called to my wife, who was sitting out on the lanai, to tell her Mr. Alligator was watching me.  She came to the edge of the lanai and as I was reeling in the minnow I said, “Now watch this, I’ll probably get a bite right now.”

And sure enough I did!  And he was a good sized one, too!  So I’m reeling this nice largemouth bass in and, of course, Mr. A sees his lunch being snatched away from him and makes a mad reptilian dash for it.  As I’m hustling backwards dragging the flopping fish along behind me, this alligator is making a charge for his meal and actually came out of the water in a flash.  But he thankfully stopped short of coming up on the grass as there was about a two foot embankment he would have had to climb since the pond was so low.

My wife was trying to get the action on her phone but only succeeded with a short video of the alligator being pissed off after I had told the fish to beware of his presence in the future
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No time to post the pic – still cleaning out my shorts.

5.15.25 INSHORE

Posted on by
Name of Captain; John Grieder
Where were you fishing? INSHORE
Is this a tournament entry Fishing Report; No
The date you went fishing; 05-16-2025
Your Name; Frank Bellizio
Your Fishing Report: If this is a tournament report do not state the fish’s length in this box. State the length and species in the box below Friday was the day to be on the water. It was warm but not too hot and the winds were down so John and I headed out for an afternoon of inshore fishing.  We fished at the south end of Anclote Key on the spoils and picked up some nice size trout and a remora. We decided to give the area north near Marker 4 and did not have a lot of luck there, just a few small trout so we went back to the area between marker 5 in front of the power plant we we spent the rest of the afternoon catching small to large trout.  It was a great day on the water with a good friend and lots of fish boated. We used fresh shrimp, fish bites, top water and gulp.
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5.18.25 INSHORE

			
						

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Name of Captain;
Dencil Powell




Where were you fishing?
INSHORE




Is this a tournament entry Fishing Report;
Yes




The date you went fishing;
05-18-2025




Your Name;
Laura Neri




Your Fishing Report: If this is a tournament report do not state the fish’s length in this box. State the length and species in the box below
Chassahowitzka Bay

9am

In a school of mullet		











































					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
5.9.25 INSHORE

			
						

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Name of Captain;
Frank Bellizio




Where were you fishing?
INSHORE




Is this a tournament entry Fishing Report;
No




The date you went fishing;
05-09-2025




Your Name;
John Grieder




Your Fishing Report: If this is a tournament report do not state the fish’s length in this box. State the length and species in the box below
Frank Bellizio asked me to go out on his boat in search of The Menagerie and we succeeded:  Our catch included (both a bunch and a few of) black drum, mangrove snapper, southern puffer, black seabass, pinfish, lizzardfish, remora, squirrelfish, speckled seatrout and ladyfish.  (The last two on a topwater lure – yippie!)


A nice breeze and the temperature not too, too hot made for a great day on the water.  Thanks, Frank!





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5.2.25 INSHORE

			
						

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Name of Captain;
John Grieder




Where were you fishing?
INSHORE




Is this a tournament entry Fishing Report;
No




The date you went fishing;
05-02-2025




Your Name;
John Grieder




Your Fishing Report: If this is a tournament report do not state the fish’s length in this box. State the length and species in the box below
Fanciful Friday fishing fete!


Lori and I got out there on the flats and had a blast catching lots of trout and Spanish mackerel.


They’re baaaaaaack!





Type a question
Yes






  

					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
4.22.25 KEY WEST OFFSHORE

			
						

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Name of Captain;
Greg Mercurio




Where were you fishing?
OFFSHORE




Is this a tournament entry Fishing Report;
No




The date you went fishing;
04-22-2025




Your Name;
Jack Hexter




Your Fishing Report: If this is a tournament report do not state the fish’s length in this box. State the length and species in the box below
David Diehl and I (jack Hexter) traveled to Key West to fish on the 100′ boat Yankee Capts.  We were targeting Mutton Snapper, Red Grouper and Blackfin Tuna..We drove to Marathon on Sunday, April 20, and picked up 4 dozen primo baits (Goggle Eyes) from a supplier at $60.00 a dozen  (Who says fishing is cheap.)  Saturday we continued our trip to the lower keys arriving at the boat in plenty of time to enjoy a lunch at the Hogfish Grill.  The boat was set to depart at 3:00 PM and did so right on time, but with only 9 paying fishermen, we had plenty of room on the rail.  Did I mention that it was blowy and seas were lumpy, Minimum 15-20 the whole trip and seas were occasionally 7′.  we arrived at our first stop, a place known as half way ledge, 14 1/2 hours after departing.  I should mention that fishing was SLOW.  We fished for 2 1/2 days.  ave ended the trip with 1 Mutton 1 red grouper and1 tuna.  I ended up boxing only 1 mutton and 1 red grouper.  We also ended up fighting a LOT of BIG sharks, both those that too our baits and those that took our fish.  We arrived back at the dock very early on  April 27 and drove the 9 1/2 hours home from Key West.  I have been going on this boat , usually twice a year for about 35 years and this was one of the slowest I’ve ever seen it.  I will say the anglers who were using slow pitch rods and that technique were doing a lot better than we fishermen who were bait fishing.  On one occasion, I was fighting a shark and got it about 20′ from the surface when it swam up and bit another anglers mutton snapper in half.  Another unusual tidbit on this trip was when another angler and I hooked up on a grouper at the same time, each of us pulling the fish up.    Usually in circumstances like this, the deepest hooks wins the fish but in this case, both hooks were in the fishes mouth and no one could tell who had the deepest hook, the were both hooked in opposite corners of the mouth.. My hook was 7/0 circle and the other angler had a long jig.  We decided to split the fish at the dock, but after seeing how few fish I had caught (2) and realizing he had he had about 10, he decided to present me with the second half






























					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
4.24.25 INSHORE

			
						

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Name of Captain;
Frank Bellizio




Where were you fishing?
INSHORE




Is this a tournament entry Fishing Report;
No




The date you went fishing;
04-24-2025




Your Name;
Frank Bellizio




Your Fishing Report: If this is a tournament report do not state the fish’s length in this box. State the length and species in the box below
Dave and I were scheduled for a day of fishing with Capt Dencil, but he had an injury the day before, so we took my boat out to see what we could find.  It was a beautiful day on the water. The fishing was slow at the first couple of spots we tried.  We managed to catch a few spotted trout and a mackerel, but we finally found a place where the spotted trout just kept coming continuously.  Most of the trout were between 14 and 20 inches. It was a great fishing trip with an old friend.




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4.18.25 INSHORE

			
						

				Posted on   by  			

			
					


				

			
















Name of Captain;
John Grieder




Where were you fishing?
INSHORE




Is this a tournament entry Fishing Report;
No




The date you went fishing;
04-18-2025




Your Name;
Frank Bellizio




Your Fishing Report: If this is a tournament report do not state the fish’s length in this box. State the length and species in the box below
Friday was an excellent day to be on the water.  John and I made it out to Mark 4 by the crack of noon in expectation of finding mackeral. But…. we just didn’t find any.  What we did find was ladyfish, all kinds of them.  We caught a few trout of small to medium size but for the most part we played with the jumping fish.  When not fishing for the pot it is hard to beat ladyfish for fun fishing.  Thank you Capt John for a great day on the water.




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4.23.25 OFFSHORE

			
						

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Name of Captain;
Carlos (BOTTOMS UP CHARTERS)




Where were you fishing?
OFFSHORE




Is this a tournament entry Fishing Report;
No




The date you went fishing;
04-23-2025




Your Name;
Bruce Archambault




Your Fishing Report: If this is a tournament report do not state the fish’s length in this box. State the length and species in the box below
On Wednesday the 23rd of April I was fishing with CPT Carlos of Bottoms Up Fishing Excursions out of Tarpon Springs on an 8 hour 6 pack charter.


We were targeting Red Grouper and a Lane Snapper bycatch in 90′-100′ of water roughly 40 miles offshore from Anclote Key. Our bait was frozen sardines 4″-5″ long, frozen squid chunks and cut bait from some of the trash fish we caught.


Fishing was consistent all day long.


For every keeper Red Grouper we caught 6 only an inch or two short were caught and released.


Of note was an absolutely huge American Red Snapper (ASR) which was photographed and released.  I will post the photo if I can get a copy.


Seas were calm but picked up the later part of the afternoon.  I caught and brought a 10′ sandbar shark to the side of the boat before it was broken off.


Carlos is scheduled to be our guest speaker for the General Membership meeting on Tuesday May 13th.





















  













					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
4.19.25 INSHORE

			
						

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Name of Captain;
Capt Michael Paone




Where were you fishing?
INSHORE




Is this a tournament entry Fishing Report;
No




The date you went fishing;
04-19-2025




Your Name;
Michael Paone




Your Fishing Report: If this is a tournament report do not state the fish’s length in this box. State the length and species in the box below
Once again the wind was blowing, had to find spots to tuck into. Reds up 251/2” over slot trout with the largest at 21 1/2” fish responded best to white bait .




Type a question
Yes