A warm, beautiful, clear day.  Very little breeze on the gulf side of the islands.

We took a break from fishing this morning and Hank and I took a charter snorkeling.

We headed to North Captiva.  The weather really cooperated.  The gulf was very still, like glass, which made for a very nice snorkeling morning!

We also did a bit of sightseeing around an old fish house and other interesting relics of history around Captiva, North Captiva and Useppa.

Captain Joey Burnsed ~ call 239-472-8658 or email captjoefred@gmail to book a charter.

I went to a memorial service for Captain Jerry Way yesterday.  Jerry passed away in late February after a long fight with cancer.  He was a longtime fishing guide on Sanibel and Captiva, he knew the waters really well.  He was also a terrific person.  We’ll miss him.

Here is a link to Jerry’s obituary in the Captiva Current:

http://www.captivasanibel.com/page/content.detail/id/510627/Jerry-Way.html?nav=5052

We are heading out again this morning looking for tarpon, but I thought I would post a video on the site.

Hank, my labrador retriever,  usually joins me on the boat and has become quite the experienced and knowledgeable fisherman and companion.  Hank has become a bit jaded in terms of “small fish” and usually just keeps sleeping (with the exception of ladyfish which he likes to lick – how he knows it is a ladyfish and not a trout, spanish mackerel, etc. is a mystery).

Hank really only gets motivated when he hears the shark rod reel ticking and he knows something big is on the line.  He loves getting involved in big game fishing and barking at tarpon and sharks.  Last spring, he became so excited while I had a tarpon on the line that he decided to take control of the situation and jump in the water on top of the tarpon.  This is not the best idea and is not encouraged.  Where there are tarpon -there are sharks.  No worries – we quickly fished Hank out and he came out of this adventure in good shape:  Labrador jumping on tarpon.

We are now careful to tie hang up once we hear that shark reel moving.  Here is a video of a bull shark Charlie, a buddy of mine, caught and released a couple weeks ago.  Apologies is advance for the poor cinematography:  bull shark caught and released of Captiva .

Captain Joey Burnsed ~ call 239-472-8658 or email captjoefred@gmail to book a charter.

Another, warm, beautiful day for a charter!

We’re out looking for some of the early tarpon that have moved into Pine Island Sound – looking to catch the first one of the season!

So far we’ve only caught and released a few sharks, including a nice one!

Captain Joey Burnsed ~ call 239-472-8658 or email captjoefred@gmail to book a charter.

I got the boat back on the water after having it serviced yesterday.

I was out early throwing the cast net to catch bait fish.  It was another beautiful Captiva sunrise!

We fished a small tournament out of Tween Waters today and came if first with a 22″ sea trout, 26″ snook and 15.5″ redfish.

It is good to see to see the snook coming back a bit.  The winter of 2009/2010 was brutally cold and the water temperature dropped so unusually low that it killed many snook, which are particularly sensitive to water temperature.  This winter was comparatively warm and mild and that has helped a lot.

Another good day.

Tides @ Redfish Pass, Captiva 4-08-2011: low @ 8:57 a.m. and high @ 3:00 p.m.

Today’s temperatures: low 72 and high 86.

Captain Joey Burnsed ~ call 239-472-8658 or email captjoefred@gmail to book a charter.

Out early with a charter focused on shelling.

It is cool & windy this morning, 58 degrees and northeast winds at 15 knots.

Low tide was at 8:30 AM so it should be a great morning of shelling along Captiva, North Captiva and Cayo Costa beaches.

Captain Joey Burnsed ~ Call 239-472-8658 to book a charter.

We fished the Captiva Rod & Gun Club annual fishing tournament today.  We competed against the top ten anglers on Captiva.

The weather was wet and windy but it was a good day!

The fish were biting.  We came in first place with a 22″ sea trout, a 29″ redfish and a 31″ snook.  We also caught additional trout, snook, jack creville, flounder and a large goliath grouper.

The Captiva Rod & Gun Club tournament kicks off the tournament season.

Hopefully, our luck continues in the tournaments through the spring, summer and fall!

Captain Joey Burnsed ~ Call 239-472-8658 to book a charter.

The water has been very cloudy and choppy and the fishing very poor over the last several days in both the bay and gulf off Captiva and Sanibel; no one has been catching anything.

Although tarpon are beginning to move in and, before the bad weather, had been sighted in substantial numbers, the wind, the rain and cloudiness of the water has prevented catching or even seeing them over the last several days.

The weather broke this morning and the winds decreased substantially.  It was the beginning of a beautiful day and, hopefully, a run of good weather and better fishing days.

We went out early and setup in Redfish pass to catch some ladyfish to use as cut bait for tarpon and, more likely, sharks.  It was still quite bumpy in the pass on the incoming tide, but we anchored very close to the beach on the Upper Captiva side of the pass, casting shrimp toward the rocks, and almost immediately caught a nice black drum.  We also caught a small snook and several other fish, but no ladyfish.

We saw some birds diving nearby in the bay and headed to see if we could catch some ladyfish and/or spanish mackerel.  We quickly caught several ladyfish on jigs and headed north, just off Buck Key, to see if we could find some tarpon or sharks.  We anchored up and within 30 minutes had a 4-5 foot bullhead shark on the line.  We landed him and then released him in good shape.

Our luck has changed after several tough days!

Captain Joey Burnsed ~ Call 239-472-8658 to book a charter.