Fish feel cold front coming

Time for a good catch fishing report with Captain Dylan Hubbard from Hubbard's Marina. Mad Beach, my buddy, how are you? I am doing well. How are you, Walter? I'm doing well. It looks gorgeous out there. What are you catching inshore? Well, right now, inshore, we are focused on this transition and trying to get out here and take advantage of that pre-front bite. As was just discussed, this weather is going to turn bad a little bit this weekend, going to get a little nautical on us. And really, this is our first big, hardened-down cold front with a sustained period of that north wind. And those fish, they can feel it coming. Think of a snook. That black line down the side of the fish is a barometer. They know this low pressure is approaching, and they're going to get out there today, and they're going to feed heavily ahead of that incoming weather. So we're going to try to take advantage of it and make hay while the sun is shining in this beautiful weather and get out there and try to catch as many as we can. right now speaking of snook they're really pushing into the upper bay and back bay waters all summer long they spend their summers on the beaches in the passes this time of year they beeline it up into the creeks rivers bayous the back and upper bay areas to try to hide out for the winter when the water's a little cooler and so right now those snook are in full transition mode racing to the upper and back bay waters we're also seeing a lot of the redfish concentrated around the area feeding on those grass flats oyster bars mangrove shorelines look for the big mullet the birds the bait you'll find those concentrations of redfish just keep sticking and moving until you find them also we've been seeing the trout bite really really impressive all summer but it should even get better as those water temperatures cool down same with flounder it's been impressive the last couple weeks but it should pick up for us as we move into this fall period. Also on top of that, we've been seeing a lot of tarpon. Those should thin out. We've been seeing a lot of mangrove snapper. Those should thin out, but we should see an uptick in the sheepshead. And that's about it inshore, Walter. All right, what about nearshore? Nearshore right now, we're focused on those hogfish. We're really starting to see the hogfish transition into biting better for us. Now that these cold fronts have started, that water temperature has trickled down. Thursday, we were out there on a 10-hour assault, over a dozen keeper hogfish. Those numbers should continue to climb as those water temperatures come down and these fronts barrage the area. It concentrates the hogfish on our nearshore structure. It makes it easier for our hook and line anglers to target them with lighter tackle, like 30-pound fluorocarbon, like a one- or two-ounce egg sinker, and a smaller three- to four-aught hook and live shrimp. So we've been seeing a lot of those hogfish start to pick up for us. We've also seen the mackerel really show up near shore heavily for us. The kingfish are starting to trickle in. We should hopefully see more of them next weekend on that full moon. Also on top of that, deeper near shore, we're picking up a few of those red grouper. But really offshore, that's where we're focused on those bigger red grouper. Our 39-hour trip came in Thursday morning with an impressive catch of big red grouper. Some nice triggerfish. We've been seeing some really steady mangrove snapper action. some nice yellow tails a few of those muttons the pelagic bite has been impressive with a couple of those blackfin tuna and the big kingfish back in the mix as well plus i know charlie kind of took my uh my golden egg today of stone crab season being back open he's been talking about it all morning making me even hungry but very excited to go down to the seafood market at the end of the boardwalk here today and pick up a big load of stone crabs they are already offloading thousands of pounds down there at Don's Dock, so it's a great day to celebrate. Thanks, Charlie. There you go. But don't forget, Walter. Oh, what's that? But don't forget, Walter, if you're too busy to go fishing, you're just too darn busy, and it's a great day to get some stone crabs to go with your fish. There you go. And in the meantime, can we start a petition to rename the hogfish? That is my only fish that I really like, but it just has a terrible name. Yeah, hogfish, hognose snapper. People call them all different things, but it doesn't matter what you call them, once they're on that plate, it's good. There you go. Captain Dillon, we appreciate it, and it looks like another beautiful day on Madeira Beach, so get in there before the weather changes, that's for sure. We'll talk to you next week, okay? Yes, sir.