2-26-09 fishing report Spring weather arrives and fish start to bite. As the temperatures climbed and waters warmed up our fishing improved. Early week trips were slow. We found fish (both trout and redfish) but they were slow to co-operate. It was difficult to get enough for dinner. Every day the catching improved and today was great. We found some pompano yesterday and caught two. Today we picked up three more and a mess of permit also. The trout bite picked up too; we had several keepers and more almost big enough; fun to play with. Ladyfish helped keep us busy and we got our first jack of the year. I saw several large Spanish Mackerel in the ICW channel of Lemon Bay chasing glass minnows on Monday's trip. Thanks to a tip from a friend we even had a cast net to capture some threadfins for bait today. We looked at several off shore artificial reefs but saw no activity. Captain John from the #1 Hooker did share that they got a big king mackerel yesterday off shore but no birds or bait except near the beach for us today. One of the other fishermen reported numerous small Spanish Macks at Venice Pier and minnows but no big fish yet. We saw one small tripletail on a crab trap buoy and left it alone to grow up. Everything is close; we saw flocks of white pelicans migrating North every day this week. Flowers are starting to bloom it is looking like Spring is about to pop out. Snook season opens Sunday and I expect to get some action next week after we recover from Sunday's minor cool spell. I'll be at the Frank Sargeant Outdoor Expo, Saturday mid day so stop by and visit. The seminar is on tarpon beach fishing and pompano. Hope to see you there. The phone has come to life as it warms up; don't wait to long to set up some Spring fishing dates locked up. Let's Go Fishin' soon. Captain Van Hubbard