Skip to main content
Category

blog

Know what your getting

By blog

If there is one thing I have learned being in business for 19 years, it is that you don’t always get what you think your buying. I have a lot of clients ask my opinion on what type of fishing equipment they should buy from Boats to floats, I can only give my opinion on what I use and what I have used in the past. I get the same question about other guides also, and all I tell them is to talk with them and get a feel of who they are and what they do.

One very important thing in this business is to be flexible in how you fish and where and when you fish. I have always wonderdrd how somebody can fish out of the same dock year round, the fish migrate and the weather patterns dictate where they will be. If you are anchored to one place you only have a specific time to catch fish. Having your boat on the trailer gives me the ability to move with the fish and do different things, this make fishing fun!!

The next thing I find interesting is how some will fish out of only one type of boat. If you are a carpenter or electrician or a plumber you have the right tool for the right job, Well the same holds true for fishing, we do not fish the same tides and times everyday and we should have the right tools to get to the fish we are trying to catch. Now I know boats aren’t cheap…but if you are spending your money to catch fish I think you should have the best opportunity to do that. And having the right style of boat is the best way to catch them.

But back to my first statement…Know what your getting before you get on the boat. If you guide can’t tell you what your going to catch and how your going to do it…he or she is probably not on the water very often, remember you don’t know whats going on if your not out there. And in todays world of information and the ability to get it, you want to be careful of the “phone guide”, if your guide is always calling other guys to find out whats going on….you may want to get the number of the guys he is calling for your next trip!!

Finding a good guide is not easy to do, and this is the reason the good ones have a very long client list and very rarly do a lot of marketing. But if you talk to enough people you will get to the good ones, remember if your guide is doing a lot of advertising and has a very up to date website with all the bells and whistles, he has a lot of time to do that….And after 19 years at this, time is not something I have a lot of!!!

Good luck and good fishing and when you get to Florida’s West Coast give me a call and we will get out on one of my 3 boats to catch what ever you would like to!!

Fish on!

Capt. Greg DeVault

727-919-8666

Back at it

By blog

Well another spring has come and gone and Summer is cooking! I am usually glad to see summer come, as I love the heat and it also means my schedule is going to slow up a bit. But this year I’m still waiting for the slow down…now I’m not complaining at all I feel very blessed to be so busy. In fact it has been kinda nice on the water, for some reason there are very few people out fishing, maybe its just to hot, and the weather has been great light winds and showers in the afternoon help clean the boat when I’m done.

This is the time of year you can do many things in the coarse of the day, you can start out fishing, then go to one of our beautiful beaches and hang out You can also jump over the side and pick up scallops if your in the right region, or just cruise from port to port drinking and eating with having to worry about the weather.

Out of all the things you can do I am usually focused on the fishing and scalloping After being in Boca Grande for two and a half months it is nice to get back to the waters I grew up on, I get to go back out and find fish that haven’t been messed with in a few months and are ready to eat. And the best part is that with few people on the water you don’t have to look over your shoulder for a few more months!

Summer is definatly the lazy time of year for fish and fishermen, but get out early or late and there are plenty of fish to catch, go swimming in the middle of the day.

And for those that don’t fish as much or are waiting on the good fisherman to get out and find the fish….now is the time to fix your lower units and make sure your equipment is ready..the time tail will be here soon;) HAHA

 

Its good to be Lucky

By blog No Comments

One thing that I have learned in my life is that it is much better to be lucky than good. and when you are good enough to be a little lucky it is even better. I have been very blessed in my fishing career to have had ALOT of luck, but at the same time put alot of hard work in to it to make that luck pay off! I have been fortunate enough to win 2 national redfish championships with hard work and lucky enough to have had my father fishing with me in both of them. I have been lucky to be apart of one of the most dominate Tarpon fishing teams in the past 10 years, that has won 7 team of the year titles with hard work and great team work. And I have been lucky enough to fish with one of my best friends and win many smaller tournaments with a combination of good skills and great timing. Then there is a great local tournament that I get to fish with four very good and very skilled fisher-women, and I think their record stands for itself. I think they have fished the tournament with me for 5 years now and every year they have been “in the money” with a great win last year.

Now this is where the “rather be lucky” part comes in. there are many different types of luck, the luck you make for yourself by putting in the time to make yourself a better fishermen, the luck you make for yourself by being prepared and ready for anything that comes your way, the plain old luck you get by dropping a really good redfish in the water…then catching an even better one. All of these kinds of luck have happened to me and my teammates over the years and I feel very “lucky” for that. But there is one kind of luck that you just cant plan on, and very seldom can you beat it. And that is plain old DUMB luck, it happens to all of us once in a while and everybody gets there  fair share of it. There is no rhyme or reason for it, it just happens. In fishing it is like the fish gods throwing you a bone, For example you go to a spot that you know is a heavily fished area and you have seen several people fish and catch good fish. You get stuck going in and have to push your way in, you sit and wait it out because you have no place else to go, and low and behold the stars aline, bells start to ring, and you manage to catch some fish. All you can do is smile and think I was just glad I didn’t tear up my lower unit!

We have all been beaten more times by the last kind of luck than we would like to think, but it happens, and thank goodness it dose. Perhaps it is gods way leveling the playing field, either way it keeps it interesting and only make me work harder to do better.  And remember it is still better to be lucky than good….oh yeah one more thing, if you are going to try and follow be careful where you step, it aint all sand out there!

Now is the Time

By blog

This is the time of year as a fishing  guide that I look forward to the most. While we have great fishing all year long on the west coast of Florida, and I am fortunate enough to stay busy fishing year round. Nothing is more exciting than to feel the warm south winds start to blow and know Spring is just around the corner. There are a few things that get the adrenalin going this time of year, the Snook that have been dormant all winter will be hitting anything that moves, the Redfish will be in large schools roaming across the flats looking to do one thing…EAT. And the arrival of our most prized game-fish, the mighty Tarpon.

This time of year also does something else for Fishing Guides, It solidify’s there ability to catch fish and stay in business. This is the time of year the fishing is easy and relationships are built with clientele on the boat. The next few months will provide some of the best fishing trips of the year, and this will create a client for a long time for the guides that can ” make it happen”. So even though we do have to deal with a little extra pressure the rewards are far greater. I know for a fact that some of my best client relationships started on a fishing trip in the spring where we had one of the best days of catching that many of them ever had.

So as we go head first into what has already been a great spring, I look forward with great anticipation to getting to fish with some, next to be long time clients. Now is the time to walk the walk!!

Fish on,

Capt, Greg DeVault

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the Tail begins!!

By blog No Comments

A very funny thing starts to happen this time of year. Well it happens throughout the year but there are more of them this time of year. TAILS…all the full time guides or I should say the “busier” ones seem to grow tail this time of year, and although we try to lose them or shake them, they are very persistent. By now I’m sure you have figured out that I am talking about the people that follow guides around to figure out where they are catching fish. Your right I don’t own the water nor do I even pay rent on any one spot, but the people that come here and pay me to take them out, and catch the fish, that I have put many hours of work into, to figure there patterns out, in a way do. So when I see my tail starting to grow it tends to get (sorry for this one) under my skin. I am however one of the fortunate ones that have grown up in this area and have may spots to fall back on, and I have the luxury of a vessel that only a very select few can follow anyway.

But for those that cant “shake” there tail I feel bad, they have to endure the constant shadow of…we’ll call them Lee for lack of a name.   Lee is always getting to the boat ramp just in time to see where you are catching bait, and then cautiously follow you around, never getting to close but keeping an eye on where you are and where you have been. So when it is all said and done all of your hard work and knowledge has gone into his little GPS so the next time you are out he will be sitting right on the spot YOU showed him, And he didn’t have to pay you a dime. Now there is nothing wrong with this by law, but it just goes to show you what a lazy, good for nothing, and overall poor fisherman Lee really is. And the silver-lining to it all is Lee will fish the spot until the fish move on because they are tired of seeing his ugly mug Day in and day out and Lee will have to resort back to being a tail once again.

Now there is nothing wrong with being a tail, lots of animals have them and they do serve a purpose. Squirrels use them for balance, birds use them for direction, and most dogs show there emotions with them. But the most important use of a tail is where our Lee falls in to. On most animals the tail is very close to there butt actually a specific part of there butt. and our boy Lee fits his purpose in life perfectly…he spend all his time just covering his ass!

Well hopefully I don’t offend any of the Lee’s out there, if you fall in to this category do yourself a favor and spend some time trying to find things on your own. Fly out from under mommy and daddy’s wings and you’ll see there is a whole new world out there….Ive heard that somewhere before… You might even gain a little respect and not be the BUTT of everyone’s jokes!!

Till next week,

Lets go fishing Capt. Greg

 

This Week on the Water

By blog No Comments

This week we had another cold front come through our area and cool down what was a spectacular bite! Well what it did was force us to fish like it was winter again and not Spring. One good thing about the cooler weather is that it will give us a chance for a normal Spring bite by keeping the Bait away from the predators for a while. It wont be long before we are slinging the nets foe all the crickets we can carry, but for now it is PLASTIC, PLASTIC, PLASTIC!

I was on the water most of the week with some great clients and we were able to catch many slams, This is a great time of year to take a Florida Fishing Charter. The weather is awesome and the fish will always be ready to eat something. Here are a few pictures from this weeks charters.

See you next week,

Capt.Greg DeVault