Story Tools • • Date of Issue: June 22, 2006 Fishing By Capt. Mike Heistand Big true black grouper caught Henson Do of Bradenton caught this large true black grouper 50 miles out off Anna Maria Island in the Gulf of Mexico while fishing with Capt. Larry McGuire of Show Me The Fish Charters. Don’t forget the big Anna Maria Island Father’s Day fishing tournament this weekend, to benefit the Anna Maria Island Community Center. A captain’s meeting will be at 5 p.m. Friday at the Center, 406 Magnolia Ave., Anna Maria. Fishing starts at 6:30 a.m. Saturday, with weigh-in from 4-8:30 p.m. at the Anna Maria City Pier and Mar Vista Restaurant on Longboat Key. Registration is $325 per boat. There will also be a "mini-tournament" at the city pier for youngsters up to age 12 Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon. There is a $20 fee for kid entrees. The awards banquet and fish fry by the Sandbar Restaurant will be Sunday afternoon at the Center. More information is available at 778-5900 or 778-1908. On the fishing front, offshore action is good for dolphin, kingfish and mackerel. Inshore fishing remains fair for redfish and good for catch-and-release snook. Bill Lowman at Island Discount Tackle at Catchers Marina in Holmes Beach said fishing has been weird. The usually deepwater dolphin - the fish, not Flipper - are being caught within 6 miles of shore in the Gulf. There are sailfish sightings in the same area, and some huge kingfish up to 4 feet in length are being caught long after the usual run past the Island. Back to more normal action, Bill said, redfish catches have slowed, but there are lots of big catch-and-release snook being caught. Bob Kilb at the Rod & Reel Pier said fishers there are reeling in mackerel and catch-and-release snook. Whitebait is thick around the pier, and tarpon are rolling by every morning. Capt. Thom Smith at Angler’s Repair on Cortez Road said he put his charters onto mackerel off the beaches and catch-and-release snook, redfish, trout and flounder inshore. Jesus Rosario at the Anna Maria City Pier said the best action at the pier was mackerel, small bluefish, yellowtail jacks, small sharks, snapper and flounder. Dave Johnson at Snead Island Crab House said there are lots of catches of snapper and black drum by his docks and around the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. He’s also seeing lots of mackerel, and shrimp dipping at night is still a good way to put some food on the table. At Perico Island Bait and Tackle, reports include good catches of redfish in Palma Sola Bay near the mangroves and plenty of mackerel in the Gulf. At Skyway Bait and Tackle, reports include mackerel near the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, plus founder and small grouper. There are also a few sharks being caught at night in the area. Capt. Larry McGuire of Show Me The Fish Charters said fishing is still hot even with weather warming. "I guided Henson Do and party on a 12-hour trip out 50 miles in the Gulf," he said. "We caught large true black grouper, big gag and red grouper, scamp, mangrove and yellowtail snapper, lots of school dolphin, sharks and little tuna. On closer trips inside 20 miles we caught permit, lots of snapper, big sharks, barracuda, triggerfish and mackeral." Capt. Zach Zacharias on the Dee-Jay II out of Parrot Cove Marina said he took Robert Waddell of Bradenton, and son Bob Jr. visiting from Jacksonville, to non-stop action with Spanish mackerel, lemon sharks, bonito and bluefish just off the beach. "All of the action came on a flood tide using whitebait," he said. "Later in the trip, on a falling tide, Bob Jr. connected with and boated a husky red of 27 inches in north Sarasota Bay." Other action for him included catch-and-release snook, big jack crevalle, a handful of trout, kingfish and a couple of tarpon hookups. On my boat Magic, we caught dolphin about 6 miles out in the Gulf last week, and hooked but lost several big cobia. We did land some kingfish to 12 pounds, triggerfish to 4 pounds and Spanish mackerel to 30 inches in length. Good luck and good Fishing. Capt. Mike Heistand is a 20-year-plus fishing guide. Call him at 723-1107 to provide a fishing report. Prints and digital images of your catch are also welcome and may be dropped off at The Islander, 5404 Marina Drive, Holmes Beach, or e-mailed to news@islander.org. Please include identification for persons in the picture along with information on the catch and a name and phone number for more information. Snapshots may be retrieved once they appear in the paper.