Category: Matt McLeod


We have been fishing for red snapper almost every day lately. The weather has been good and the snapper have been big and everywhere! A variety of live and dead baits like butterflied menhaden, live croakers, pinfish, and threadfins have all been productive. Along with red snapper we are also catching scamp, mingos and some trigger fish to add a little variety to the box. Get out there while you can, snapper season will be over before you know it!

Matt Mcleod

hotspotstackle.com

hotspotscharters.com

850.916.7176

 

Started out to a VERY foggy bay this morning. It was slow leaving bayou chico but pretty soon we had shrimp in the water. Trout action was ok and we put a few keepers in the box in the 16″ to 18″ range. We lost a bigger fish at the boat. We fished slowing from spot to spot and finally found a great bite of nice quality spanish. Live shrimp under popping corks got us lots of bites and we left with 10-12 nice fish. The weather looks great for the weekend, good luck everybody! 

Captain Matt Mcleod

www.hotspotscharters.com

www.hotspotstackle.com

matt@hotspotstackle.com

850.418.5333

I had to break in a new powerhead on the Blazer Bay today so I thought we’d look around on the beach while we went through the breakin procedure. It’s about the only fishing you can do while constantly riding around and changing rpm’s the whole time so we brought a couple rods and a couple eels. We were riding around in the tower doing more talking than looking when tyler yells “fish”! I didnt even take the boat out of gear cause I thought he was messing with me….till I looked over and saw he was serious! Well we were heading east and going faster than I would normally when cobia fishing so we both made a rushed throw as the boat slowed down and the fish went down. Damn. Turned around to look back west and he popped right back up! One shot with an eel and he was on…Awesome and very unexpected! 50 lbs!

Matt Mcleod

hotspotscharters.com

hotspotstackle.com

matt@hotspotstackle.com     850.418.5333

Fishing continues to be great both inshore and near shore. You can still find good numbers of speckled trout near inshore grass flats and drop offs around 3-6 feet of water. I’ve heard some good flounder reports lately, seems deeper drop offs and structure in Pensacola bay are holding some keeper fish. I have a couple charters coming up soon so I will have some reports to post. I am going to spend some time grouper and flounder fishing in the bay so we’ll see how that goes. The weather is improving and fishing is great so go get ‘em!

Matt Mcleod

850.418.5333

Hot Spots Charters www.hotspotcharters.com

Hot Spots Bait and Tackle www.hotspotstackle.com

From Matt

Thanks for visiting our site a checking out my profile. My name is Matt McLeod and I have made a living on the water my entire life.  My first job was deck handing on offshore charter boats during the summers when I was in school. After I was eighteen years old I got my captains license and began running trips on my own not long after that. I am now 28 years old and have been a professional guide, running offshore, near shore, and inshore charters, for a decade.  My charter business is Hot Spots Charters; you can check us out at www.hotspotscharters.com. I have developed a very successful charter business with a high customer return rate. I enjoy being on the water and sharing our fishery with my costumers.

                I also have extensive tournament experience. I fished Southern Kingfish Association tournaments for 10 years, qualifying for the National Championship every year as well as winning a division one year.  More recently I have fished FLW redfish tournaments for 3 years and also IFA redfish tournaments. I also compete in all the local area tournaments in the panhandle.

                I also currently hold an IGFA All-Tackle world record for pomfret. A pomfret is a deep water fish that I caught while fishing for swordfish one night.

                I am proud to be involved in the “Hook, Line and Sinker Seminar Series”. These seminars, located at Flounder’s Restaurant on Pensacola Beach, are once every month for the entire year. This is a very successful series that highlights one species a month delivering information, tactics and expertise to crowds of often 300+ people.

                In February of 2009 my business partner Chris Phillips and I opened a bait and tackle store in Gulf Breeze, Florida. Hot Spots Bait and Tackle has been a dream of ours for years, allowing us to be involved with even more people in our fishing community. You can check out the store at www.hotspotstackle.com.    

                Thanks again for checking out our site. If you would like to contact me with questions, suggestions or to book a charter you can email me at mcleodfish@yahoo.com or give me a call 850.418.5333.

                                                                                                            Captain Matt McLeod

Matt McLeod

Captain Matt McLeod
mcleodfish@yahoo.com
Office 850.916.7176
Cell 850.418.5333
www.hotspotstackle.com
www.hotspotscharters.com

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