Tag Archive: 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

 

Sorry for the lack of reports from us lately, we have been swamped! I fished with Dr. Brian, his seven year old twin sons, and their grandpa yesterday Saturday 6/11.  We left the dock at 6:30 a.m., stopped by and got some live cigar minnows from the bait boat, and were on our spot by 7:15.  It didn’t take long and we had our four person limit of red snapper, also caught a king, some gags, and a shark on the snapper spot in 90 feet of water. Left their and ran to the buoys for some king action, caught a couple pretty quick slow trolling with live cigars and made our way back to the dock in time for lunch.

Today Sunday 6/12 I fished with a good customer from the store Rob, his wife, and their friends from Atlanta. We headed out at 6:30, swung by the bait boat and got a live well from of cigar minnows from Tony, and went after the red snapper. We fished a few different spots in 85-95 feet of water 9-12 miles east of Pensacola Pass and had no trouble catching our limit of red snapper. Also, got into some nice black snapper that we chummed up using chunked menhaden, caught them free lining on 20 pound braid.  On our way in we made a few drifts through the pass and the tide was perfect, but we didn’t get a bite.

Captain Chris Phillips

www.hotspotscharters.com

The weather finally allowed us to get out there and search for a cobia after a couple rough days. We were fishing the First Annual Paradise Small Boat Cobia Tournament. The weather was nice most of the day with just light winds, although the fishing wasn’t all that great. We went 1 for 3 on cobia, the first one was lost at the gaff, the second we caught, and the third we couldn’t get to bite after finding him a couple different times (Big Fish). It’s been the weirdest year with fish getting excited and going down on a bait, but not eating it. The one we caught weighed 42 pounds and was big enough for us to win the tournament believe it or not.

Captain Chris Phillips

www.hotspotstackle.com
www.hotspotscharters.com

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

Matt, Chickenbone, and I decided to brave the weather and see if we could find a fish out of the bay boat. We cleared the pass about noon and within a few minutes was 1 for 1 just east of the old Coast Guard Station. We fished for a few hours and ended up 4 for 5. Three of the fish were caught west of Pensacola Pier and we caught one between the pier and Portofino. Three of the fish were caught on eels and one a on croaker. We’re doing cobia charters on the 24′ boat with a tower if anyone is interested…
Captain Chris Phillips
 

I’ve got a quick report for the last week of January. Temperatures have been warm and the weather has been great this week, looks like some rain will be coming up but not a big deal. Sheepshead and redfish have been biting pretty good for the last couple weeks. Live shrimp will work great for both, throw in some fiddler crabs for some of the picky sheepshead and you should have it covered. Rocks jettys and bridges are producing very well and this pattern will continue through the end of the winter and early spring. Good luck and have fun everybody!

Capt Matt Mcleod

Hot Spots Charters and Hot Spots Bait and Tackle

mcleodfish@yahoo.com    850.418.5333

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