A pass, a turtle hunter and a fishing fleet
John's Pass is the channel between Madeira Beach and Treasure Island, and it exists because of weather. Hubbard's Marina, which has worked these docks since 1928, traces it to the unnamed hurricane of 1848 that carved a gap through the barrier island. The pass takes its name from Jean Levique, called John, a turtle hunter and fisherman who lived nearby.
The town came later. The City of Madeira Beach dates the Welch Causeway to 1926 and its own incorporation to May 5, 1947, voted in the recreation hall of a trailer park on 150th Avenue. In 1951 it merged with South Madeira Beach to form the city that stands today. In 1980 Wilson Hubbard built the boardwalk and led the development of John's Pass Village, the strip of shops, docks and seafood kitchens most visitors now picture when they hear the name.
The fishing never left. Hubbard's still sends boats into the Gulf on trips that run from a five hour half day to a 44 hour full moon run, and what comes back to the cleaning tables leans hard on reef fish: grouper, snapper and whatever else bites over hard bottom. Even Ted Peters, the smoked fish man of South Pasadena, started out here. The St Pete Catalyst reports he took a job at the Fisherman's Co-op on Madeira Beach and sold fish door to door from a washtub of ice.
Grouper rules worth knowing
Grouper is the fish people come here to eat, and state rules keep a short leash on it. Under FWC regulations, red grouper from Gulf state waters can be kept year round at 20 inches or longer, two per angler, and nobody may take more than four grouper of all kinds in a day. Gag runs on a much tighter clock. For 2026 the agency lined up with the federal season and allowed gag only during September, at 24 inches or more.
Out past the 20 fathom line, red, black and scamp grouper go off limits from February 1 through March 31. Private boat anglers chasing reef fish also need the State Reef Fish Angler designation. Buying instead of catching? Ask which grouper is on the ice. Red and gag eat alike, but they keep different calendars.
