There are many reasons to like fishing in September, one of which is the lack of competition from local anglers who can’t catch a break from the weather, and from tourists, during the annual seasonal lull.
Redfish action is prime as the mature-of-the-year fish aggregate in schools bound to join the offshore spawning stocks, some of which invade the bays in tackle-busting forays.
Mangrove snapper fishing is good in the passes for much the same reason.
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Given the heat, bass fishing has remained good in Lake Okeechobee, and crappie have begun biting well on Lake Trafford.
On the downside, federal fishery managers have halted the harvest of red grouper and gray triggerfish until the new year, due to exceeding the annual allowable catch. That leaves the snappers — mangroves, lanes, yellowtails, vermilions, and the occasional mutton — as the primary offshore targets, but they’ve been biting well.
ESTERO BAY: Rick Mercer sent in a shot of his wife, Char, with a crevalle jack that whacked her gold spoon in the bay’s southernmost tributary, the Imperial River.
Get Hooked Charter Capt. reports charter clients have been catching redfish, spotted seatrout, and jacks on popping cork combos and freelined pinfish near Jack’s Bar and Black Key. His fish of the week, however, was a “dinosaur” pompano that tipped the scale at 7 pounds, 15 ounces, after taking a shrimp under Kenny Livingston’s popping cork. That fish was only 5 ounces shy of the 8-1/4-pound Florida record, caught in 1999 in the Florida Panhandle.
SANIBEL: Last Friday morning started with a brisk snook bite inside Blind Pass for yours truly and St. James City Capt. George Grosselfinger. But a black storm cloud that likely caused a sudden drop in the barometric pressure turned off the linesides, after only a few releases. Live bait anglers also in the pass for the early morning action suffered similar fates along the pass docks.
PINE ISLAND SOUND: Capt. Grosselfinger used his favorite topwater baits to catch and release 32 snook on Saturday and Monday trips around the sound’s eastern keys, north to the Panther Keys. Saturday was good for nine releases, plus a couple of large trout, with a half-dozen more snook getting away after half-hearted strikes. More aggressive feeding Monday accounted for 23 snook, including four over 30 inches.
MATLACHA PASS: Mike Westra of Lehr’s Economy Tackle in North Fort Myers reports an angler familiar with great redfish action out of Charleston, S.C., said he couldn’t remember anything better over two days of kayaking in south Matlacha Pass that produced “dozens” of slot and oversize reds on fly.
CALOOSAHATCHEE RIVER: Westra noted the lower Caloosahatchee River also has been noteworthy for redfish action. And snook have been on a tear in the tailwaters of the W.P. Franklin Lock and Ortona Lock on the river. One boater experimenting with JYG slow-pitch metal jigs of only 50 grams sent Westra four short videos of snook, including two in the 30-inch range, that he caught casting near what looked like the Ortona Lock.
CHARLOTTE HARBOR: King Fisher bay boat guides out of Fishermen’s Village Marina in Punta Gorda report mostly slot-size redfish and mostly subslot snook biting along the West Wall shorelines, where small mangrove snapper also were abundant. The outer bars of the harbor remain infested with small jacks and ladyfish.
OFFSHORE: Offshore anglers were blind-sided this week by a federal moratorium on red grouper and gray triggerfish harvest until January 1. Red grouper are by far the most targeted offshore species off the southwest coast, but snappers including mangrove, lane, yellowtail and vermilion have been reported biting well. Given mandatory release requirements, anglers are encouraged to carry a descending device to send fish suffering from barotrauma safely back to the bottom where they can recover quickly, and more easily avoid predators.
ON VACAY: Matt Bernaldo reports a fun family charter on the No Fear, out of Key Largo near John Pennecamp State Park. The trip started with tough fighting bonito that then were cut into chunks that produced a nice barracuda, mangrove and schoolmaster snappers, and a nurse shark release.
LAKE TRAFFORD: Lake Trafford Marina owner reports crappie fishing got pretty good on Wednesday for anglers fishing central lake depths with minnows. Fort Myers angler Tony Louden caught 15 specks, and Robinson and son bagged 40 nice ones. Shoreline action has been generally slower, but two anglers who buy their live bait in the evening, and take it with them at 4 a.m. have been catching nice crappie from the pier at Ann Olesky Park.
LAKE OKEECHOBEE: Roland Martin Marina & Resort Capt. Jose Betancourt reports lots of good size bass biting for anglers fishing with live wild shiners. The best artificials have been weightless black flukes in the early morning, after which pitching jigs into heavy cover has been best as waters warm. The captain’s best catches have been “down south,” from Ritta Island over to Pelican Bay
PIC OF THE WEEK
Seven-year-old St. Pete angler Briggs Therisult couldn’t have been happier with his first bass, caught with Roland Martin Marina & Resort Capt. Jose Betancourt.
FISH TIP
Florida’s three most popular inshore species are snook, redfish and spotted seatrout. They’re all great striking fish and great to eat, but trout, being smallest on average, yield neither the strongest fights nor the biggest filets. For the time being, however, they are the only fish of the threesome legal to harvest between Sarasota Bay and Naples’ Gordon Pass. The solution to the trout conundrum is simple: just catch the biggest, strongest trout.
This one, caught with Capt. George, “Artificials Only” Grosselfinger, hit a topwater plug, the only bait the guide uses when fishing for trout, because “Topwaters always catch the biggest fish.” His favorites include Heddon brands’ Spook Jr. and Rebel’s Jumpin’ Mullet, called dog-walking baits due to their zig-zag retrieval motion. MirrOlure makes a host of topwater dog-walkers in sizes from Top Dog, She Dog, Top Pup and Pro Dog Jr. Another trout killer is Storm’s Rattlin’ Chug Bug, which pops, spits, chugs, and darts. All come in chrome, a can’t miss color, and all elicit explosive surface strikes (the other great reason to fish topwater baits). New South Zone trout regs specify a three-fish-per-angler bag limit of trout from 15 to 19 inches, including one trout over 19 inches. The new vessel limit is six trout, with only one over 19 inches allowed per boat.
HOT SPOTS
No. 1: Charlotte Harbor’s West Wall for redfish and snook.
No. 2: Eastern Pine Island Sound shorelines for snook.
No. 3: Lower Matlacha Pass for redfish.
No. 4: Caloosahatchee River locks for catch-and-release snook.
No. 5: Estero Bay for redfish and trout.
No. 6: Artificial Reefs and wrecks for snappers.
No. 7: Lake Trafford for crappie.
Lake Okeechobee
No. 1: Observation Shoal for bass and bluegill.
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