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Andre Nieuwenhuizen is so adept with a camera, he snapped this dramatic shot of a redfish he was still fighting on fly in Pine Island Sound. More of his photos can be seen at @andrephotography.art -
Lansing, Mich. anglers Trudy Murk and Darla Steel were homeward bound and happy, happy with their red grouper, dug out of 75 feet of water off Naples on their All In charter. -
Zayden Poklemba’s butterfly peacock bass smacked a black Rapala jerkbait last weekend in Cape Coral’s Lake Kennedy, while fishing with his dad, Ryan. -
When they say “Show me,” back home in Missouri, Capt. Mike Balon’s friend, Tim, won’t have any trouble making believers. -
St. James City Capt. George Grosselfinger reports the redfish around Buck Key were very inactive Wednesday, except for this one. -
Bob Brooks reports the skinny water bite on redfish has been awesome in Pine Island Sound.
Southwest Florida residents of the piscine persuasion have gotten a bit of a chill as water temperatures have gotten closer to air temps on recent mornings. But they’re hanging in there, and they fight like crazy in the highly oxygenated fresh and salt waters.
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FRESHWATER
CAPE CORAL: Ryan and Zayden Poklemba took their boat to Cape Coral’s Lake Kennedy last weekend, to take a shot at the bass Fish Finder contributors have reported of late. They caught 13 bass, including this 14-inch butterfly peacock. Ryan also reported seeing several peacocks that were floating, apparently cold-stunned. Peacock bass have a lower lethal temperature of 60 degrees, but can recover when left alone, and warmed by the sun.
LAKE TRAFFORD: Lake Trafford Marina reports the Immokalee lake’s crappie have moved into the shorelines to spawn, and “Everybody’s catching limits.” That included guide Joey Draple’s Wednesday party of three, and guide Cody McClellan’s party of two anglers. Anglers fishing from the Ann Olesky Park Pier and adjacent shorelines also have been catching specks, with minnows and jigs both working well.
LAKE OKEECHOBEE: Roland Martin Marina & Resort Capt. Mike Balon guided “lifelong friends” Tim, Terri, and Glenn, from Missouri to a catch of 42 bass on wild shiners in the South Bay area of the lake. The Bay Bottom and Grassy Point areas have been best, but bass also have been biting well along the lake’s western shoreline, from Observation Island north up to Bird Island. Clewiston crappie specialist George, Lebo Jr. reports specks have been biting equally well on minnows and light-colored jigs in depths of three to five feet in the Blue Hole area at Observation Island, and on the West Wall, with some catches also coming off the East Wall.
OFFSHORE: A&B Charters Capt. Jim Rinckey reports offshore fishing out of Naples Bay has been producing plenty of snappers on half-day trips, and nice grouper and snappers on full days, in depths from 75 to 85 feet, west, and southwest of Gordon Pass. Live pinfish and frozen herrings have been producing well over live bottom areas.
Bonita Beach Capt. Dave Hanson reports his Fishbuster Charter last Thursday with Drew Van Werden and three young sons was good in nearshore waters, where the boys had a ball catching white grunts on cut squid. They kept 15 for a family fish taco feast.
Capt. Ralph Allen reports Wednesday’s King Fisher offshore trip to depths around 65 feet off Boca Grande Pass was good for two keeper grouper among lots of releases, including two out-of-season gag grouper. The party also boxed lots of lane snapper, plus a mix of grunts and porgies. Capt. Allen also passed along a report from veteran Capt. Van Hubbard, who stayed inside the 9-mile limit of Florida waters off Boca Grande for releases of lots of small red grouper, with a bunch of lanes and a couple of black sea bass in the take-home category.
ESTERO BAY: Get Hooked Charter Capt. Matt DeAngelis’s clients caught a mix of spotted seatrout, sheepshead, mangrove snapper and crevalle jacks by fishing live shrimp on Chartreuse Hook Up jigs in the clean moving waters near Big Hickory Pass and the Intrepid Waters channel, despite chilly mornings.
SANIBEL: Norm Zeigler’s Fly, Bait & Tackle in Periwinkle Way reports anglers have had their best success on warm, sunny days. Sheepshead have shown up in big numbers along the island’s backside docks and in San Carlos Bay including the causeway bridges. Trout also have been abundant on the bay side, including the causeway’s Toll Booth Flats, where the best bite has been early or late in the days. Blind Pass has been holding snook, trout, and redfish, but the snook bite has been modest, including in the creeks and bayous of Matlacha Pass.
PINE ISLAND SOUND: Bob Brooks sent in pictures of himself and photographer Andre Nieuwenhuizen, who have been enjoying an “awesome” skinny water redfish bite in southeastern Pine Island Sound (think MacKeever Keys). Brooks’ tips on fly fishing are included in this week’s Fish Tip segment.
St. James City Capt. George Grosselfinger got out for only a couple of hours on Wednesday, but he found schools of redfish in the sound near Buck Key. The bite, however, was slow, which he blamed at least in part on low, slow tides.
MATLACHA PASS: Wildfly Charters Capt. Gregg McKee also reports lots of very big snook in the shallows south of the Matlacha Pass Bridge, although the linesides were spooky and “seemed a little stunned by the cold water.” He also reports “a good amount” of redfish in the same area, where poling within fly-casting range on the low tides was difficult. Further south, in the powerlines area, there were plenty of nice trout in the deeper water.
CHARLOTTE HARBOR: King Fisher bay boat guides out of Fishermen’s Village in Punta Gorda had their best luck this week at the Charlotte Harbor Reef, fishing for sheepshead with shrimp on the bottom. They also were finding trout in the back waters of Alligator Creek and Pirate Harbor, and low-slot and undersize redfish up in the lower Peace River, with everything biting on live shrimp.
PIC OF THE WEEK
Andre Nieuwenhuizen is so adept with a camera, he snapped this dramatic shot of a redfish he was still fighting on fly in Pine Island Sound. More of his photos can be seen at @andrephotography.art
FISH TIP
Bob Brooks reports winter low tides have made finding redfish and trout easy in the sandy potholes into which they’re forced when the flats dry up. But that doesn’t mean they’ve been anything but spooky, having grown up dodging osprey attacks, and even fly lines looping overhead. Long, accurate casts of 60 feet or better have been required for getting into range with flies, with dark patterns worked with long, slow strips drawing the most strikes. They’re easiest to sneak up on by wading, and a shrimp with the tail pinched off makes bites come easier still.
HOT SPOTS
No. 1: Charlotte Harbor Reef for sheepshead.
No. 2: Grouper and lane snapper offshore, outside of 60 feet.
No. 3: Either side of Pine Island for redfish, trout and snook.
No. 4: Blind Pass for snook, trout, redfish and sheepshead.
No. 5: Sheepshead on San Carlos Bay structure.
No. 6: Estero Bay passes for trout and sheepshead.
No. 7: Lake Trafford for crappie.
LAKE OKEECHOBEE
No. 1: Observation Shoal for bass.
No. 2: Blue Hole for crappie.
No. 3: West and East Wall areas for crappie.
No. 4: Bay Bottom and Grassy Island for bass.
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