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Naples charter Capt. Jim Rinckey was far afield, off Tampa with Capt. Tommy Butler, when he hefted this dandy gag grouper for angler Bob Arnold. The grouper’s still out there. -
Extyreme Fishing Charters Capt. Tommy Butler found Scott Aaron’s Kitty Mitchell (speckled hind) in 450 feet of water west of Tampa Bay. -
Scott and Katie Miller’s snapper was a keeper silk, notable for its yellow eye. They caught it with captains Tommy Butler and Jim Rinckey in 500 feet of water off Tampa Bay. -
This is one of more than 20 snook St. James City Capt. George Grosselfinger caught Wednesday on topwater plugs and jigs in the Buck Key area of Pine Island Sound. -
Leah Knuck’s nice redfish hit a gold glitter D.O.A. Shad in Pine Island Sound near Galt Island last Thursday, while fishing with In the Loop Fishing Charters Capt. Bo Bartholomew -
Fifteen-year-old Kody Payne’s first tarpon was one of seven hooked, and three released with a friend in North Matlacha Pass, where they found dozens rolling along the mangroves after Wednesday’s rain. It took a white D.O.A. paddletail jig. Photo courtesy Capt. Gregg McKee. -
Tyler Tipton was fishing along a hard edge on the Big O with Capt. Chad Vanslyke, out of Roland Martin Marina & Resort in Clewiston, when this big bass couldn’t resist his wild shiner. -
Aiden Havel was fishing a Punta Rassa dock with Denny Rager when this 28-inch snook found his live thread herring. -
George Hughes converted a thread herring caught at the Sanibel Causeway into this 34-inch king mackerel at the Edison Reef, while fishing with Denny Rager. -
Eleven-year-old Brody Barnes was casting an avocado fluke with his dad, Tony, in Pollywog Creek, near LaBelle, when he caught this whopper mudfish (bowfin). -
Christa Debbout of South Carolina, and New Hampshire angler Damian Carroll released this snook double while fishing with Capt. Rey Rodriguez. Photo courtesy of Norm Zeigler’s Fly, Bait & Tackle. -
Karen Theiss scored with yet another snook caught off her dock near Hurricane Bay, no doubt using her fave bait, a frozen sardine. -
Larry Sherman was kayaking for tarpon before dawn last Friday in Estero Bay, but this blacktip shark changed the plan when it chomped his olive Hogy Slow Tail swimbait. -
Estero angler Richard Payne’s 25-inch redfish hit a live pinfish last Friday on Estero Bay’s East Wall, on his Get Hooked Charter with Capt. Matt DeAngelis. -
Fourteen-year-old Blaise Walczak, right, upped his personal best tarpon while casting a large swimbait with his dad, Capt. Robbie Walczak (center) and a friend, near Marco Island. Photo courtesy David Blackwell, Folsom Corp. -
Tarpon have arrived in big numbers with big appetites.
Snook have been biting in double digit numbers.
Offshore fishing has been great, top to bottom.
And big bass are feeding on bedding bluegills on the Big O.
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MARCO ISLAND: Fourteen-year-old Blaise Walczak was casting a big plastic swimbait near Goodland while fishing with his dad, Capt. Robbie Walczak, when this big tarpon took a liking. He used an 8-foot Carbon Shield II rod to whip it, before this perfect release shot was taken.
ESTERO BAY: Larry Sherman reports he was kayaking before dawn in Estero Bay, but couldn’t find any tarpon. Didn’t matter, after an estimated 5-foot blacktip shark nailed his olive Hogy Slow Tail swimbait Friday morning.
Get Hooked Charters Capt. Matt DeAngelis sent in a shot of Estero angler Richard Payne with a 25-inch redfish that took a live pinfish last Friday on Estero Bay’s East Wall.
Fishbuster Charters Capt. Dave Hanson reports two trips in the bay’s southern back country, where Dave Gowen and his friend, Eric, used live shrimp to box three sand bream (striped mojarra), while releasing six sheepshead, two mangrove snapper and a 2-pound crevalle jack last Thursday. Then Friday, Kent and Allie Dahlgren and their friend, Megan, caught a dozen sheepshed, eighteen mangs and a puffer on their all-release charter.
CALOOSAHATCHEE RIVER: Aiden Haven caught and released a 28-inch snook while fishing a live thread herring under a Punta Rassa dock on Sunday’s outgoing tide, with Denny Rager.
Vince Parkinson used a shrimp off his canal dock in Cape Coral to release a 25-inch redfish on Saturday.
SANIBEL: Norm Zeigler’s Fly, Bait & Tackle on Periwinkle Way reports “The big boy and big gal tarpon are beginning to show up in the usual places. Those include world famous Boca Grande Pass, the Sanibel Causeway, and popular spots between in Pine Island Sound, including the channel edges south of the power lines and Foster’s Point. Beach water have been churned up by recent winds, but backside beaches have been producing snook, trout, jacks and mangrove snapper; snook and baby tarpon have been biting along Wildlife Drive (closed Fridays) in the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, and snook have been biting in Blind Pass.
PINE ISLAND: Leah Knuck was casting a weedless D.O.A. gold glitter shad near Galt Island last Thursday with In the Loop Fishing Charters Capt. Bo Bartholomew when she caught and released this nice redfish.
St. James City Capt. George Grosselfinger sent in reports from Saturday, when he released snook of 36 and a whopping 40 inches that hit his topwater plugs at Josslyn Island. And on Wednesday he “stopped counting at 20 snook,” while also releasing nice redfish and jacks on jigs and topwater baits around northern Buck Key. Alas, the biggest snook chafed through his 50-pound leader after a long battle.
Wildfly Charters Capt. Gregg McKee sent in a shot of Alex Fajeta with an overslot red that was one of five landed in an hour’s worth of casting Gulp! Shrimp to the mangroves of Matlacha Pass last Friday. Then over the weekend he and his son he released seven more big reds and “lots of very big trout” in the same area, where he said “There are still more snook, trout and especially reds than I’ve ever seen off Matlacha.”
Capt. McKee also sent in a shot of “my buddy, 15-year-old Kody Payne,” of Matlacha, with the lad’s first tarpon. Kody and a pal took his Gheenoe to the north end of Matlacha Pass after Wednesday’s rains and found dozens of tarpon rolling along a mangrove shoreline. They used a white D.O.A. paddletail on a 1/8-ounce jig head to hook seven and release three.
CHARLOTTE HARBOR: King Fisher bay boat guides out of Fishermen’s Village Marina in Punta Gorda report good numbers of slot-size trout on the harbor’s upper east side flats, and lots of 15-inch Spanish mackerel that also have been taking shrimp around schools of baitfish, outside the eastern bar. One King Fisher captain also has been releasing snook and reds he clients have caught on artificial baits along east side mangrove shorelines.
OFFSHORE: Denny Rager sent in a shot of Martha’s Vineyard snowbird George Hughes with a 34-inch king mackerel caught in 44 feet of water at the Edison Reef complex, 10 miles off Sanibel. They were baiting with live thread herrings castnetted at the Sanibel Causeway.
Lots of wind over the past week limited the King Fisher offshore boat to one trip, to around 60 feet of water off Boca Grande pass on Sunday. The box included one keeper red grouper, plus lots of lane snapper, some porgies and grunts.
A&B Charters Capt. Jim Rinckey, of Naples, sent in shots of some great, and rare catches made in depths from 400 to 500 feet of water off Tampa Bay with Extreme Fishing Charters Capt. Tommy Butler. Bob Arnold caught and released a big gag grouper, and Scott Aaron released a big red snapper in 400-foot depths while baiting with cut mackerel and squid. The super catches were a large Kitty Mitchell (speckled hind) dug out of 450 feet of water by Scott Aaron, and a very large “yellow-eyed” (silk) snapper that Scott and Katie Miller pulled from 500 feet.
FRESHWATER
CALOOSAHATCHEE RIVER: Tony Barnes sent in a shot of his son, 11-year-old Brody, with a dandy bowfin caught in the outflow of Pollywog Creek near LaBelle. The “mudfish” hit an avocado plastic fluke-style jerkbait the boy was bouncing on a quarter-ounce jig head in 3 to 4 feet of water.
LAKE TRAFFORD: Lake Trafford Marina manager Sharon Turrubiaters reports she’s been selling bait, but mostly to anglers taking it south to canals along the Tamiami Trail (US 41). They’ve been catching peacock bass on live shiners, and Mayan cichlids on night crawlers. Lake Trafford is going through a fishing slump.
LAKE OKEECHOBEE: Roland Martin Marina & Resort Capt. Chad Vanslyke reports late April on Lake Okeechobee is an exciting time to fish artificial baits on the Big O, because bass have finished spawning chores and are “looking to feed up to recover.”
He recommends looking for signs of spawning shad (seabirds diving on schools at the surface in open water) and target those areas with topwater plugs, spinnerbaits, swimbaits and Rat-L-Traps. As the sun rises, move back into vegetation lines and look for signs of bluegill beds (groups of sandy saucers fanned clean on the bottom).
There you can catch big females on frogs, speedworms or flipping baits. Solid numbers of bass still are being taken on live wild shiners in the South Bay area of the lake, but the artificial action has been around the lake’s “left” side, from Clewiston and Observation Shoal on up to the mouth of the Kissimmee River.
Which is not to say to overlook the fun possible with ultralight spinning gear and tiny spinnerbaits like Beetlespins in black and chartreuse. Search for beds in Kissimmeegrass patches and work up an appetite while working up a fish fry.
PIC OF THE WEEK
“American” red snapper won’t be legal to keep until the summer open season. But this big red beauty is a silk snapper, distinguishable by its yellow eye, and it’s legal to keep year round.
FISH TIP
Tarpon have moved into Southwest Florida waters in big numbers, and catching a giant can be the thrill of an angling lifetime. But that comes with responsibilities dictated by Florida regulations that prohibit bringing a big tarpon into a boat, unless it’s been tagged with a pre-purchased “kill tag.” Otherwise, tarpon must remain fully supported in the water, to prevent possibly lethal injuries.
HOT SPOTS
No. 1: Charlotte Harbor flats for trout, shorelines for snook and redfish.
No. 2: North Matlacha Pass for tarpon, redfish and trout.
No. 3: Buck Key and Blind Pass for snook and more.
No. 4: Sanibel Causeway for tarpon.
No. 5: Estero Bay for redfish.
No. 6: Offshore for red grouper and mixed panfish.
No. 7: Tamiami Trail for peacock bass and Mayan cichlids.
Lake Okeechobee
No. 1: Buckhead Ridge to Lakeport to Clewiston for bass in the grass.
No. 2: Bluegills bedding in the same areas.
No. 3: South Bay for bass on shiners.
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