The weather’s been a mess this week, storming day and night. The good news is for a much prettier weekend, with plenty of purty fish ready to bite. And red tide shouldn’t be a factor, either, south of Charlotte County.
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ESTERO BAY: Get Hooked Charter Capt. Matt DeAngelis sent in shots from two trips this week in Estero Bay. Philadelphia youngster Andrew Neibert is pictured with what’s for dinner, an 18-inch spotted seatrout caught Sunday over a central bay grass flat on a shrimp suspended under a popping cork. On Monday the catch of the day was an oversize redfish, a 32-incher that gulped a live pinfish along the bay’s East Wall for Kansas angler Casey Holmes.
SANIBEL: Max Hogg (“Hogue”) of Norm Zeigler’s Fly, Bait & Tackle reports lots of big snook along Sanibel beaches, including access points at Tarpon Bay Beach, the Sanibel Rocks-off West Gulf Drive, Bowman’s Beach, and Blind Pass. But as they’re wont during spawning season, the linesides often have things other than food on their minds, so the bite windows have been short, but stimulating. “You can’t just go out and expect to start catching,” Hogg said. “You have to put in your time,” with sunrise being an odds-on time to start.
Top baits have been small, light-colored flies including Norm’s Crystal Schminnow, Clouser Minnows, and lures including soft plastics and topwater plugs. There also has been a good pompano bite on the gulf side of the Sanibel Causeway’s Island A (nearest the mainland), and trout fishing has been good in the surf, Tarpon Bay, and at Bunche Beach (off John Morris Road).
Lehr’s Economy Tackle also has had reports of trout biting for anglers along the Sanibel Causeway, where pearl D.O.A. C.A.L. plastic tails have been the taking the hits.
CALOOSAHATCHEE RIVER: Lehr’s reports anglers buying three-foot “shark leaders” have been catching lots of juvenile bull sharks between the Cape Coral Bridge and the downtown bridges. The Caloosahatchee is a well-known bull shark nursery, but the feisty juveniles are for catch-and-release, only, unless they meet the minimum 54-inch total length.
PINE ISLAND: Kylee King and James Stout of North Fort Myers had a good Friday in eastern Pine Island Sound, where they combined for four redfish and more than 15 snook, all released. They were fishing with live herrings.
Wildfly Charters Capt. Gregg McKee reports, “This is easily the best late tarpon season I’ve seen around Pine Island.” Juvenile poons have been blowing up on abundant schools of glass minnows (bay anchovies) along the mangroves of Pine Island Sound and Matlacha Pass, and there have been lots of snook in that mix, as well. And trout are still easy to catch on almost every grass flat with a depth of three feet or more.
CHARLOTTE HARBOR: King Fisher Capt. Ralph Allen reports honeymooners Mr. and Mrs. Greg Thompson had a big-time last Friday morning, fishing midway down the harbor’s West Wall with small live herrings on 8-pound spinning gear. They caught and released a Gulf flounder, two mangrove snapper, three crevalle jacks to 5 pounds, two mid-slot redfish, and an estimated 30 small snook.
Other King Fisher captains report trout scattered down the eastern flats, and bonnethead sharks also taking shrimp out on the eastern barrier bar.
OFFSHORE: Amy Charlson and her sons dodged numerous showers Tuesday morning, but caught four undersize red grouper and also released 18 grunts to 16 inches on cut bait and squid, fishing the nearshore reefs about five miles off Bonita Beach on their Fishbuster Charter with Capt. Dave Hanson.
Lehr’s customers fishing offshore depths from 70 to 120 feet have been doing well with red grouper, and lots of mangrove, lane, and yellowtail snappers.
Three King Fisher trips through Monday, in depths from 65 to 70 feet out of Boca Grande Pass, have averaged a couple of keeper red grouper per day, plus good boxes of lanes and mangs. Freelining frozen sardines at anchor also produced two bonito (little tunny) on the weekend, and one party targeting goliath grouper released a sub-adult of about 60 pounds, and one of about 200 pounds while waging losing battles with several others.
FRESHWATER
PUNTA GORDA: Capt. Ralph Allen reports “the bluegills were on fire” Wednesday evening in the Shell Creek Reservoir, where he released about 25 while casting in scattered locations. He also took home a 6-pound channel cat that jumped on his ultralight Beetlespin.
LAKE TRAFFORD: The crappie action on the Immokalee lake is so slow, two anglers proudly reported catching two specks while drifting the central depths with minnows. Anglers fishing in the canal along the north side of Lake Trafford Road have been faring much better on tilapia and buttercats (yellow bullheads) biting on red wigglers. Lake Trafford Marina reports their biggest sellers are domestic shiners anglers take down State Road 29 to Seven Lakes, at the intersection with Alligator Alley (I-75), where they’ve been catching butterfly peacock bass. Those anglers also have been raving about peacock successes while casting 4-inch Storm Wildeye Swim Shads in the black crappie pattern.
LAKE OKEECHOBEE: Roland Martin Marine Center Capt. Jose Betancourt reports the early morning bite is where it’s at on the Big O. Walking Zara Spook plugs along the outside grass lines has been his go-to, with spinnerbaits and Rat-L-Traps also producing well out of Clewiston on the West Wall, around to Uncle Joe’s (Mayaca) Cut, out at McMillans Cross Island, up at Bird Island, and on around to Horse Island. When the lake bite stalls out as the sun bears down, he recommends moving to the Rim Canal and bouncing Carolina rigs or deep diving crankbaits off the perimeter rocks.
PIC OF THE WEEK
We’ve all grown tired of masks in this time of Covid, but this one is a rib-tickler. Julie Walsh reports, ” We were out last Saturday night during sunset, cruising through the Sanibel Causeway’s C span when we came across this guy. Typically, we pick debris up as we come across it, but we thought this was pretty hysterical and wanted others to enjoy. It’s not every day you see a Scream mask floating in the Gulf of Mexico!”
FISH TIP
Char Mercer’s picture-postcard sockeye salmon, caught wading in Crescent Lake, west of Homer, Alaska, leads off a new segment of the Fish Finder, dedicated to vacation adventures. Char’s husband, Rick, said their party of six caught more than 500 pounds of fish over four days, and everyone brought home 50 pounds of salmon and halibut from their “once in a lifetime trip.” We’ll run other vacation pictures as submitted, through Labor Day.
HOT SPOTS
No. 1: Charlotte Harbor’s West Wall for snook and more.
No. 2: Matlacha Pass for juvie tarpon, snook and more.
No. 3: Pine Island Sound’ upper east side for snook and reds.
No. 4: Sanibel beaches for snook and trout.
No. 5: Sanibel Causeway for trout and pompano.
No. 6: Estero Bay for reds and trout.
No. 7: Well offshore for grouper and snappers.
Lake Okeechobee
No. 1: Outside grass lines on the West Wall, off Uncle Joe’s, along Cross Island, and around Bird and Horse islands for bass.
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