This weekend’s blue norther will include small craft warnings that mean business. But that won’t rule out fishy business for anglers who follow Southwest Florida’s temperature sensitive species into protected waters.
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The weather also should push a major portion of southbound species, including king and Spanish mackerels, tripletail and pompano, into local waters. And it will throw winter spawning runs of sheepshead, and freshwater bass and crappie into overdrive.
OFFSHORE: A&B Charters out of Naples aren’t backing down on their reports of the best seasonal fishing they can remember. Even half-day trips are producing gag grouper and snapper over structures including artificial reefs and wrecks. The gag bite on live pinfish has been the best in recent memory, although the bite is just the beginning of battles often won by the muscular grouper going back to the hidey holes from whence they came. Night snapper fishing also has been spectacular, with an All In trip with Capt. Kees VanDerAa producing two dozen mangrove snapper and even more yellowtails chummed up off a wreck for the Walter Spiece party from Naples. All In Capt. Jim Rinckey also reports trolling chrome spoons in 60 feet of water off Naples already is producing king mackerel — arguably the nearshore Gulf’s fastest fish — from 10 to 30 pounds.
Lehr’s Economy Tackle in North Fort Myers got a report from an angler who joined three friends for a day of trolling Sunday in depths of 20 to 30 feet off Sanibel, after castnetting a well full of “sugar trout” at the causeway. Dragging Mann’s Stretch diving plugs produced five gags from 26 to 30 inches, and dropping the live baits down while fighting grouper produced one sublegal cobia release, and several bouts with presumed cobia that “absolutely smoked them.”
ESTERO BAY: Get Hooked Charters Capt. Matt DeAngelis reports a mouth watering run of Florida pompano on the Davis Key flats of Estero Bay, where spotted seatrout also have been biting in specktacular numbers. Bill Schirmer, Noah Miller and Russell Huebner all caught multiple pompano and trout on popping-cork-and-live-shrimp rigs, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and Huebner also caught a nice redfish.
SANIBEL: Michael Lobbestael’s 32-inch snook was hanging out last weekend near the Sanibel Causeway. But it’s a pretty sure thing it will be heading this weekend for warmer winter quarters, unless it wants to turn into a snookcicle.
PINE ISLAND: Wildfly Charters Capt. Gregg McKee reports the flats north of the Matlacha Pass powerlines have been a great place to duck under the wind, even though clouds and a chop on the water have made sight fishing a challenge. The good news is the water is so full of life, blind casting white streamer flies in that area was good enough for Pine Islander Chris Elkins to release three snook while losing “a really big one,” and to also land a dozen slot-size trout.
St. James City Capt. George Grosselfinger and his friend, Dave, went out for a couple of hours on Monday and never got far from home while catching snook of 25 and 31 inches, plus their limits of trout. Chino Island produced the best action, and swimbaits proved more effective than topwater plugs.
FRESH WATER
LAKE TRAFFORD: “Everybody’s gotten their limits of crappie over the past two days,” Lake Trafford Marina manager Sharon Turrubiaters reported Thursday. That good luck applied to boaters fishing the southwest, southeast and northwest corners, but not those trying their luck from the Ann Olesky Park Pier, indicating the specks haven’t yet moved into full spawning mode in the 1,500 acre lake’s shoreline vegetation. Ten to 15 boats with two to four anglers each have been pretty evenly divided between jig and minnow afishionados.
LAKE OKEECHOBEE: Lake levels topping 16 feet above sea level haven’t hurt the fishing as Big O bass and crappie have moved into littoral zone vegetation for spawning chores. Roland Martin Marina & Resort Capt. Scott Patton reports fishing with wild shiners has been producing 20 to 30 bass, with many in the 3- to 7-pound range. Even better, the action has been good on both the north and south ends of the lake, with some of the bigger fish biting in the afternoons, up until dark. Artificial baits also have been very productive for anglers throwing white spinnerbaits, green pumpkin or black-and-blue chatterbaits, or topwater frogs and dog-walking baits including Zara Spooks and Lucky Craft Sammies. And flipping with black-and-blue Senkos or Strike King Rage Bugs also has been great.
“For crappie anglers it’s been pretty simple. Just look for some type of mat with reeds in it.” Then dangle a white jig or a live Missouri minnow.
PIC OF THE WEEK
Big fat females have Big O bassers sporting big old smiles.
FISH TIP
Though they thrive in much colder climates around the Gulf, even spotted seatrout and redfish seek warmer waters until they acclimate to Southwest Florida’s winter water temperatures. As for subtropical snook, it becomes a matter of life and death when water temperatures drop as low as 53 degrees for adults, and even down to 57 degrees for juveniles. So lots of local fish head for warm water havens, including the many hundreds of miles of canals in island and coastal communities. If too cold, some become lethargic. But many often feed with enthusiasm, although it sometimes helps to slow bait presentations to a crawl. Whatever the case, protected canals usually are a much nicer place to be for fish lovers, when the cold winds blow.
HOT SPOTS
Nos. 1 through 9: Major canal systems from Port Charlotte to Fort Myers Beach for cold natured fish.
No. 10: Lake Trafford for crappie.
LAKE OKEECHOBEE
No. 1: Harney Pond Canal to Indian Prairie Canal for bass and crappie.
No. 2: South Bay area for bass and crappie.
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