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Bob Spinsky’s nice red grouper hit a slow-pitched jig on his Blind Date Charter with Capt. Tom Katz. -
John Towers added another slow-pitched grouper to the box. -
Byron Stout’s first red grouper on a slow-pitched jig was a 30-incher. -
Doug Doty started his Blind Date Charter with this nice amberjack catch-and-release, Wednesday morning. -
Blind Date Charters Capt. Tom Katz capped off a great trip on porgies with this whopper whitebone. -
Capt. Dave Hoffman’s spotted seatrout was one of 16 caught Monday with pal Joe Savoca, just inside of New Pass. -
Here’s Joe Savoca with another. He and Capt. Dave Hoffman were casting 1/4-ounce jigs from deep-to-shallow in the channel just inside New Pass. -
This is Capt. Dave with one of two weakfish caught Monday in Estero Bay. Weaks are not known to occur in Southwest Florida waters. -
Jeff Heimrich’s 18-incher was one of seventeen sheepshead he and his family caught on shrimp in southern Estero Bay Tuesday, on their inshore Fishbuster Charter. -
Tanner Heimrich added this nice 17-incher to the family creel Tuesday, on their Fishbusther trip. -
Carrie Butchart’s dandy 19-inch pompano took a live shrimp Wednesday on her inshore Fishbuster Charter in southern Estero Bay. -
Steve Butchart’s 16-inch sheepshead was largest of three keepers he and his wife caught Wednesday on thier inshore Fishbuster Charter. -
Char Mercer’s sheepshead was one of many caught with her husband, Rick, before the cold front bore down on Wiggins Pass last Friday. -
Bonita Springs angler Jimmy Blanchard and Dave Strong, of from Kansas City, Kan., came in with their limits of red grouper on their All In trip with A&B Charters Capt. Jim Rinckey. -
Minnesota angler Pete Scherer caught and released this 25-inch redfish on a live shrimp at Starvation Key, on his Get Hooked Charter last Thursday with Capt. Matt DeAngelis. -
Michigan angler Connie Selvius used a live shrimp to catch and release this 23-inch trout, on her Get Hooked Charter Saturday with Capt. Matt DeAngelis. -
There’s no better way to start the day on Lake Okeechobee than Lou Acerra did with Roland Martin Marina & Resort Capt. Chad Van Slyke. -
Karen Theiss’ buddy, Anthony, used a frosen sardine to catch and release this tarpon off her dock on Hurricane Bay. -
Bob Mignogna caught three Spanish mackerel like this, plus a nice snook casting a bucktail jig off Big Hickory Island at the New Pass channel. -
Medium concentrations of red tide around Sanibel were the only significant concentrations on this week’s spotter map from the Florida Wildlife Research Institute.
The weather, and the fishing, has been just what the Tourism Development Council ordered.
Offshore anglers have been bailing red grouper, porgies, mixed snappers and more.
Sheepshead are near the peak of their winter run in nearshore and inshore waters.
– EMAIL YOUR PICS TO BYRON STOUT
And big bass are biting on the Big O.
The only flies (not the good fishing kind) in the ointment are lingering, though not fish-killing red tide in Pine Island Sound, and a lackluster crappie run that Lake Trafford anglers are blaming on the recent warm-up.
OFFSHORE: A&B Charters Capt. Jim Rinckey reports great fishing off Naples aboard the All In in depths around 85 feet west of Gordon Pass, where Bonita Springs angler Jimmy Blanchard and Dave Strong, of Kansas City, Kan. caught their limits Wednesday.
Caloosa pickleball mavens Bob Spinsky, Doug Doty, John Towers, and Byron Stout had a great trip Wednesday with Blind Date Charters Capt. Tom Katz, to depths around 100 feet off Naples. They limited on red grouper to 30 inches, caught mostly on slow-pitched metal jigs, and had a snapper slam of mangroves, yellowtails, lanes, vermilions, and a red snapper release, plus a dozen nice porgies.
Daily King Fisher offshore trips out of Fishermen’s Village in Punta Gorda, to depth from 60 to 65 feet off Boca Grande Pass, averaged two to three red grouper and lots of lane snapper over the past week. One group also released an estimated 85-pound goliath grouper with Capt. John Baines.
ESTERO BAY: Rick Mercer sent in a shot of his wife, Char, with one of many sheepshead they caught last Friday in Wiggins Pass, as the approaching cold front put the pole-striped porgies on the feed.
Post-frontal fishing in the south end of the bay also was good, according to Capt. Dave Hanson’s Fishbuster report. Jeff, Beth, Tanner, and Maddie Heimrich used live shrimp to catch six keepers among 17 sheepshead, while releasing two crevalle jacks on Tuesday. On Wednesday Steve and Carrie Butchart also used shrimp to release a 21-inch spotted seatrout, while boxing three keeper sheepies and a 19-inch pompano.
Bob Mignogna sent in a shot with one of three Spanish mackerel and a nice snook he caught casting a white bucktail jig from Big Hickory Island, into the New Pass Channel.
Capt. Dave Hoffman sent in a rare report of two silver weakfish caught along with 16 of their spotted cousins, just inside New Pass with pal Joe Savoca. They were casting quarter-ounce jigs into the channel and getting hits (many strikes went unhooked) as they worked the baits slowly into shallower water. Weakfish aren’t supposed to know how to get to Southwest Florida waters.
Get Hooked Charter Capt. Matt DeAngelis reports snook and redfish action heating up as waters climb into the 70s. He sent in shots of Minnesota angler Pete Scherer with a 25-inch red caught last Thursday near Starvation Key, and Michigander Connie Selvius with a 23-inch “gator” trout caught Saturday near Hendry Creek, also on a live shrimp.
Karen Theiss sent in a shot of “my Buddy Anthony” with a juvenile tarpon caught off her Hurricane Bay dock Sunday on a frozen sardine.
SANIBEL: Norm Zeigler’s Fly, Bait & Tackle on Periwinkle Way reports anglers fishing from the causeway islands have been catching pompano and mangrove snapper for dinner while releasing trout and ladyfish. Trout also have been biting very well along shorelines around Tarpon Bay. Also in the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Sanibel angler Dee Kelly used a popper fly to catch and release a 25-inch tarpon from Wildlife Drive (closed Fridays). Anglers in Blind Pass have been catching lots of sheepshead, and a few snook and redfish.
Norm Zeigler reports hearing a few gripes about red tide effecting a slow bite, “But it hasn’t been too common.”
PINE ISLAND SOUND: Spotty red tide has contributed to mixed reports from Pine Island Sound, where this week’s lead picture in the Fish Finder Gallery depicts a 33-inch snook caught on a Puglisi Pinfish fly, sight-cast by Willie Palmer. His veteran guide, Capt. Ozzie Lessinger, reports, “Fishing in the sound continues to remain consistent for snook, trout, and redfish.” He’s been fishing potholes on the lower tides, and mangrove shorelines and oyster bars on higher tides.
On the downside, veteran St. James City Capt. George Grosselfinger reports he’s locating trout and snook in many areas, but finding them “pensive and apathetic.” Which is to say he’s having a much harder time than usual getting them to smack his artificial lures.
CHARLOTTE HARBOR: King Fisher bay boat guides report good trout action on the harbor’s upper east side flats, where they still are getting good action with bonnethead sharks taking live shrimp meant for the specks. Sheepshead fishing also has picked up at the Charlotte Harbor Reef, with fish to a hefty 6 pounds hitting the table this week. Spanish mackerel also have been biting well, as local waters hit the 74-degree mark.
FRESHWATER
LAKE TRAFFORD: Lake Trafford Marina reports a very slow week for crappie, with two of the lake’s guides reporting catches of 12 and 40 specks, rather than the 25-per-angler limits they’re used to in February. And shoreline fishing has been even slower.
LAKE OKEECHOBEE: Big O fishing has been a tale of two ends. With the lake level at 15.46 feet above sea level (that’s high for February), “The fishing is outstanding,” according to Roland Martin’s Marina & Resort in Clewiston. “Wild Shiners on the south end have been the ticket to 50-fish days with bass up to 8 pounds.” Keys to success have been finding mats of vegetation blown up against reed lines, and experimenting with free-swimming shiners or baits fished under floats, for heart-stopping topwater bites.
At the north end of the lake, there are miles of new eelgrass and hydrilla that are creating clear water areas as they filter out suspended sediment. Moving back into the eelgrass and casting swimbaits, or pitching into isolated cover is key to action on artificials. Crappie fishing in the same areas is good with a 1/32-ounce emerald green or black widow jig dipped into maidencane or isolated reed patches.
PIC OF THE WEEK
There’s no better way to start the day on Lake Okeechobee than Lou Acerra did with Roland Martin Marina & Resort Capt. Chad Van Slyke.
FISH TIP
Slow-pitch jigging with metal jigs was a revelation in grouper fishing for Bob Spinsky, Doug Doty, John Towers, and Byron Stout, on their Blind Date Charter with Capt. Tom Katz. The colorful lead blades weighing three to more than five ounces bombed quickly to the bottom in depths of 100 feet or more, and drew wrenching strikes when lifted sharply, and allowed to zig and zag back down as the line straightened. They were highly effective in drawing strikes from the biggest of the red grouper caught while drifting over live hard bottom, out producing squid, live pinfish and strip baits on the way to limit catches to 30 inches. Perhaps more impressive was that none of the anglers had previously experienced slow-pitch deep jigging.
HOT SPOTS
No. 1: Charlotte Harbor Reef for sheepshead and Spanish mackerel.
No. 2: Upper Pine Island Sound for snook and trout.
No. 3: Blind Pass for sheepshead.
No. 4: Sanibel Causeway for pompano and mangrove snapper.
No. 5: Estero Bay passes for trout and Spanish mackerel.
No. 6: Well offshore for red grouper, mixed snappers and porgies.
No. 7: Lake Trafford for crappie.
LAKE OKEECHOBEE
No. 1: North Shore for bass and crappie in clear inside waters
No. 2: Big bass on wild shiners on the south end.
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