There’s good news and bad about red tide. The bad is, it’s still around.
The good news is it’s not as strong in Lee County as in previous weeks, and it’s patchy, coming and going with the tides. That pushes fish around and has been concentrating snook and trout for some crazy good catch-and-release reports from those who find them.
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Sheepshead fishing has been pretty good for anglers who can get a shrimp past hordes of mostly undersize mangrove snapper.
Offshore reports have been great on trips taken through narrow weather windows.
Freshwater fishing also has been generally good, with cold being the limiting factor.
OFFSHORE: Blind Date Charters Capt. Tom Katz reports an “epic trip” Sunday, 49 miles south-southwest of Sanibel Island in depths from 135 to 150 feet, over a mix of hard bottom and limestone ledges. His party boxed yellowtail and mangrove snappers to 20 inches, scamp to 19 inches, and red grouper to 26 inches taken on cut squid and sardines. Six-ounce bucktail jigs also accounted for a killer brace of African pompano weighing 41 and 48 pounds.
ESTERO BAY: Get Hooked Charters with Capt. Matt DeAngelis have produced trout, snapper, and sheepshead near Black Key and Starvation Flats. The bite has been on freelined live shrimp or shrimp fished on a gold flake 1/8-ounce Mission Fishin’ jig heads during strong rising tides.
SANIBEL: Norm Zeigler’s Fly, Bait & Tackle on Periwinkle Way reports Blind Pass has been full of trout, sheepshead, and snook, and sometimes not, apparently at the vagaries of red tide movements. When it’s hot, the trout and even some sheepshead have been biting on blind cast black-and-red Clouser Minnows and Norm’s Crystal Schminnow flies. Trout fishing also has been good in San Carlos Bay along Sanibel shorelines, the causeway islands, and the Toll Booth Flats. Tarpon Bay has been good for redfish and trout, and there has been an unusual influx of foot-long baby tarpon along Wildlife Drive (closed Fridays) in the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge.
CALOOSAHATCHEE RIVER: Lehr’s Economy Tackle reports trout fishing along the north shore of the river’s mouth has been very good in the clean water brought by incoming tides. And one pair of anglers throwing artificial baits on a single stop in lower Matlacha Pass reported catching and releasing 50 trout this week.
Another angler reported lots of sheepshead around docks in Southwest Cape canals, but not much luck getting his shrimp past infestations of mostly undersize mangrove snapper.
Finally, an angler fishing the Caloosahatchee River in the power plant area, notably all to himself, reported catching snook in the 30-inch range and tarpon of similar size.
PINE ISLAND: St. James City Capt. George Grosselfinger reports two days of torrid action in the Pineland area of upper Pine Island Sound, where he released two juvenile tarpon, four trout to 23 inches, two jacks, and 46 snook, including six over 30 inches on Saturday afternoon. Sunday was much the same, with 43 snook, two tarpon, and a small goliath grouper, all caught on paddletail jigs.
CHARLOTTE HARBOR: King Fisher bay boat guides ran four trips out of Fishermen’s Village Marina over the past week, with a variety of catches. Sheepshead were biting at the Charlotte Harbor Reef, and to a lesser extent in riprapped canal mouths, where there also were lots of mostly small snapper. Nice size trout were biting in Punta Gorda area creeks and canals, and slot- and undersize redfish were biting in the lower Peace River, up to the I-75 area.
FRESHWATER
LAKE TRAFFORD: Lake Trafford Marina owner Ski Olesky reports crappie running hot and cold on the Immokalee lake, with good catches some days, and a slow bite on others. Most of the specks have been caught in central lake depths, but they’ve been full of roe and some have begun moving into the bulrushes and cattails along the shorelines. Anglers fishing from the Ann Olesky Park pier, including some who have brought crappie-attracting lights, also have been catching fish, mostly in the evenings.
LAKE OKEECHOBEE: Roland Martin Marina Capt. Scott Patton reports “really good” bass fishing over the past week, especially for those baiting with live wild shiners in the South Bay area, and along the North Shore in the Harney Pond Canal area.
Clewiston angler George Lebo reports flashy jigs have been the ticket for crappie on the West Wall, just outside of the Clewiston Lock.
SOMETHING ELSE: On chilly winter days when offshore seas aren’t so inviting, David Stout of North Fort Myers sometimes takes his boys and neighbors to the East Coast, where they hunt invasive green iguanas along the Griffin Road Canal. Last weekend they got 30 that are always eagerly accepted by his concrete crew, hailing from Central America. The boys follow FWC guidelines for humane hunting.
PIC OF THE WEEK
“Jersey” John Van Duyne’s spotted seatrout was one of two 20-inchers that took his Squgly flies in Pine Island Sound while fishing with Bob Brooks.
FISH TIP
Roland Martin Marina Capt. Scott Patton takes native wild shiners along when his customers, like Chip and Henry Ridgeway, want the surest way to catch a trophy bass. But if they want to fish tournament style, with artificial baits, he’s also got answers. Lake Okeechobee’s bigger bass have been holding mostly just inside the lake’s outside vegetation lines, where flipping has been the go-to method. Patton recommends using a heavy action flipping stick with 50- to 60-pound, no-stretch braided line and a 1/2- to 3/4-ounce tungsten weight to punch a Senko or beaver-style plastic bait through the veg. The braided line makes it easier to feel light bites, or see them when the line twitches, which doesn’t take long if the fish is there. Otherwise, flip again, to cover more water.
HOT SPOTS
No. 1: Charlotte Harbor Reef for sheepshead and snapper.
No. 2: Northern Pine Island Sound for snook and more.
No. 3: Blind Pass for sheepshead, trout and snook.
No. 4: South Matlacha Pass for trout on the rising tide.
No. 5: Estero bay for trout and sheepshead.
No. 6: Offshore for groupers, snappers and maybe an African pompano.
No. 7: Lake Trafford for crappie.
LAKE OKEECHOBEE
No. 1: North Shore for bass.
No. 2: West Wall for crappie.
No. 3: South Bay for bass.
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