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Wildfly Charters Capt. Gregg McKee reports Tim Gleason’s tarpon was the second of the day, just south of the Matlacha Pass Bridge. -
Cincinnati angler Josh Pez’s Big O bigmouth was caught with Roland Martin Marina & Resort Capt. Mark King. -
The Hernandez boys, Lucah and Micah, had a good time fishing for redfish Wednesday with their dad, Allan, in Wiggins Bay. -
We’re calling this shot, Red Tails in the Sunrise. Casey Hoegler caught this 33-incher near Jack’s Bar in Estero Bay last Thursday, on her Get Hooked Charter with Capt. Matt DeAngelis. -
Charles Lucero of Santa Fe, N.M., used a D.O.A. paddletail jig to catch and release this baby tarpon last Thursday in Pelican Bay, with In The Loop Charters Capt. Bo Bartholomew. -
Karen Theiss’s nice bonnethead hit on her favorite bait, a frozen sardine, at the Sanibel Causeway. Old timers called the small hammerhead species shovelnose sharks, for obvious reasons. -
Samara Weidner finished off the recreational red snapper season in fine fettle. She reported she was in 100 feet of water, 100 miles out of home port, in Estero Bay. -
Ed Warner wrote his son Chas’s nice snook was the mirror image of one he released just 20 minutes later, on the beach at South Seas Resort. Both fish hit big chunks of cut whiting. -
Alyssa Chetti’s 17-inch red grouper was all in good fun, if not for the table, on her offshore Fishbuster Charter last Thursday. -
Carson Trania’s 19-incher was one of 15 undersize red grouper caught on last Thursday’s Fishbuster Charter. -
Robert Trania’s red grouper hit on cut bait, 20 miles west of New Pass on his offshore Fishbuster Charter. -
Tori Stout has eaten her share of hundreds of red snapper put on the table by her family, but this whopper was the first she ever personally contributed. -
This was the second boat limit of red snapper caught last week with James Stout, left. That’s his mom, Tori, neighbor Bob Bending, and Mark Neitzke on the snapper grounds, in 140 feet of water. -
Only two samples of “moderate” red tide levels, near Boca Grande Pass, were noted in the past week’s reporting for Southwest Florida.
The old saying goes, when one door closes, another often opens. So as offshore anglers on private boats bade farewell to red snapper season on the 28th, they don’t have long to wait for the openings of greater amberjack and gray triggerfish, on Aug. 1.
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Trout have been biting well for inshore anglers with a taste for fresh fish, snook are readily available for fun, and small tarpon are biting in unusually high numbers.
On the sweetwater side, early birds can expect the bass to bite, and bluegills are willing and able fish fry fodder.
NAPLES: Allan Hernandez used a Houdini Zoom Super Fluke to fool this 22-inch redfish, as well as a snook and two jacks Wednesday in Wiggins Bay.
ESTERO BAY: Get Hooked Charters Capt. Matt DeAngelis says the keys to Michigan angler Casey Hoegler’s success at Jack’s Bar were fishing near schools of mullet that attract predators and offering a chunk of fresh mullet as a free breakfast. His clients also have been using poppin’ cork rigs and shrimp to catch spotted seatrout and pompano on central bay grass flats.
SANIBEL & CAPTIVA: Self-proclaimed “sardine queen” Karen Theiss reports she thought it was a stingray that took her favorite bait last Friday at the Sanibel Causeway. But she came up with a nice bonnethead shark instead.
In The Loop Charters Capt. Bo Bartholomew sent in a shot of Santa Fe, N.M. angler Charles Lucero with a young tarpon he tempted with a D.O.A. paddletail jig last Thursday in Pelican Bay.
Ed Warner sent in a shot of his son, Chas, of North Ridgeville, Ohio, with a snook released just 20 minutes before its “twin brother” (or more likely sister) hit his line. They both used cut whiting for bait, on the beach at Captiva Island.
PINE ISLAND: This reporter and St. James City Capt. George Grosselfinger combined for five trout including three in the 18- to 19-inch range in 1-1/2 hours Tuesday afternoon on Pine Island Sound flats west of Galt Island. The captain also released three sailcats (gafftopsail catfish) on his modified Zara Jr. topwater plugs and had one stolen by a suspected four-foot blacktip shark.
Over in Matlacha Pass, Wildfly Charters Capt. Gregg McKee reports the past month of frenetic tarpon activity was capped the last week with “really crazy” action. He sent in a shot of local angler Tim Gleason with a shining example that hit a black deer hair fly, after earlier catching one on a white rabbit fur pattern, “so they’ll hit anything.” Or maybe tarpon just don’t cotton to mammals in their neighborhood. Capt. McKee also reports the trout bite has been great using Gulp! baits and his trips have produced multiple redfish on paddletail jigs cast along the mangroves.
CHARLOTTE HARBOR: King Fisher bay boat captains out of Fishermen’s Village in Punta Gorda report trout fishing has been fair, with boat limits of six keepers possible on east side flats south to Pirate Harbor. Live shrimp have produced a few bonnethead sharks and lots of ladyfish incidental to trout fishing, and there have been decent numbers of Spanish mackerel biting outside the barrier bar.
OFFSHORE: David Stout of North Fort Myers reports two trips to depths of 140 feet off Sanibel over the past week. Last Thursday James and Charles Stout, Riley Bending, Kylee King, and Mark Neitzke caught their limits of two red snapper, several red and scamp groupers, and 30 mixed lane, mangrove, and yellowtail snappers. Then Saturday, David, Tori, and James Stout, Bob Bending, and Mark Neitzke limited on red snapper to 32 inches, plus 20 mixed snappers.
Samara Weidner sent in her picture with a nice red snapper caught on the 21st in 100 feet of water, 100 miles out of her home port in Estero Bay.
Carson and Robert Trania and Alyssa Chetti fished 20 miles west of New Pass last Thursday morning with Fishbuster Charters Capt. Dave Hanson. They used cut baits and squid to catch and release 15 red grouper to 19 inches, two short lane snapper, and four undersize yellowtails, while taking home four lanes and 20 white grunts.
Three King Fisher charters to depths from 65 to 70 feet out of Boca Grande Pass produced several outsize Spanish mackerel to 4 pounds, plus a few bonito (little tunny) while freelining frozen sardines at anchor. Anglers also caught one or two keeper red grouper among many shorts per day, plus bunches of lane snapper and a few mangs.
FRESHWATER
LAKE TRAFFORD: Lake Trafford Marina reports two anglers fishing Sunday with red worms caught 25 bluegill by focusing their efforts on beds of gravel installed this year around the Ann Olesky Park Pier and a couple of other areas. Anglers fishing from the pier and park grounds also have been catching Mayan cichlids, and Tony Louden of Fort Myers caught 12 nice crappie including a couple over 13 inches while dunking minnows Tuesday in the Immokalee lake’s central depths of seven to eight feet.
LAKE OKEECHOBEE: Roland Martin Marina & Resort Capt. Mark King reports the midsummer bite “remains pretty good for the first few hours of the morning, and then it gets pretty slow.” That makes a four-hour trip, starting at the break of day, the best way to catch fish, and put the heat and summer thunderstorms in the rearview mirror. The veteran guide likes to start by targeting points along outside grass lines from Clewiston north to Cochran’s Pass, first with live wild shiners, and then switching to artificial baits for anglers who like casting. He likes throwing chatterbaits with Gambler Little EZ trailers in junebug or black-and-blue colors, and sometimes a watermelon/red Zoom Fluke.
PIC OF THE WEEK
Vermillion, S.D. angler Mark Neitzke with his personal best red snapper, and his lucky (not best) fishing cap.
FISH TIP
It may not be the flashiest way to fish, but soaking a cut bait can often be the best when game fish get a little lazy under the summer sun. Oily fishes like mullet and ladyfish get the most ink when it comes to cut baits of choice, but the real key is to fish with the freshest bait possible. Chas Warner’s snook took a big chunk of whiting, not noted for oiliness. And just to prove that was no fluke (ha! ha!) his dad, Ed, caught an identical snook minutes later on another generous piece of whiting.
HOT SPOTS
No. 1: Charlotte Harbor flats for trout, depths for Spanish mackerel.
No. 2: Trout, redfish and tarpon for summer slamming in Matlacha Pass.
No. 3: Out island beaches for snook.
No. 4: Pine Island Sound flats for trout.
No. 5: Estero Bay for redfish.
No. 6: Offshore for groupers and snappers.
No. 7: Lake Trafford for panfish.
Lake Okeechobee
No. 1: East Wall to Cochran’s Pass for bass early, bluegill later.
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