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Ed Warner finished off his Sanibel vacation last Friday with two big snook like this. His baits were live whitings. -
Jackson Hickox’s 12-inch mangrove snapper was one of five keepers among 26 fish he and his dad caught on shrimp in southern Estero Bay Friday, on their inshore Fishbuster Charter. -
Tampa angler Sean A. was fishing the bay side of Cayo Costa Sunday with Bob Diersing when this over-slot redfish sniffed out his cut mullet. -
CJ Bowling’s 31-inch red took a live “white bait” (scaled sardine) while fishing Sunday in Pine Island Sound with George Bowling. -
John Van Duyne’s silvery snook was one of many prowling the Sanibel surf this week. Photo courtesy Norm Zeigler’s Fly, Bait & Tackle. -
St. James City Capt. George Grosselfinger’s snook was caught last Wednesday in Pine Island Sound. He took time off for a family visit, and since Tuesday has been catching trout “everywhere I go.” -
Iowa angler Chris Clement used a live sardine to tempt this oversize (29-inch) redfish near Jacks Bar, on his Get Hooked Charter with Capt. Matt DeAngelis. -
Aimee Keenan’s whoopee! redfish took a live sardine Wednesday at Jack’s Bar in Estero Bay, on her Get Hooked Charter with Capt. Matt DeAngelis. -
Eric Short reports Steve Athey was casting a Mudd Minnow from his new boat in the upper Ten Thousand Islands, near Goodland, when this pretty redfish made his day. -
Alaskan Jason Preggno used a wild shiner to catch this bass, and he also scored while flipping on Lake Okeechobee, with his wife, Angela, and Roland Martin Marina & Resort Capt. Tim Loftis. -
The latest red tide sampling map shows a reduction in the spread and severity of samples: Background to low concentrations in and offshore of Lee County (in 15 samples), and very low to low concentrations in and offshore of Collier County (in five samples).
You can’t keep ’em, but some of the best snook and redfish action of the year is in summer.
– EMAIL YOUR PICS TO BYRON STOUT
And now you can keep trout, which have been biting well in Pine Island Sound and Charlotte Harbor.
It’s also time for the rainy (thunderstorm) season to start, so keep an eye peeled and a weather app open on your smart phone.
GOODLAND: Eric Short sent in this shot of Steve Athey of Naples, who was casting a Mudd Minnow from his new boat, near Goodland in the upper Ten Thousand Islands, when this pretty redfish made his day. Maybe his dinner, too. It’s legal to keep redfish south of Collier County’s Gordon Pass.
ESTERO BAY: Iowa anglers Chris Clement and Aimee Keenan had a good day Wednesday near Jack’s Bar in Estero Bay, where they both used live scaled sardines to catch and release 29- and 31-inch redfish, respectively. They were fishing with Get Hooked Charter Capt. Matt DeAngelis.
Matt and Jackson Hickox used live shrimp to catch five keeper mangrove snapper among 13, 10 short sheepshead, a short snook, a jack, and a mojarra last Friday on their Fishbuster trip in the bay’s south end with Capt. Dave Hanson.
SANIBEL: Norm Zeigler’s Fly, Bait & Tackle on Periwinkle Way sent in a shot of New Jersey angler John Van Duyne with a big snook caught on the beach. And Ed Warner sent in shots of two “bruisers” he caught last Friday from the beach near West Gulf Drive, just east of the Tarpon Bay beach access. He was baiting with live whiting, and credits his wife, Liz, for setting the hook on his season-ending three weeks of good snookin’.
PINE ISLAND: St. James City Capt. George Grosselfinger didn’t waste any time on Tuesday to catch his three fish limit of spotted seatrout, keeping one of several over the new 19-inch maximum length. He didn’t stray far from home and caught trout everywhere he tried, with a modified Zara Jr. plug producing best. Normally productive jigs went ignored.
George Bowling sent in this shot of CJ Bowling, whose 31-inch red jumped on a live sardine on a picture-perfect Sunday in the sound. Bob Diersing also contributed a shot of an oversize red with his friend Sean A. from Tampa. A chunk of mullet on the backside of Cayo Costa did that trick.
Wildfly Charters Capt. Gregg McKee reports “the best tarpon season in a very long time,” based partly on his observations from last Friday with Fort Myers angler Jason Duke, who released a 40-incher on fly. ” We hit spots from Matlacha all the way out to Johnson Shoals and saw tarpon everywhere, even rolling right in the Intracoastal between Cabbage Key and Useppa (Island).”
CHARLOTTE HARBOR: King Fisher bay boat captains have been finding good numbers of trout and ladyfish on the harbor’s upper east side flats, and then moving to 20-foot holes in the central harbor for sharking. Cut ladyfish has been the bait attracting a few baby bull sharks and an estimated nine-foot hammerhead release. The unusual thing has been the abundance of bonnethead sharks that have been the main catch, using shrimp on the bottom out there.
OFFSHORE: Three King Fisher offshore trips to depths from 60 to 65 feet off Boca Grande Pass have produced good bottom fishing, with an average of three keeper red grouper joining lots of lane snapper and a mix of other panfish in the box. A three-foot barracuda also joined one party.
FRESHWATER
LAKE TRAFFORD: The bite picked up a bit on the Immokalee lake, where one angler caught his limit of 25 crappie this week, and another boat with two anglers collected 15 specks, all on minnows. Angler fishing from the pier at Ann Olesky Park also have been catching bluegills around newly placed rock piles, according to Lake Trafford Marina owner Ski Olesky.
LAKE OKEECHOBEE: Alaskans Jason Preggno and his wife, Angela, caught 15 bass on live wild shiners pegged two feet below bobbers at the point of Rocky Reef. And Jason also used a black-and-blue Gambler Mac Daddy craw to catch one bass and lose a bigger fish on the morning bite, according to Roland Martin Marina & Resort Capt. Tim Loftis. Artificial action also has been good on the east tip of Ritta Island, where white Gambler EZs and junebug Senkos have been getting it done.
PIC OF THE WEEK
Alaskan Jason Preggno had a beautiful morning on the Big O with his wife, Angela, and Roland Martin Marina & Resort Capt. Tim Loftis.
FISH TIP
Recreational red snapper fishing in Gulf state and federal waters starts Friday, June 4, and will run for 55 days, through July 28. Anglers on for-hire charter boats opened their season Tuesday and can take red snapper through Aug. 2. Red snapper typically are caught in Gulf waters in depths of 100 feet or greater, so any fish brought up from such depths may suffer from barotrauma, exhibited by bulging eyes, distended intestines, and general bloat. Fish not legal to keep are best released using a descending device, although a venting tool also allows fish to return to the bottom. Anglers fishing from private recreational vessels, including those exempt from saltwater fishing license requirements, must have a State Reef Fish Angler permit. Click here.
HOT SPOTS
No. 1: Charlotte Harbor for trout and ladyfish on the flats, sharks in deep holes.
No. 2: Tarpon from Matlacha to Cabbage Key and Johnson Shoals.
No. 3: Redfish, trout and snook in Pine Island Sound.
No. 4: Snook on the beach.
No. 5: Redfish, snapper and more in Estero Bay.
No. 6: Waters south of Gordon Pass, where redfish are legal to keep.
No. 7: W-a-a-y offshore for red snapper.
Lake Okeechobee
No. 1: Point of the Reef for bass on shiners.
No. 2: Bass on Ritta’s east tip.
Credit: Source link
