Sometimes Southwest Florida’s spring weather is really beautiful. And sometimes it really blows.
Strong winds virtually eliminated offshore reports this week.
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Bay fishing also was hampered by the winds, and increasingly strong red tide reports.
Inland lakes also were tough sledding in the wind. But hey, at least it’s not snowing.
ESTERO BAY: Get Hooked Charter Capt. Matt DeAngelis sent in a shot of Clearwater anglers Charles and Jenn McAbee with one of three nice redfish they caught while freelining live pinfish in the Rocky Bay area on Saturday.
The day before was pretty slow in the southern area of the bay, where John and Johnny Phillips and friends Colin and Manuel ” did their best to catch anything that would bite” on their Fishbuster Charter with Capt. Dave Hanson. Red tide and a dump of rainwater kept the catch to a few undersize mangrove snapper before the guys called it a morning.
SANIBEL: Snowbird Ed Warner was featured in last week’s report with a nice snook caught on a live sardine, just east of the Tarpon Bay beach access. Last Thursday he sent in another shot of his brother, Greg Omiecinski, who “clearly outdid me” while fishing from the beach in the same spot.
There are lots of snook on the Gulf beaches, according to Norm Zeigler’s Fly, Bait & Tackle in Periwinkle Way, with many large females among the escorts of smaller males. Hotspots include Blind Pass, Bowman’s Beach, and the West Gulf Drive access points, with seatrout, Spanish mackerel, and jacks in the mix. Tarpon Bay also has many snook, and for an even better escape from the winds, try Wildlife Drive (closed Fridays) in the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge for snook and redfish.
PINE ISLAND SOUND: St. James City Capt. George Grosselfinger reports constant searching on island points with strong currents for snook. He’s been getting at least one fish of slot size or larger daily, mainly on topwater plugs and also a brown swimbait, but he hasn’t found any concentrations of snook along the island’s western shorelines.
Best friends Emma Drew Singer, Brooke Ligman, and Kaia Steele of Fort Myers took turns battling their first tarpon of the year, Sunday in southern Pine Island Sound with Drew’s dad, Capt. TJ Singer. They eventually subdued an estimated 70-pounder that took a cut mullet bait, according to Lehr’s Economy Tackle.
MATLACHA PASS: Other than whitecaps on the flats every morning, and water temps that dropped back into the 70s, Wildfly Charters Capt. Gregg McKee said he can’t complain. He’s spotting snook, reds, and trout everywhere he goes while straining on the pushpole. One very bright spot came Monday afternoon, just north of his 15-year-old buddy Kody Payne’s home on Matlacha Island, where the lad used a purple bunny pattern on an 8-weight tackle to best a 40-inch tarpon, his first on fly.
CHARLOTTE HARBOR: The best-laid plan for fun in Charlotte Harbor, according to the King Fisher bay guides report from Fishermen’s Village in Punta Gorda, is to sort through enough spotted seatrout on the east side flats to ice a few ladyfish. Shrimp under a cork should take care of that chore. Then take the ladies to a central harbor hole to wrangle with a good crop of 30-inch blacktip sharks in their second year. That is if winds allow.
OFFSHORE: The only current offshore report is from Sunday’s King Fisher trip to depths around 60 feet out of Boca Grande Pass, which resulted in a very nice table of lane snapper, plus a few mangrove snapper among lots of undersized red grouper releases.
Megan Chitwood sent in the shot from her birthday trip of pal Meloney Kinkade with a whopper lane snapper that taped 18 inches, May 6. The celebrant also reeled up a dandy 16-incher from 110 feet of water, with Capt. Jeff Chitwood at the helm.
FRESHWATER
LAKE TRAFFORD: A prolonged streak of mediocrity continues on the Immokalee Lake, with the recent winds contributing to the lake’s basically inexplicable dearth of piscatorial triumphs.
LAKE OKEECHOBEE: Roland Martin Marina & Resort Capt. Bo White reports tough going under the past week’s high winds, which have made rare patches of clean water the key to success. The best chances of finding it have been the Cochran’s Pass area on Observation Shoal, further north around Whidden’s Pass between the shoal and Point of the Reef, and inside the outside grass line along the North Shore, from Horse Island to the Indian Prairie Canal. The bluegill bite has been difficult, as well, but should be strong around next Wednesday’s “super moon.”
PIC OF THE WEEK
South Fort Myers snowbird Laurie Dicken caught her dandy black crappie in a postcard setting, at home on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
FISH TIP
Too much wind is too much. But easterlies, and particularly northeast winds are often fishable along Sanibel shorelines from West Gulf Drive north to Blind Pass, where snook are reported abundant and in large sizes. Scaled sardines and other baitfish also are plentiful (look for diving pelicans) and can be caught with cast nets as small as four feet (radius). They’ll thrive in a bait bucket anchored in the surf as long as they’re not too crowded.
HOT SPOTS
No. 1: Charlotte Harbor’s eastern flats for trout and ladyfish, and blacktip sharks in mid harbor holes if winds allow.
No. 2: Offshore for plenty of table fish including lane snapper in depths around 60 feet.
No. 3: Matlacha Pass for slams: snook, trout, reds and tarpon.
No. 4: Pine Island Sound for snook on windy points.
No. 5: Sanibel beaches for snook and more.
No. 6: Rocky Bay for redfish.
Lake Okeechobee
No. 1: Inside grass from Horse Island to the Indian Prairie Canal for bass.
No. 2: Whidden’s Pass for bass.
No. 3: Cochran’s Pass for bass.
No. 4: Uncle Joe’s spoil islands for bluegills.
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