Fishing’s been good for the relative few giving it a go. Now’s the time to make this a Labor Day to love.
– EMAIL YOUR PICS TO BYRON STOUT
ESTERO BAY: Frequent contributor Rick Mercer sent in a shot of his wife, Char, with a “healthy little snook” that is still out there growing up, in Fish Trap Bay near the mouth of the Imperial River.
Get Hooked Charters Capt. Matt DeAngelis sent in shots of his pal, Robby Lacey, with a 30-inch redfish and a 39-inch juvenile tarpon caught Monday along the bay’s East Wall. Live pinfish turned the trick.
CALOOSAHATCHEE RIVER: Lehr’s Economy Tackle reports large tarpon, including a reported eight-foot giant, have been biting on live ladyfish at night around the Cape Coral and Veterans Midpoint bridges.
PINE ISLAND: Wildfly Charters Capt. Gregg McKee reports great fishing Saturday morning, with Hurricane Ida swirling by in the Gulf. A falling barometer sometimes inspires a bite like Cape Coral angler Alex Fajeta experienced, albeit while “hiding behind the mangroves, out of the wind.” He was about a mile north of Matlacha casting Z-Man Jerk Shadz on weedless twist-lock hooks when he capped an inshore slam with a top-of-the-slot redfish. That followed a dozen subslot snook and five trout.
Lehr’s reports Matlacha Pass has been redfish central for anglers who also have reported good catches in southern Pine Island Sound, the mouth of the Caloosahatchee, and Estero Bay.
On busman’s holiday Tuesday with a friend, Capt. McKee hooked a small tarpon and released three undersize snook while throwing a No. 4 Schminnow fly among schools of mullet that “were absolutely everywhere” in Pine Island Sound.
CHARLOTTE HARBOR: King Fisher bay boat guides out of Fishermen’s Village in Punta Gorda report an influx of good size Spanish mackerel slashing baitfish schools being bombarded from above by diving seabirds. Eastside shorelines have been holding subslot snook and redfish, with a higher grade of reds along the harbor’s West Wall. Ladyfish and small jacks have been abundant on all of the harbor’s barrier bars.
OFFSHORE: Brandon and Bobbi Wilt, Drew Williams, and Jeremy, and 10-year-old Craig Rounding experienced a 22-dolphinfish blitz around a dense weed line they found 20 miles out of Boca Grande Pass, in 65 feet of water.
Lehr’s reports anglers fishing flat metal jigs have been doing very well with red grouper. Russell Guridure and two friends caught their limits of red grouper to 30 inches and released many more potential keepers while deep jigging in 92 feet of water west of Captiva Pass. They also caught lane and mangrove snapper.
Lehr’s also reports Clint Dennis and a friend used deep jigs, while two other friends fished with squid and frozen sardines. Starting in 112 feet of water and working out to 128 feet, they caught their limits of red grouper to 25 inches, plus yellowtail, mangrove and lane snappers.
FRESHWATER
LAKE TRAFFORD: Lake Trafford Marina reports a crew of boaters who got on the lake very early Wednesday said they had good luck with crappie, fishing the Immokalee lake’s central depths. And anglers fishing from the pier and shorelines of Ann Olesky Park also have been catching bluegill and specks, using worms and minnows.
LAKE OKEECHOBEE: Roland Martin Marina & Resort Capt. Jose Betancourt reports an uptick in bass fishing over the past week, with live wild shiners producing early in the mornings along Observation Shoal from Uncle Joe’s (Mayaca) Cut north to Cochran’s Pass. Once the sun starts bearing down he has had success dragging Carolina-rigged worms along the bottom of the Rim Canal or finding rock piles and bouncing crankbaits over the rocks has been a key technique.
PIC OF THE WEEK
This nice redfish capped Cape Coral angler Alex Fajeta’s inshore slam that also included multiple snook and trout. He was casting Z-Man Jerk Shadz into mangroves a mile north of Matlacha on his Wildfly Charter with Capt. Gregg McKee.
FISH TIP
Offshore anglers of late have been reporting a spate of encounters with schools of dolphinfish, uncommon but welcome prizes along the southwest Gulf coast. Dolphinfish on the Atlantic coast and in the Florida Keys comprise a primary fishery with thousands of adherents and countless derbies, so fishing regulations in Atlantic waters are more conservative, with a 20-inch minimum fork length requirement, a daily bag limit of 10 per angler, and a boat limit of 60. Bag and boat limits are the same in the Gulf, but there is no minimum size. Dolphinfish are attracted to almost anything that throws shade, including boats, and they’re easily tempted with live or cut baits and many artificials. Experienced dolphinfish anglers know that keeping at least one hooked fish in the water can hold a school around the boat longer before they lose interest and leave. Bobbi Wilt and friends caught 22 on live herrings.
HOT SPOTS
No. 1: Spanish mackerel in central depths; snook and redfish on east and west shorelines.
No. 2: Matlacha Pass for redfish, snook, and trout.
No. 3: Southern Pine Island Sound for reds and trout.
No. 4: Caloosahatchee bridges for tarpon.
No. 5: Tarpon and redfish on Estero Bay’s East Wall.
No. 6: Offshore for red grouper and mixed snappers.
No. 7: Lake Trafford for crappie, early.
Lake Okeechobee
No. 1: Observation Shoal for bass.
No. 2: Rim Canal for bass.
No. 3: Dynamite Holes for bass.
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