Fuel prices drive offshore fishing
With fuel prices down, a week of absolute perfect weather and the season closed for a couple of the top inshore species, many anglers took the opportunity to fish offshore. Fishing reports in the gulf were often good with coolers coming back to the docks full of grouper, snapper and variety of other species.
The best grouper reports came in depths from 50 to 75 feet. Limits of both red and gag grouper were found around the 60-foot mark and some larger gags up to 34 inches were pulled from a little deeper water. Anglers also report good numbers of undersize fish, particularly the reds.
Hand-sized live pinfish or grunts and a whole squid hooked on a heavy red and white jig were the top big grouper catchers.
A little closer to shore grouper were found over the three mile ledge west of Boca Grand and over other ledges in 20 to 40-foot depths. Trolling deep diving lures worked for gags up to 29 inches and a couple nice king fish up to 20 pounds.
Snapper catches were also good over the same bottom as the grouper. Several boats report catching a limit of fat mangroves up to six pounds both drift fishing and anchoring. A little smaller live bait including pinfish, pilchards and shrimp or a scaled down version of the grouper jig/squid rig worked best on the tasty fish. Also lane snapper not quite as large as the mangroves but still weighing up to several pounds were caught over the same patch reef bottoms as red grouper around the 60-foot mark.
Grunts, although not a high profile fish like the snapper or grouper but very tasty, were also common catches. They weighed up to four pounds and were caught on the same rigs as the snapper. Triggerfish, another tasty specimen, were also caught in the mixed bag.
Between Knapp’s Point and Redfish Pass, several tripletail were sighted under floating buoys. The largest reported scaled at 15 pounds and was caught on a live free-lined shrimp. Tripletail were also hooked on Gulp crabs and DOA shrimp.
Anglers looking for action found plenty of activity in several areas including the flats on the Gulf side of the A span of the Sanibel Causeway, both inside and outside of Redfish Pass and on the deep side of most of the sand bars along the perimeter of Charlotte Harbor. The predominate fish in all these areas were ladyfish and really large ones, with many well over two feet. Although no good for the table, they are an absolute blast to catch and can make a bad fishing day good. Anglers fishing these areas also caught a mixed bag of bluefish, trout and pompano and one nice flounder measuring twenty inches.
All these species were hitting live shrimp under a popping cork or shrimp-like soft plastics like the DOA shrimp or Old Bayside shrimp.
It’s hard to believe but it’s almost Christmas already! If you are still searching for the perfect gift it could be right in front of you. One of the best gifts is nothing more than what it costs for a few hours of fishing. When you think about it, the holidays are not about spending money, it’s about spending time with family and friends. Years from now family members will still recall that day on the water as a family and probably won’t be able to remember what gifts were received. If you have a boat, for a special gift to all, load up and go fishing or just spend the day on the water. If you live on the water, you could have a fishing day in the back yard. If you do not have access to either, you could go to one of the public beaches or piers or another option although a little more costly (but a popular Christmas gift) would be to book a local guide for an enjoyable day on the water.
I bet if you buy a bucket of shrimp, load the cooler with drinks and sandwiches and spend the day with the family on the water, it will be a holiday to remember, if you catch fish or not. Just a thought!
My family and I wish everyone a safe and Merry Christmas and hope everyone gets a chance to enjoy our beautiful weather and great outdoors over the holidays.
If you have a fishing story or photo that you would like to share or for charter information, please contact us at (239) 283-7960 or visit us at www.fishpineisland.com. We also have gift certificates available for the holidays. Have a safe week and good fishin’.