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Slow start for snook, fishing good for other species

By Staff | Sep 15, 2009

Special to The Eagle Cliff Simer with a oversized Redfish caught in Pine Island sound with Captain Bill Russell

Snook season opened with a lot of enthusiasm; however results weren’t that great over the first couple weeks for many anglers. Fish were caught but keepers were hard to come by, the good news was there were plenty of other species hungry and willing to take up the slack.

Fishermen report catching plenty of snook along the eastern side of Charlotte Harbor near Two Pines but all were running slightly below the twenty-eight inch minimum size. The best action was at the top of the mid day high tide on live bait and late in the evening on top water lures. A few slot redfish and trout were also caught whi le snooking. Around the beaches most of the snook were also running undersize; the water in the Passes has been unusually clear making it difficult to entice the bigger fish to eat. Anglers fishing after dark hooked into a few good snook from the Matlacha Draw Bridge and the Sanibel Pier using live handpicked shrimp and red/white buck tail jigs for bait. Also a couple late afternoon snook up to twenty-nine inches were reported from the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River taken on DOA Terrorize in a root beer color. Despite a few nice fish caught here and there the overall reports was either a slow snook bite or lots of under size fish.

Red fishing continues on the rise as fish numbers appear to be increasing each week. Fall schools of larger fish are starting to show on the inshore waters. We worked two schools this past week in the northern Sound and Charlotte Harbor. These fish are averaging about thirty inches and were moving up onto the bars during the rising tide. Redfish up to twenty-five inches were reported south of the Matlacha Pass Bridge on the eastern side of the Pass by kayak fishermen working live shrimp20along the shorelines. Reds were also found on the eastern side of Cayo Costa behind Cabbage Key and on the flats south of Useppa Island. Reds were also reported near Buck Key on the morning rising water.

Trout continues as a good bet throughout the inshore waters. Captain Gary Clark reports his clients catching some nice trout on top water lures and flies near Useppa Island and over the flats east of redfish and Captiva Passes. Paul Smith at Old Pine Island Marina in St. James reports customers catching trout over the grass flats near the power lines and chino Islands also on artificials. These areas also held ladyfish, mackerel and small jacks mixed with the trout.

Lisa Benton of St. James went for a short fishing trip recently near the power lines and was rewarded with good action on trout that were just undersize and one big Spanish mackerel that was invited home for dinner. All her fish were caught on artificials.

Tripletail and pompano catches were also reported from the inshore waters over the week. Pompano up to eighteen inches were caught over sand bottom around Chino Island and near Tarpon Bay on live shrimp fished under a bobber. Tripletail were found under floating debris in Charlotte Harbor near Bokeelia were several keeper size fish up to six pounds were boated. Several fish were also reported hanging around pilings between St. James and Sanibel.

Mangrove snapper fishing is still going good throughout the area inshore and off. Micki Woodard of Max Marine Insurance in St. James reports big snapper coming from the Edison Reef. Large snapper were also caught in Captiva Pass and in areas near the fish shacks in the Sound. Tarpon were reported both off the beaches and inshore. Pods of tarpon were daisy chaining just of the beach on Cayo Costa during the calm morning hours, tarpon were also sighted rolling near the Matlacha Bridge late in the evenings. Shark fishermen report tarpon hook ups along the eastern side of Charlotte harbor and the southern end of the Sound. As for sharks there are plenty of small ones under three feet over the deeper grass flats and larger fish working the deeper waters of the Harbor and Sound.

Snook fishermen often get disappointed during the early part of September, but the bite will improve. The water is beginning to cool and the larger fish will get more active. In the mean time we should be getting into some of our best red fishing of the year and there are plenty of other fish biting to take up the slack.

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 http://www.fishpineisland.com.‘>www.fishpineisland.com. Have a safe week and good fishin’.