Special to the Eagle St. James City Captain Steve Woodard brought home this nice catch on an overnight trip in the Gulf with friends Ralf Gruber, Frankie Potucek, Mike Skully and Tom Butler aboard the Mis Max.

After what seemed like an endless summer we finally got relief with a weekend cold front that moved through Southwest Florida. Fishing reports were good ahead of the front, offshore before the winds picked up and inshore as the weather began to change.

“Wild” was the word anglers used to describe the action off the beaches. From the Edison Reef south of Sanibel up to Cayo Costa, feeding frenzies were encountered anywhere from several hundred yards off the beaches out to a couple miles. The activity occurred around large bait balls as predator fish were going wild while filling their gullets. There were reports that with one camera shot you could capture tarpon, sharks, mackerel and bonito all exploding from the water in the same frame. Of course, with all the feeding fish and fleeing baitfish, lots of birds were hovering and diving — a dead giveaway to locating the action.

Also just off the Cayo Costa beach, a large school of big bull reds were reported again this week. These fish were running near 40 inches and were working waters about 12 feet in depth. With the clear water the fish were easy to stay on with the bronze color a dead giveaway.

Out a little farther in depths from 30 to 60 feet, anglers also report tons of bait and good fishing. Red and gag grouper, mangrove snapper and big black tip sharks were found on or near structure, including limestone ledges, hard coral bottom and artificial reefs. Live bait including pinfish, thread herring and blue runners were the baits of choice.

On an overnight trip, Capt. Steve Woodard from St. James City, fishing with friends (Ralf Gruber, Frankie Potucek, Mike Skully, Tom Butler and friend Steve) aboard the Mis Max, returned with a good mixed bag. They landed big gag grouper, mutton and mangrove snapper, kingfish and amberjacks to fill the cooler. They were fishing in depths up to 250 feet southwest of Sanibel. They also caught lots of big American red snapper that were all released due to closed season.

Inshore the bite was decent the later part of the week as the wind began to blow from the west. Catching a legal size snook continues to be a real challenge but the redfish bite was improved from the previous weeks. There were a few reports of oversize snook caught near the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River and some big mangrove snapper. In Pine Island Sound the snook bite was decent on the eastern side over the last half of the incoming tide. Fishing live baits off points where the wind and tide was moving water was the key to catching snook. Most of the “line sides” were running 24 to 27 inches. Scattered redfish were also caught with the snook and they were averaging about 23 inches.

Before the winds, redfish schools were located on the flats south of Useppa Island and on the Burnt Store bar. The schools were large and on most days had several boats working them. By week’s end they were getting really skittish and difficult to stay with or locate.

Along with catching mid-slot redfish in the sound we also had good redfish action in Matlacha Pass on my boat. Fishing near the top of the tide in Buzzard Bay we had steady action for an hour or so with redfish ranging from 24 to a whopping 33 inches caught by Rita Davis of Pineland. Rita, her husband Bill and friend Dick Gentry caught and released a number of oversize reds and brought home three upper slot fish for dinner to be cooked by the Lazy Flamingo Restaurant n Bokeelia.

No doubt our first real cool weather of the season is going to change fishing at least a little. Reports from the past week off of Tampa to our north also show wild action off the beaches. Let’s hope once the weather settles back down those fish have moved down off our beaches and we can keep that “wild” action going for a little bit longer!

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 www.fishpineisland.com. Have a safe week and good fishin’.