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Enough with the cold

3 min read

It was down right cold last week! Maybe not for people visiting from up north that are acclimated with it, but for anybody from southwest Florida it was miserably cold. With that extra chill in the air and some pretty windy days anglers for the most part chose to stay off the water. Those that did wet a line often found the best fishing in protected water including residential canals.

At the beginning of the week before the water temperatures dropped to low there were a few reports of snook biting. These reports came from the southern end of the Island in waters that included St. James Creek, Manatee Bay canals and Shell Creek near Punta Rassa. Snook up to thirty-one inches were caught and released on live shrimp, white buck tail jigs with a red head, olive colored buck tails and pearl colored soft plastics.

Also in canals anglers found a few trout biting, small redfish along with mangrove snapper and black drum. These fish all seemed to hunker down in the same area which often was near a canals dead end where the water remained warmer. Those residents that are lucky enough to live in such an area found some of the best fishing for the week right off their dock. The same canals as mentioned above for snook and canals off Jug Creek in Bokeelia and canals leading in Matlacha were good areas to look for fish avoiding the cold.

Sheepsheads wee about the only fish that were on a decent bite during the coldest of days. The larger fish were biting the best during the windier days. I do not think there were many anglers fishing for them during these times, but a few who did manage good catches of fish up to for pounds. The larger fish were caught where the water was moving fast around oyster bars, pilings and deep creeks. A fresh shrimp cut in half and fished on bottom worked best for the bigger sheepsheads.

Heading into the weekend the warm up had begun. Winds were light and the sun was bright so hopefully fishing will soon get back on track. We were lucky and to my knowledge the temperature drop to near freezing did not kill any snook. They do not tolerate the cold very well and it’s very disheartening for an angler to see a bunch of dead snook after a hard col d front. But it looks like the snook are still alive and well and that’s good because the opening of season is just around the corner.

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. Have a safe week and good fishin’.