Good fishing sandwiched between cold fronts
Over the past week we found ourselves sandwiched between cold fronts. It started cold then it warmed up nicely with several days of light winds followed again by days of strong northerly winds and a big drop in temperature.
Boats making the run offshore are finding plenty of hard fighting amberjacks. The big jacks are ganging up over structure beginning at ninety feet . Fish averaging twenty to forty pounds we taking butterfly jigs or live pinfish on about every drop when anchored over the fish.
Also offshore anglers got a few last licks on gag grouper before the season closes down. The bite wasn’t great, however keeper fish were caught at depths from forty-five to seventy feet. Live pinfish and squid were the best baits for both red and gag grouper. Lane and mangrove snapper and several large triggerfish were also caught over the same hard bottom as the grouper.
Inshore the bite was pretty good during the mid week warm up. Captain Gary Clark of Ultimate Charters turned in a couple days of good fishing for both trout and redfish. Trout up to twenty-one inches were caught in sand potholes near Galt Island at the southern end of the Sound. The fish were ganged up in the holes and aggressively feeding on white redfish magic soft plastics.
Captain Clark found the redfish feeding on the afternoon incoming tide. The fish were busting top water lures on the bay side of Sanibel working along the bar edges. These fish were averaging twenty-four to twenty-eight inches.
Captain Dick May of Easy Rider Charters in Bokeelia also found the fishing picked up during mid week. Good action on trout was found in northern Pine Island Sound during mid day. Spanish mackerel, bluefish, pompano and ladyfish were also mixed in with the trout to provide plenty of action. Most of the fish were caught on white Gulp shrimp fished under a Cajun Rattling cork while drifting. Many of the trout were running undersize, but the action was good and there was enough caught for a fresh fish dinner.
Jim Dougal of Cape Coral got into some really nice sheepsheads near the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River. Fishing cut shrimp around pilings in areas with good tide flow yielded a bucket of fish weighing from two pounds up to a beast of seven pounds. This is Jim’s first time fishing since recuperating from shoulder surgery a few months back and he stated these fish slap wore him out.
Again this week the tides were often extremely low. This was an advantage to those fishing from kayaks as they could glide over the flats to skinny for the average boat. Fishing the shallows of Indian Fields in Matlacha Pass and south of Pineland in the Sound yakers hooked into redfish and trout. The trout were found in small bunches in the deeper sand holes where DOA shrimp in a natural color would get popped as it began its descent to the bottom. The redfish were found feeding over the shallows on the rising water. A well placed live shrimp with the tail pinched off worked good for live baiters and top waters including the Riptide Flats Chub did the trick for those preferring to use artificials.
It looks like we may have another cold week to recover from to get fishing back on track, but that is normal for this time of year. I mentioned last week that snook season was just around the corner, I apologize if I caused any confusion. A gentleman from St. James called and asked me if I meant that season was going to open the first of February because it does not open until March. I appreciated the call and season does reopen on March 1st, sometimes I just get ahead of myself with anticipation for both snook season to open and winter to end.
If you have a fishing story or photo that you would like to share or for charter information, please contact us t (239)283-7960 or visit us at www.fishpineisland.com. Have a safe week and good fishin’.