Good fishing for trout inhore and grouper offshore
Fishing improved again over the week as anglers are finding it easier to pattern fish as the water temperatures continue to rise and cold fronts were short lived. Inshore, the trout bite is gaining momentum each day and offshore there were a few real good reports of grouper fishing.
Decent to good trout fishing reports came from all around the Island and on a wide variety of fishing methods. It seems the larger fish are coming from the southern Sound in areas between Blind Pass and the power lines on the east side of Sanibel and across the Sound between Flamingo Bay and Chino Island. The bite has improved in Matlacha Pass but the fish are running smaller on average. The larger fish were found on oyster bar drop offs and four to six foot holes adjacent to shallow flats. In the northern Portion of the Sound trout were caught west of Cabbage Key on grass flats near Cayo Costa Island and in three to five feet of water along bar edges and over mixed grass bottom between Useppa and Part Islands.
Small top water mullet imitations worked good over the shallow grass along pothole edges early in the morning for larger trout up to four pounds. As the water began to rise trout were caught on numerous baits in three to five foot sand holes with a good number in the one to two pound class. Any rig with live shrimp was deadly; shrimp free lined, under a popping cork, rigged tail first on a jig head or a shrimp just fished live with a split shot. Most soft plastics that imitated shrimp also worked great and saved a lot of time in constantly rebaiting. Ladyfish are moving back in with the trout, they provide a lot of fun and action but also require a lot of rebaiting if rigging with shrimp.
With the full moon we experienced very low tides first thing in the mornings, a great scenario for stalking tailing redfish on the flats. Moving onto the flats with the rising water, redfish were found in Matlacha Pass in the Indian Fields and Smokehouse Bay area’s to the north and near the Mud Hole down South. In Pine Island Sound the flats on the east side of Buck Key off Captiva and between Rat and Panther Keys near Pineland held small concentrations of reds. Bait of choice varied from live shrimp rigged weedless, gold spoons, Berkley Gulp baits and various fly patterns. Trout were also reported in these areas holding over various sand holes and drop offs.
The sheepsheads bite was steady with fish coming from all the normal areas including docks, bridges, piers and areas with hard shell or oyster bottom. I also ran into a couple fishermen at the bait shop that said along with the sheepsheads they are getting their limits of decent sized mangrove snapper. On my boat we caught mostly small sheepsheads in Matlacha Pass but found larger fish in the Sound with the heaviest going five pounds. Small live shrimp or cut shrimp was the common bait rigged on a small stainless bait keeper hook with just enough weight to get it to the bottom. If you have some of those dead orange stinky shrimp in your bucket hook one on and give it a try. After hearing stories about bonefish guides preferring them for bait in the Bahamas, I gave them a try a few years ago and low and behold we have hooked some of our largest sheepies with the stinky things. You might not get the stink off your hands for a few days but you might catch a few big fish to make it worthwhile!
Anglers venturing offshore in the Gulf closed out the month with good grouper fishing in depths from forty to seventy feet. Fishing over ledges with live baits including pinfish and pigfish or butterfly jigs turned up good numbers of gags up to twelve pounds. Action was steady and a good percentage of fish hooked were of keeper size. A couple nice red grouper were also mixed in as well as a few big mangrove snapper. Grouper season is closed in Gulf waters for the months of February and March, for rules and regulations on grouper and other species visit www.myfwc.com.
We finally clawed our way out of a memorable month of January. Not being one to dwell on the past I would rather look forward and anticipate what the new month brings. We will see our water temperatures continue to slowly rise and bait fish to arrive again sometime this month. Not far behind the bait will be the predator fish that give us so much action. This can be a great month for trout fishing as they will get noticeably larger and plentiful as the month moves forward. We should get over the hump and on our way to the great spring time fishing we eagerly anticipate. I can’t wait!
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 online at www.fishpineisland.com. Have a safe week and good fishin’. “Catch the Action” with Captain Bill Russell.