Beautiful fishing weather continues
Our stretch of beautiful weather continued for another week giving anglers opportunities to chase their favorite targets inshore and offshore. Inshore, in the passes and off the beaches tarpon fishing is in full swing and offshore good catches were reported despite lots of complaints of too many sharks.
Tarpon were found about everywhere you would expect to find a tarpon, they weren’t always eating but large numbers were reported from Ft Myers Beach to the south up through Charlotte Harbor and Boca Grande Pass to our north. In the Sound tarpon were found just south of the power lines on the west side of the channel and around Captiva Rocks and Foster’s Point. Bait choices varied from large pinfish under a bobber to cut mullet fished on bottom and also included live thread herring, pilchards, blue crabs and cut ladyfish or catfish tails.
A strong migration of tarpon continue up the coast with pods of fifty fish or more sighted working north off the beaches and large numbers of fish arriving in Boca Grande Pass. The farther north along the beaches you travel the clearer the water, the best bite in these areas is from first light to mid morning. Quietly setting up ahead of the schools and properly placing a large live Atlantic thread herring or small crab in their path was the best way to hook up. Great water quality is also giving fly fishermen some great shots at sight fishing tarpon from Boca Grande south to Redfish Pass. For those that like to rub elbows with other anglers there are plenty of tarpon in Boca Grande Pass and good reports of hook ups by both jig fishermen and live baiters.
Again this week several tarpon anglers were surprised with line screaming blasts from big king mackerel. “Smoker” kings up to thirty five pounds were caught on large thread herrings just outside Boca Grande and Redfish Passes and near marker one off Ft. Myers Beach. Large Spanish mackerel and sharks off all sizes are also with the tarpon schools.
Offshore, the water quality is great and there are plenty of fish but sharks are making it a challenge. Between sharks eating the baits intended for other fish or grabbing fish once hooked, it has been a challenge to get past them. With that said gag grouper were caught over ledges in depths from seventy-five to ninety-five feet and several were also caught between twenty and thirty feet off Captiva while trolling deep diving lures. Anchoring up over wrecks and artificial reefs in depths up to fifty feet gave good action for snapper, grouper, mackerel, sharks and an occasional cobia. Permit were also reported on a few of the wrecks where anglers prepared with small live crabs hooked several. Big schools of bonito were easily spotted busting up bait schools in the Gulf beginning at about ten miles out. They aren’t much to eat but I challenge you to find a harder fighting fish. They were primarily feeding on small baitfish and they often won’t eat anything that doesn’t resemble their food of the day. The ticket for hook-ups was a long cast with the smallest silver spoon you could throw followed by a fast retrieve. This is also a great opportunity for fly casters to have some great action as long as the calm seas hold, just make sure you have plenty of backing!
Our weather has been great and so far the devastating oil spill in the Gulf hasn’t affected our fishing in southwest Florida and hopefully it won’t plus it’s the last week of school for the summer. So we sure don’t have anything to complain about other than maybe not getting on the water as much as we would like.
If you have a fishing report or for charter information, please contact us at: Phone: 239-283-7960. Website: www.fishpineisland.com. E-mail: gcl2fish@live.com.
Have a safe week and good fishin’