Weather change puts fish on the move
Autumn like weather greeted southwest Florida over the first week of October and with the change fish have begun their seasonal transition as the waters cool.
For non-stop action anglers looked a short distance off the beaches and around the Passes. Large schools of baitfish moving down the coast stirred up all sorts of commotion from hungry predators. It was common to find bonito, Spanish mackerel, large ladyfish, jack crevalle and sharks all working the same bait pods. A long cast with a Clark silver spoon into the melee resulted in hook-ups with all the above, a small trace of wire leader was a must to prevent cut-offs.
Tarpon were also sighted around the bait schools and a few were sighted rolling in the Passes. A few good catches of mangrove snapper were taken in Captiva and Boca Grande Pass and also a mile or so west of Boca Grande. Live shrimp, shrimp tipped jigs and small live pinfish bounced over the rocky bottom over the slowest stages of the tide yielded snapper to seventeen inches. Plenty of grouper were also caught with the snapper but were all undersize.
Flounder fishing picked up with the cooler weather as fish up to seventeen inches were caught around dock pilings, in sand potholes and along the beach from Blind Pass north to Cayo Costa. The best baits were live shrimp fished on a small jighead, live pilchards and DOA shrimp with a little gold glitter. A few good size sheepsheads were also caught on the shrimp rigs. Fishing for both should improve over the month as the cooler weather pushes them from the Gulf and into the shallower waters along the beaches and inshore.
Tailing redfish were sightfished over the morning low tides in southern Matlacha Pass and in Pine Island Sound. The cool air has dropped the water temperature on the flats and the results are fish feeding aggressively. Reds up to twenty-nine inches were reported on a variety of baits including MirrOlure’s Top Dog Jr., Berkley’s Gulp Shrimp, live shrimp and cut ladyfish. The fish were most active over the first two hours of the incoming tide as they transitioned from potholes to the shallower grass flats. Trout up to twenty inches were caught from potholes in the Sound while targeting redfish.
Offshore, anglers making the long run to depths over one -hundred fifty feet were rewarded with bag limits of tasty red snapper. Captain Sean McQuade reports easy limits of ARS over the weekend with many scaling over twenty pounds. They were fishing west of Boca Grande Pass, most were hooked on butterfly jigs or Spanish sardines. Large red and gag grouper plus one big scamp were also caught with the snapper between one hundred sixty and one hundred and eighty feet of water.
Don’t forget October 17th, that’s the date for the Pine Island Elementary annual Fishing Derby & Tournament. It’s a great event taking place this upcoming Sunday and is presented by the Matlacha Hookers with all proceeds to benefit the kids at our elementary school. Every year it’s held at the Olde Fish House Marina in Matlacha with a Kids Derby from the docks and the weigh-in for the Fishing Tournament at 3:00 PM. This is a very affordable tournament at $50 per angler and includes a T-shirt and fish fry after weigh-in. For more information contact Karen Burns at (239) 283-3875. Let’s mark it on the calendar and support our Island school children by attending this event. Even if you don’t fish, come on by, there are plenty of activities with good food and drinks, you will be glad you did.
If you have a fishing story or for charter information, please contact us at 239-283-7960 or www.fishpineisland.com. Have a safe week and good fishin’.