On the Water: August means fishing around the weather
On the water around Southwest Florida in August means dealing with steamy hot weather and the possibility of daily thunderstorms. Fishing can be good for the month If you don’t mind working around the weather.
Summer days give us flat calm seas over the morning hours, perfect for running offshore. Our coastline is dotted with man-made artificial reefs, many well within sight of land with GPS coordinates available to the public. If you are an inshore angler, it’s a nice change of pace to make a short run offshore, especially during the heat of summer when the inshore water temperatures are so high.
Fishing around the reefs, you never know what you might hook into. Everything from tasty snapper to huge goliath grouper call the reefs their home. To get the most out of the day, you want an assortment of tackle that can manage the fish you target and any surprise guest. Obviously with snapper you do not need super heavy tackle, the lighter the better for the best action. But if you want to attempt to pull a big goliath grouper from his home, you will need an extra heavily rig, we are talking 200 to 400-pound line. And many times, that’s not heavy enough. Big goliaths are protected and must remain in the water and released unharmed.
In between snapper and goliaths is the possibility of Spanish and king mackerel, cobia, permit, barracuda, snook, grouper, sharks of all sizes, plus many other species. A common method is to anchor up, deploy a chum bag and fish several different line class rods and baits for a variety of fish.
Inshore seatrout fishing is good through the summer. Look for larger trout over areas of open water where shallow sand bars transition to deeper grass flats from 3-6 feet deep with good water movement. Schools of small bait fish concentrate in these areas. Trout, plus Spanish mackerel, bluefish, ladyfish and sharks, are located around the bait. Diving pelicans, terns and gulls often give up the location of schooling bait.
Mangrove snapper fishing is a good choice throughout the inshore and near shore waters. They gather around structure with good water movement; this could include any of the Gulf passes, docks and jetties, bridges, piers, and natural or man-made reefs. For bait, live shrimp, pilchards and small pinfish are the ticket, plus small pieces of cut bait. Snapper have excellent vision, a small circle hook with 3-4 feet of 10 to 20-pound fluorocarbon leader will put the odds in your favor. Snapper are hard fighting for their size and are one of the absolute best tasting fish in our waters. If you have visitors over the summer, snapper can make a great target and reward you with a fine dinner.
Good numbers of snook are roaming the surf along the Gulf beaches throughout the summer and are a sight fishermen’s dream. Most snook are under 26 inches, but there are much bigger fish mixed in. Pilchards, herring, small pinfish, one-eighth, or quarter ounce white bucktail jigs and a variety of small white flies are top baits. Look for the fish right off the edge of the beach in the surf or near any type of submerged structure. Remember snook are catch-and-release only, quickly return them to the water. Snook, like most fish, are most active early and late in the day over the summer months.
Stay up to date with fishing regulations by visiting the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission at: www.myfwc.com. Also, upload the Fish Rules app on your phone. It has current regulations with pictures to help identify fish.
If you turn on your GPS location the Fish Rules app updates to your location. In my opinion, it is more accurate and up to date than FWC’s website.
If you have a fishing report or for charter information, please contact us at Gulf Coast Guide Service — call or text 239-410-8576; website at www.fishpine island.com; or email gcl2fish@live.com
Have a safe week and good fishin’
As a lifetime resident of Matlacha and Pine Island, Capt. Bill Russell has spent his life fishing and learning the waters around Pine Island and Southwest Florida, and as a professional fishing guide for over 20 years.