On the Water: Another week of typical summer fishing
Another week of hot summer weather yielded good fishing for some anglers and a struggle for others.
The seatrout bite has been off the past week or so around many areas of the Sound and Matlacha Pass. With an outgoing tide for much of the day, the better bite was early morning at the top of the tide. Grass bottom in 5 to 8-foot depths off Bokeelia gave up a few seatrout plus Spanish mackerel, ladyfish and small blacktip sharks. A few pompano were caught while drifting shrimp under a float for trout between Bokeelia and Matlacha. Seatrout were also caught in the Sound near Redfish and Captiva Passes.
In Matlacha, anglers fishing at the drawbridge caught snapper, pompano, small sharks, ladyfish and jack crevalle. Most fish were caught on live shrimp or small shrimp-tipped jigs. Redfish up to 29 inches were hooked under the shade of island points in south Matlacha Pass near Master Landing on the higher tides while soaking cut bait on bottom. In the northern Pass, redfish and a few seatrout were caught between Smokehouse Bay and the east mouth of Jug Creek at Bokeelia. A few boats found decent action with catch-and-release snook plus mangrove snapper along the eastern shore of Charlotte Harbor, while tossing live pilchards.
At the southern end of Pine Island Sound, snook were biting near Buck Key and shorelines inside Captiva on the higher tide. Across the Sound, similar action was reported near Chino and Galt Island with redfish and snapper also in the mix. Fishing off the beach near the Sanibel Fishing Pier turned up Spanish mackerel and pompano while casting crazy or pompano jigs.
Boats running 30-35 miles offshore found rod-bending action while drifting artificial reefs and wrecks. Hard pulling amberjack, barracuda, sharks and cobia were caught while drifting a variety of live baits. Bottom diggers boxed red grouper and various snapper, porgy and grunts working depths from 70-120 feet.
A full moon is coming up at the end of the week. This will bring good tides and hopefully a better bite.
Keep up to date with fishing regulations and seasons as they change often. You can visit www.myfwc.com for all current state and federal regulations. Also, you can upload the Fish Rules app on your phone. It has current regulations and seasons with pictures to help identify fish.
Keep up to date with fishing regulations and seasons as they change often. You can visit www.myfwc.com for all current state and federal regulations. Also, you can upload the Fish Rules app on your phone. It has current regulations and seasons with pictures to help identify fish.
If you have a fishing report or for charter information, please contact us at Gulf Coast Guide Service; phone (239) 410-8576, email gcl2fish@live.com or you can visit us on the Web at www.fishpineisland.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.