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Fort Meyers - February 11th, 2012
supplied by: FishSkinner Charters FISHING: Good
March 20th is the first day of spring. The ancipated warming climate allows the water temperatures to rise here in the Fort myers and Sanibel Island area, welcoming the Spring migration of Cobia to the North. During this time, usually the later part of Spring, you may spot Cobia traveling in small schools and/or with rays inshore and nearrshore right here in SW Florida.Cobia can be caught using a few different techniques:Bottom fishing with weights and live bait such as pinfish, bluerunners and crabs. Cobia are attracted to sound and movement, so using artificial baits is also a geat choice. I prefer bright, noisy plugs which sink and/or dive.You can also troll for Cobia from your boat using a heavy rod and reel with about a 4oz. weight and live bait. Cobia are known for putting up a fight, which makes the hunt all the more exciting. They take a little more skill and patience to land, but the prize is the fight. Cobia aren't only known for there thrilling fight but also there flavor and texture. I practice catch and release, but if you choose to bring it home for dinner, please keep in mind the FWC regulations are 33" to fork. One per harvester or six per vessel per day. The information in this report is provided as a service to the Fort Myers and Sanibel Island angling community by FishSkinner Charters, Fort Myers, FL. FishSkinner Charters15351 Briarcrest Cir.Fort Myers, FL 33912(239) 851- 9600http://floridafishingreports.wordpress.com/http://dailyfishingreports.blogspot.com/
Sanibel Island - February 11th, 2012
supplied by: FishSkinner Charters FISHING: Great
March 20th is the first day of spring. The ancipated warming climate allows the water temperatures to rise here in the Fort myers and Sanibel Island area, welcoming the Spring migration of Cobia to the North. During this time, usually the later part of Spring, you may spot Cobia traveling in small schools and/or with rays inshore and nearrshore right here in SW Florida.
Cobia can be caught using a few different techniques:
Bottom fishing with weights and live bait such as pinfish, bluerunners and crabs.
Cobia are attracted to sound and movement, so using artificial baits is also a geat choice. I prefer bright, noisy plugs which sink and/or dive.
You can also troll for Cobia from your boat using a heavy rod and reel with about a 4oz. weight and live bait.
Cobia are known for putting up a fight, which makes the hunt all the more exciting. They take a little more skill and patience to land, but the prize is the fight.
Cobia aren't only known for there thrilling fight but also there flavor and texture. I practice catch and release, but if you choose to bring it home for dinner, please keep in mind the FWC regulations are 33" to fork. One per harvester or six per vessel per day.
The information in this report is provided as a service to the Fort Myers and Sanibel Island angling community by FishSkinner Charters, Fort Myers, FL.
Sarasota Bay - February 7th, 2012
supplied by: Tight Loops Flyfishing RECORDED:78 °FISHING: Good
I took Tom Fisher (appropriate name, eh?) out into Sarasota Bay yesterday. The charter was a birthday present from his wife, Janet—don’t you wish YOUR wife was such a Sweetie—and with water temps hovering near 70 degrees, I expected big things.
Well, wasn’t I absolutely wrong!
It appears everybody—including the fish—were hung-over from Super Sunday. Or something. There were hardly any boats on the Bay, and the fish obviously were Patriots fans. Sulking, I guess, from the most bizarre Super Bowl ever played.
(I’ve just GOTTA digress for a moment to comment that I covered Super Bowl V, VI and VII for the Palm Beach Post—yeah, yeah, I KNOW how old that makes me—and bought some tickets for my pal Joe Welford (a total fanatic for Alabama football, BTW). They were twelve bucks each! Sunday’s averaged twenty-four hundred!)
Anyway, Tom’s another Michigan guy who spends most of his retirement time fly fishing on the Huron River, near Ann Arbor. This was his first time tossing heavy tackle into another zip code, so we spent some time in the early morning discussing technique.
We wore out the water on the Radio Tower Flat near City Island, and since it was flat-calm before the storm, I buzzed the Hewes Redfisher through New Pass and into the Gulf of Mexico. I’d been hearing about some Spanish mackerel showing up already because of the warmer water. Silver trout, too.
Bzzzzzzzt! That’s the Jeopardy buzzer telling me I had guessed incorrectly.
Tom enjoyed watching three or four bottlenose dolphin gorging on whatever baitfish were out there amid the myriad stone crab traps, but all we accomplished was to wear out his casting arm until I pulled the plug and headed in.
Since we had a very nice incoming tide, I set up a drift near the shoal that creates Zwick’s Channel, and floated over a succession of gorgeous grass flats and potholes. Surely, a trout or ladyfish would anxiously suck down a Clouser-style minnow pattern. Right? Wrong.
Tom finally hooked a couple of smallish snapper. I got disgusted with the lack of interest everything else was displaying, and took off for Bishop’s Point.
It was there, at long last, a group of Giants fans must have stopped swilling down shrimp cocktails long enough to get interested in one of my glass minnow patterns. Maybe they thought it looked like Tom Brady!
All I know is that three times the line started darting away during mid-strip. Ooops. Missed sacking BradyBoy that time! And that one. And that one, too.
Finally, my Tom hauled back on the line with his left hand and the rod bent and hooboy there was a trout fast to the fly.
Happy birthday, Tom. I never asked which one. Maybe if we float the Au Sable this summer I’ll find out. At least in August the All Star Game is long past and the World Series is still two months away!
Venice - Snook Alley - January 22nd, 2012
supplied by: Tight Loops Flyfishing RECORDED:72 °FISHING: Excellent
Jim McGowan fished Little Sarasota Bay with me recently, and had a good time with trout and ladyfish in the 3-pound class.
We were up near Spanish Point, working grass flats and some oyster bars that were getting dimpled by redfish cruising around looking for fiddler crabs.
It was pretty chilly that morning, though, and the water temps were still just a bit over 61 degrees. Finally, when the water got to 63, the fishing turned on. So, I guess we'll be concentrating more on the afternoon warmth than the morning tides during the next week.
Offshore anglers have been doing well on porgies, grunts, red snapper and some amberjack that are running more than 30 pounds. Running for three hours and then anchoring over a reef isn't my cup of coffee, but at least they're getting bent rods out of the deal.
I've got a quail trip with Bill and Kevin Delaney Tuesday (I haven't told Heart and Tug yet!!), then it's time to look for some tarpon in my "secret" honey-hole that holds them year-round. I also just got a tip that I need to check out--another juvie tarpon hangout.
Lemon Bay - January 10th, 2012
supplied by: Tight Loops Flyfishing RECORDED:77 °FISHING: Excellent
The wind had laid down, the sun was shining, and the moon was just about as big and bright as it could be. Which means the gravitational pull, etc. etc. etc. would make the fishing Monday morning exceptionally spectacular.
Yeah. Go tell it to the fish!
I had Ron Pisani throwing everything I could think of in all the best spots I could think of. We were after redfish, see, and I just KNEW they’d be hungry after the cold front that had blown through.
“Sure, we’ll go hit some oyster bars,” I had told Ron—who had just been dragged back to Venice from Albany by his wife, Peg.
She’s lobbying HARD for them to move here permanently and forget they ever heard of Upstate New York. “Let the kids come visit us down here,” she said when we’d met at Books-A-Million. “It’s too cold up there for me anymore!”
Anyway, I digress. Peg dropped Ron off and went back to lounge by the pool. We, on the other hand, headed to Lemon Bay and a Date With Redfish.
Except the redfish stood us up.
I mean, it was like having the girl’s father open the door and tell you she wasn’t home. Having the cafeteria lady slam the window shut and say they were out of food. Going home after school to find out your parents had moved. And changed the locks.
This was worse than simply being insulted. I was mortified.
The only consolation—if you can call it that—was when a few large redfish shot past the Hewes as if they’d been propelled by an RPG launcher.
“There goes one!” I yelled to Ron. Who grimaced and made another cast toward the barnacle-encrusted dock pilings I was poling past.
When nothing fishy materialized out of the myriad potholes we were working on the west side of the bay, I decided to try a spot that used to be a wonderfully consistent place for redfish.
Sigh. I guess the operative phrase there was “used to be.”
Finally, I gave up.
“Reel in,” I told Ron. “We’re moving.”
Less than five minutes later, I tossed out the sea anchor and we started drifting an enormous flat near Stump Pass. By now, I was Beyond Redfish.
Ron was still pitching. I pulled another rod out from the slots under the gunwale and stripped off a bunch of line. The idea was to get a castable amount off the reel, then have Ron try this imitation greenback lead-eye fly.
Whipping out fifty or sixty feet of Wulff Bermuda Triangle, I made a couple of strips, intending to hand the rod to Ron, when I saw his line go tight and start cutting through the water.
Hooboy! Finally!
Well, that twenty-inch spotted sea trout was the first of several that came to the boat rapid-fire. It was like the conjunction of time/tide/location finally meshed.
“Okay,” I said to Ron after he landed his fifth or sixth fish in a matter of minutes, “It’s time to go home.”
ENGLISH SETTER UPDATE
I took Heart and Tug The Thug up to Sarasota last week for some exercise. A guy named Phil DeVore trains Labs, and had some quail he was willing to share. Goodness knows, my hounds needed the work. Obviously, they still do!
Heart, who will be five years old in June, did a magnificent job pointing those birds. Very stylish, I must say. Except he was so full of himself that he simply couldn’t resist busting off after them when they flushed.
OOOPS!
And Tug, who’s fifteen months, was thoroughly confused by the circumstances and spent more time snacking on fresh cowpies than she did pointing birds.
OOOPS! OOOPS! OOOPS!
Well, Phil has a few birds left, so we’ll be back there again Thursday. I guess working with the dogs is a lot like chasing fish. Sometimes, getting everything to work just takes a little longer than you’d planned!
While windy weather continues to blow around the Treasure Coast, the fishing has been great along the Indian River lately. Water temperatures continue to fall in the low to mid 60's and finding a few degrees of warmer water can add to your success this time of year. You can expect the winds to be there most days. Its been fun out there!
Had several old friends out this past week along with some new ones to have some fun out on the water. We found a large variety of fish on most days to keep us busy. Most of our fishing has been in five to ten feet of water. As water temps continue to fall, we move to deeper water and fish drop offs, channel edges, docks and bridges. DOA Terror Eyz has been working great when fishing the deeper water along with live baits.
We've found redfish, snook, trout and drum under the docks along with many other species. Bridges have held the same, plus grouper, sand perch and snapper. Our best bite has been on the incoming tides. Harbor Branch, Bear Point and Middle Cove has been good for the trout and redfish bite. Don't forget they are still out of season this month. Lot of last minute snook anglers are fishing the bridges and jetties for that slot fish. The bite has been good at night on the incoming tides. Live bait, feather jigs and Terror Eyz have all worked well. Remember that snook season will close December 15th.
The inlet has been holding lots of mackerel. There are some good size fish in the turning basin that are willing to hit a shiny lure. The bluefish are moving into the river and should be feeding around the inlet now. Pompano are along the surf and the river. It's been hard to fish for them with all the winds, but they are out there. A few reports of flounder around the jetties means they should be moving in soon. It's been great fishing out there, so get out soon!
As always, remember, fishing is not just another hobby....it's an ADVENTURE!!
Key West - December 1st, 2011
supplied by: Sight Fish Charters RECORDED:72 °FISHING: Good
Blue skies and temperatures in the mid 70's for the rest of this week..
Water temperatures are good and we are finding good numbers of permit and bonefish on the gulf edge during the incoming tides..
Tarpon fishing has been good on the right days too... The lower Florida Keys has resident baby tarpon and full sized tarpon .. We found some 6 footers laid up on a channel edge yesterday..
This is the time of year big barracudas start to appear o n the flats in good numbers.. If you like northern pike or muskies, you will LOVE cudas! They can hit speeds near 25 mph, takes are viscous and they make some amazing jumps..
Matlacha Pass - February 4th, 2011
supplied by: FishSkinner Charters RECORDED:79 °FISHING: Great Fort Myers beach fishing has been very good this week. Even better, it’s been great! The weather has been beautiful, although the wind has picked up a few times. The only problem has been trying to find a Redfish over sixteen inches. The fish really have been making up for it in numbers though. The average day is anywhere from twenty to thirty Redfish. Trout have been good in the mornings with a few slot size ones in the mix. The Sheeps head have been so big that I had to move up to a bigger hook size and twenty five pound test leader to get this suckers into the boat. The sheeps head (a little boy from wisconsin was calling them "lambs head", this week) have been where it’s at for putting supper on the table.
Pine Island Sound - January 19th, 2011
supplied by: FishSkinner Charters FISHING: Great
Today I took the Hughes family fishing in Fort Myers for redfish. I knew we would catch a lot of redfish but I was hoping we would catch atleast one or two within slot (18"-27"). That's been a little difficult fishing Sanibel lately so I took them up to Pine Island. We ended up doing pretty well. We caught a lot of the smaller reds like I've been catching lately but we also landed three slot sized Redfish. One being 20, one 23 and the third was 25. The afternoons have been producing more fish because of the warmer temps.
We used a 7' MEDIUM ACTION ROD. SPINNING REEL WITH 8-10 # TEST MONOFILAMENT. 20# TEST MONOFILAMENT LEADER TIED DIRECTLY TO YOUR 8-10# TEST LINE .
When fishing Sanibel or Fort Myers for redfish, always look for grassy areas with sandy potholes. Water depth should be within 3-4ft deep. Look near the mangroves and under docks.
We used live shrimp by hooking the shrimp under the "horn" with a 2/0 hook with a floating cork approx. 2 1/2 - 3 ft. from the hook Adjust according to the debth of water.
Tampa Bay - January 17th, 2011
supplied by: Shamrock Inshore Charters RECORDED:53 °FISHING: Good
Tampa fishing captain does double take after landing a flounder
on south shore. "It's got two back sides!" announced captain
Sean Hagen a local fishing guide out of Tampa Florida.
While flounder fishing in Tampa Bay Captain Sean Hagen
notices there is something odd about the flounder he just boated.
The oddball fish appeared to have two backsides. The back and belly
both held the same pattern. Normally the backside (the side with the eyes)
is muscled on both sides of the back bone and posses a camouflage pattern.
The belly is flat and pearl white in color.
Although, this oddball flounder appeared normal on its backside,
its belly side was definately of a freakish nature. The only
white on the belly side was a small section around it's head.
The rest of the belly possed the same camouflage color pattern
as its backside. Also, the belly was slightly muscled and not
completely flat like that of a normal southern flounder.
No, this flounder was not boated around the Crystal River
nuclear power plant. If any anglers have caught simular
type flounder Capt. Sean would be interested in hearing
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