Opportunity Knocks around Southwest Florida

Fishing around Pine Island in Southwest Florida remains good if you keep your options open and take advantage of opportunities that arise.

It’s that time of year that I can’t wait to great the sun in the mornings, the sunrises are spectacular and the bait is just plain thick, a very enjoyable combination.

Charlotte Harbor has been giving us non-stop action when my clients are looking for fast fishing. We fished near Oyster Shoals off of Bokeelia and found great action with big, fat Spanish mackerel. The only problem was keeping the bluefish and big ladyfish off the baits long enough for the macks to get them. We also caught a couple cobia, a few big flounder, sharks and sea trout from the same areas. Look for a mottled grass/sand bottom mix in six to ten foot depths. Our best action came over the incoming tide. This fun should continue until colder water pushes the bait schools south.

Catching large trout and redfish was a little tougher this week, patiently working oyster bars and shorelines was the key to success.

We found a few nice redfish on the eastern side of Pine Island Sound and trout up to twenty-three inches around mullet schools near oyster bars in Matlacha Pass.

Bait continues to be about as thick as possible and every gamefish we catch looks like it’s about to pop from over eating. As we come off the full moon I expect fish to continue fattening up and this should continue until a hard cold front pushes the bait schools south, but hopefully no time soon. Keep an open eye and take advantage of a fishing opportunity when it comes knocking, and don’t forget this is the last week to go catch a trout dinner before season closes until the first of the year.

For charter information, please contact us at:

Phone: 239-283-7960

Website: www.fishpineisland.com.

E-mail: gcl2fish@live.com.

“Catch the Action” with Captain Bill Russell

MIGRATION IN MOTION

 

With a noticeable change in weather and the Gulf waters cooling down fish of all shapes and sizes are migrating down the coast of Florida on the way to their winter homes. It’s the time of year with endless fishing opportunities and lots of hard fighting fish.

 

                               

Just like last week the place to find fast rod bending action was not much more than a stone’s throw off the beaches and near the Passes. A host of aggressive hard fighting fish was found daily working large bait pods from Stump Pass south to Fort Myers Beach. Spanish mackerel, bluefish, bonito (little tunny), jack crevalle, sharks of all sizes, and a few king mackerel could be seen aggressively beating up the baitfish on the surface. The bonito and mackerel were often airborne in pursuit of their prey. Using small shiny spoons (Clark Spoons is a time proven favorite) is the easiest way to make a long cast and get in on the action. Often the retrieve needs to be really fast to get the strike, if you think your retrieve is too fast, reel a little faster. Don’t worry you can’t retrieve a spoon to fast for these speedsters. Make sure your reel has plenty of line, when you hook a decent size bonito or kingfish they can take a lot of line in a hurry. Remember often the smallest lure works best, these fish often get feeding on small glass minnows and you really need to match the hatch to get strikes with consistency.


Tarpon were also sighted around the bait pods off the beaches and a couple were hooked around Boca Grande Pass on large live thread herring. Small pods of tarpon were also sighted around the Matlacha Draw Bridge at sunrise on calm mornings. Look for them on the south side near the Bridgewater Inn.

Several cobia were reported over the week in Charlotte Harbor near Bokeelia. They were sight fished along the big sandbars in areas with activity from mackerel, bluefish and ladyfish feeding on pilchards. Keep an eye out for cobia in the upcoming weeks as they are another migratory fish moving down our coast.

Right now is just a fun time to fish, the water is alive and on most days the fish are active. The key to a fun day of fishing is keep an open mind and don’t get too keyed in on any one species. Keep your eyes open and look for opportunities, and take advantage of them when they arise. If you can’t catch a redfish don’t worry about it, I guarantee if you get into non-stop action on bonito or mackerel or if you hook into a big cobia you will forget all about those redfish. This time of year fishing is about opportunities, take advantage of it!

If you have a fishing story or for charter information, please contact us at:

Phone: 239-283-7960

Website: www.fishpineisland.com.

E-mail: gcl2fish@live.com.

"Catch the Action" with Captain Bill Russell

Great Weather and Good Fishing in Southwest Florida

     The weather is absolutely perfect and the fishing is pretty darn good too around Pine Island in southwest Florida. Last week started off a little on the breezy and rainy side but by the weekend the temperature, humidity and wind dropped leaving us with bright blue skies and calm seas.

     Big trout were a common catch again this week with the largest measuring twenty-seven inches. We found these trout on just about every oyster bar or Island point while looking for redfish.

     Snook are moving away from the beaches and back into Matlacha Pass and Pine island Sound. We caught and released a few up to thirty inches around mullet schools, again looking for redfish.

     The inshore snapper fishing hasn’t been as good as years past but there is still plenty of fat fish for a good snapper nugget dinner.

     I continue to see schools of tarpon in the twenty to sixty pound range in Matlacha Pass early in the mornings on the falling tides. The problem was keeping the other critters including ladyfish, bluefish, mackerel, jacks, trout and garfish, yes garfish off the bait. We are hooking at least a couple garfish every day as the summer rains have obviously flushed them from their fresh water homes into the salty estuaries.

     With plenty of bait around and finally some beautiful fall weather our fishing should only get better for the rest of the month. Get out there and take advantage of it!

For charter information please contact us at:


Phone: 239-283-7960

Website: www.fishpineisland.com

E-mail: gcl2fish@live.com


“Catch the Action” with Captain Bill Russell