A Good Mixed Bag with Bigger Fish Moving In

We found a good variety of fish this week around Pine Island and southwest Florida and pretty good action. We usually start each day with the question, Do you want action or do you have an intended species you want to target? Most anglers opt to start the day looking for action and I always encourage this when kids are on board. This week the “action” was good with a variety of species, most caught from the same areas.

Shiners (pilchards, white bait) have come pretty easy lately, so we have been loading up the live well to allow for chumming to get the fish going. Large Spanish mackerel were abundant all week in Charlotte Harbor near Bokeelia and in the northern end of Pine Island Sound. With the mackerel, big ladyfish moved in at times so thick we needed to relocate to get away from them. We also caught bluefish, jack crevalle, sharks, trout and broke of a couple cobia. When mackerel fishing the deeper inshore grass flats you really don’t know what you might hook next, that makes it fun.

Trout fishing was good with most of the fish averaging fifteen to eighteen inches with a few over twenty up to twenty-two inches. We found the school size fish over a grass/sand bottom mix in six to eight feet of water and the larger specks in potholes and around the perimeter of oyster bars. Over a couple days we caught a lot of trout mixed with the mackerel.

We did not have much high water to work the shorelines this week but we managed one or two redfish each day we gave it a try along with an occasional snook. We actually had two days with anglers managing a slam of snook, redfish and trout. The redfish were in the mid to lower slot and our largest snook was guestimated at thirty inches. We really haven’t been measuring snook but instead removing the hook, snapping a quick picture (if requested) and quickly getting them back in the water to ensure a healthy release.

Over the week I sighted a few dozen tarpon spread out in singles and pairs in sand potholes in the Sound. They were laid up motionless absorbing the mid day sun, with the water warming more will arrive each day. Also spotted a good number of sharks from four to seven feet cruising the flats and we hooked a few up to four feet mackerel fishing along with a couple cobia that broke off. Several schools of large jack crevalle are cruising the bar edges in the upper Sound, these fish are ten pounds plus and never fail to amaze me with their fighting ability.

It’s great to see the large fish filtering into southwest Florida; it’s time to keep a heavy rod loaded and ready for any opportunity that comes along.

For charter information contact us at:

Phone: 239-283-7960

Website: www.fishpineisland.com

E-mail: gcl2fish@live.com

“Catch the action” with Captain Bill Russell

Despite the Wind the Fish are Still Hungry around Pine Island

For the better part of the week strong east winds dominated the weather around Pine Island. We still fished every day with the exception of one very rainy day and to my surprise the bite was actually better than what I would have thought.

Spanish mackerel action slowed a little in the Harbor, but I believe it was a combination of the water just too rough to fish some of the areas and the winds really have the Harbor stirred up. We are still catching macks off of Bokeelia but not in the numbers of last week. Once the wind lies off the bite should improve.

Trout fishing was good all week with plenty of upper slot fish in the eighteen to twenty inch range and several each day well over twenty inches. Most of the slot fish we caught off deeper grass flats around Bokeelia and north Matlacha Pass and the larger fish were caught in potholes, around oyster bars and right up against the mangroves on high water. The best action came over the last two hours of the incoming tide.

We are catching a few snook each day but we really haven’t targeted them too much. Our largest measured thirty inches and came from Matlacha Pass. You can tell the water temperature is getting right for them and I expect a good snook bite once the east wind lies off. We had a difficult week with redfish only catching two; both were in the mid to lower slot.

Big jack crevalle are showing up again all along shorelines in Matlacha Pass and the north end of Pine Island Sound. They are a welcome sight as I wasn’t sure how well they survived the winter freeze, as I heard stories of dead ones in the canals of Cape Coral. However, they are alive and well and if you have never battled one, I challenge you to find a harder fighting fish pound for pound.

Despite some very strong winds and one very stormy day I really can’t complain about the fishing this past week. It was pretty darn good given the conditions and I know it is going to get very good going into the weekend with a more favorable weather forecast.


Contact us at:

Phone: 239-283-7960

Website: www.fishpineisland.com

E-mail: gcl2fish@live.com

Southwest Florida Mackerel Action Non-Stop

You just knew once we had a few consecutive days of warm sunny weather something good was going to bust loose. Well it happened this week as Spanish mackerel invaded Charlotte Harbor in a big way. We’ve been catching macks for a couple weeks, but things got pretty crazy out there over the past week. Once the water cleared up from the strong wind early in the week schools of fish up to five pounds took over the Harbor and gave us fast non-stop action for as long as you wanted to tug on them.

Double, triple and even four anglers hooked up at once with drags screaming made for some exciting fishing. I often forget how much fun macks are until we get into the schools of the larger fish, they can sure strip some line in a hurry. The schools were all over the southern half of the Harbor over bottom with a grass and sand mix in about six to nine feet of water. Plenty of other boats were fishing the schools, it actually kind of resembled boats fishing tarpon pods inside Boca Grande Pass with groups of up to a dozen or so boats working schools over several areas.

Although we had a well full of shiners to chum with we really never needed to, the mack bite seldom slowed plus the birds have been a real pain when chumming lately. To prevent cut offs from the super sharp teeth I switch to an extra long shank hook when fishing the macks, it reduces the break offs a ton but you still get cut off every so often.

We also caught large trout again this week; most were caught on oyster bars and in potholes where we snook fish in the spring. It sure seems strange not pulling any snook from these spots. With live shiners for bait we took trout up to twenty-three inches with all caught from these areas going over twenty inches. We did catch slot-size trout over grass flats in the northern Sound in three to five feet of water but not the numbers you would expect.

This coming week I expect fishing as a whole to finally be back on track. We have a long stretch of warm weather and the water temps should finally stabilize above seventy degrees. If the mackerel fishing is any indication, then I would expect fishing for snook and redfish to take off any day now plus tarpon to start making a little noise.

Contact us at:

Phone: 239-283-7960

Website: www.fishpineisland.com

E-mail: gcl2fish@live.com

“Catch the Action” with Captain Bill Russell