The month of May is at the top for best months for fishing
the waters of southwest Florida. Two good things happen, first local waters are
far less crowded as most of our winter visitors took off for the north after
Easter passed, and second, it’s time for big fish. Tarpon, sharks, snook,
redfish, you name it and this is great month to go after the big ones.
The unofficial kick-off to tarpon
season begins and if you want to hook into a big tarpon, this is the time to do
it. Large schools will gather off the beaches, as well as in Charlotte Harbor,
Pine Island Sound, San Carlos Bay and other inshore waters. Tarpon, aka Silver
King, will also be hanging around the Sanibel Causeway, Big Carlos Bridge and
the Gulf passes with Boca Grande getting the most attention. It’s common to see
a hundred boats or better on any given day tarpon fishing Boca Grande Pass, if
you are going to fish there do your homework first. 
Where there are tarpon there will be
sharks, and some big ones. For that matter sharks will be about anywhere from
the shallow inshore flats to offshore. Many of the larger females including bull,
lemon, and blacktip move into our inshore waters to give birth to their baby’s.
Sharks are a very under rated game fish,
when caught on moderate tackle they are an absolute blast, especially high
flying blacktip and spinners. Be very careful when handling them, or better yet
leave them in the water at boat side, if you cannot easily remove the hook, cut
the leader as close to the hook as possible. 
This is the time when the big snook
head for the Gulf passes for their upcoming summer spawning session. Old timers
say when the royal Poinciana trees are in bloom, big snook head to the Passes.
The trees in my neighborhood are blooming bright and red. Our snook population
appears to be on a slow rebound from the cold winter of 2010, let’s do our part
and handle each fish with extra care for a safe release, and never hang a large
fish from its lips or mouth; this has proven to do irreversible damage to the
heavier fish, likely leading to its death, plus its illegal. It’s best to not remove a big fish from the
water at all, not just snook, but any big fish to be released. Snook season closed
the first of May and will remain close through August; it is strictly catch and
release.
Targeting redfish should get more consistent heading into the
month. Calm mornings give sight fishermen on the skinny flats some great
opportunities at stalking tailer’s with many in excess of thirty inches. Look
for good fishing under the shade of the mangroves on the mid-day high tides;
again expect fish from sub legal to in excess of thirty inches.
This is a month to be prepared for anything; you never know
what you might run into. I like to always keep a large rig handy, just in case.
If you are targeting tarpon or sharks you will already have the heavy arsenal
out, but if you are just having fun on the flats with trout you never know when
that once in a lifetime cobia or school of tarpon might show up. Preparation
and awareness is the key, have a rod that will handle the job rigged and ready
and pay attention or that trophy fish might just swim right by without you even
knowing it. Weather should be good and fishing even better. Get out there and
take advantage of it.
“Catch the Action” with Captain Bill
Russell
Phone
239-283-796
Website: www.fishpineislnd.com
Email:
gcl2fish@live.com
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