August in southwest Florida means hot sticky days, plenty of
rain, and often thunderstorms. If you don’t mind working around the weather the
fishing is often pretty good and competition from other boats is scarce.
Redfish are becoming more consistent as summer progresses;
most are legal size averaging twenty to twenty five inches with a few over size
fish going over thirty. Look for good fishing on days with extreme high tides;
this is the time to fish the baits deep under the shade of the mangroves.
Floating a silver dollar size live pinfish or pilchard under a cork or soaking
dead bait including cut ladyfish, pinfish, and mullet are all excellent redfish
baits. These redfish are tight under the mangroves on the higher stages of the
tide, it’s important to keep the bait as tight to the mangroves as possible.
Cut bait often makes a better choice than live under the bushes, as redfish are
scent feeders and fresh cut bait oozes plenty of stinky aromas. By the end of
the month schools of large reds should begin bunching up on the flats for their
fall run, we will talk about them more next month.
The mangrove snapper
bite should continue strong throughout the inshore and near shore waters. Look
for them schooled up around structure with good water movement; this could
include any of the Gulf Passes, docks and jetties, bridges, piers, and natural
or man-made reefs. For bait, live shrimp, pilchards, and small pinfish, plus
small cut bait with a small circle hook and twenty to twenty-five pound
fluorocarbon leader is a good choice. July brought us some really good snapper
fishing inshore, they are not only hard fighting for their size, but also one
of the absolute best tasting fish in our waters. If you have visitors over the
summer, snapper can make a great target and reward you with a fine dinner.
Tarpon have broken apart from their big pre-spawn schools and
are likely to show up anywhere. They are most active very early in the mornings
and the last couple hours of daylight. Look for them rolling when the water is
calm, they will take a wide variety of artificial baits, and natural, both live
and dead. Sharks of all sizes are
roaming the waters throughout southwest Florida. For the smaller blacktips, a
live pinfish a couple feet under a bobber works great and for the big boys fish
a large chunk of mullet or ladyfish on bottom or suspended under a balloon.
Use the weather and tides to your advantage and fishing can
be good during the hot month of August. Our inshore water temperature can
change quickly, give us three or four days with bright sunny skies and the
inshore waters quickly get hot and the bite can slow. A couple rainy days with limited sunshine and
the water will drop several degrees; this can trigger very good fishing.
“Catch the
Action” with Captain Bill Russell
Phone:
239-283-7960
Website: www.fishpineisland.com
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