Updates from the Captain

Fishing In Cold Windy Conditions

Everything remains strong as of now in Estero Bay and Fort Myers. Redfish, Snook and Trout can all be found fairly easily. White bait or pilchards are all over the beaches and have been doing very well for anglers in our area. Along with live artificial bait has been producing well also. If you go with artificials my personal favorite bait is hard to beat, the “shadalicious”. It’s easy to use (simple cast and retrieve) and has caught just about every species of fish we have! With the approaching cold front things will definitely change though. As im writing this the temperatures are dropping and the winds are howling! The weather is calling for near small craft advisories today and through the end of the week.  If you are among the brave looking to possibly capitalize on the lack of other anglers pressuring fish you will need to know a couple simple rules that might help when fishing after cold fronts. None of these guarantee fish but just might increase your chances enough to find a few. The first is shelter, when ever there is windy conditions like they are now finding shelter from it is important. Just like we don’t like being blasted by strong winds, fish don’t either. Creeks and rivers hidden and sheltered are your best bet. Second is bait and presentation, whatever you do whether its live or artificial bait SLOW DOWN. Fish are very sluggish after cold fronts and will not expend any energy chasing down bait, Shrimp are great for this since they are slow movers to begin with. The challenges are many when fishing in these conditions but these couple tips might help when trying to find fish on a very challenging day. One thing is for sure if you can find fish on days like we will have shortly you can pretty much find them any time!

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Fort Myers Fishing Report 11-10-14

After the cold snap fishing has definitely rebounded in a nice way. There was two days after the front that were very slow for anglers fishing with me. The weather has returned to a more normal pattern and the fish have responded by reverting back to their ways before the fronts. The Reds are still around in the same general areas, oyster bars, grass flats and mangrove edges. The Snook have begun to make the move back in to the creeks, rivers and canals in anticipation of winter. They tend to hole up in the winter time in deeper water that holds heat. The deeper holes in creeks and canals are a perfect spot for them to do so and the darker bottom that far back will heat up faster also. Trout have been in good numbers on the flats and most people fishing for them have been using shrimp under a cork with pretty good success. Start in around three feet of water on a grass flat when searching for trout. The bait is still around the beaches and the pinfish are still on the flats. As the water cools down i start to focus more and more on pilchards or shrimp as bait. Pinfish are very active baits and they sometimes will not produce the bite with fish that are living in cooler water. Cool water means everything slows down, including the predators. As winter really kicks in and the water temps get even cooler shrimp will be the go to. Unfortunately we can’t cast net shrimp so buying it at the area tackle shops is the only option.

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While other Captains were reluctant to go fishing on Monday i found one other guide willing to take a chance on fishing the day after record cold temperatures in our area. We both found ourselves discussing how the day was going to be tough and that we didn’t know how it would turn out. Well i had two trips and the morning trip unfortunately was extremely hard to get on a bite. Estero bay had zero mullet activity and zero bait activity. The birds weren’t even active diving on bait schools or searching for a mullet to pick off. All of the typical cold water fishing spots were not holding any fish and we managed a couple under sized Redfish. My afternoon trip went a little better and we did get one nice sized keeper Redfish and a few shorts. I guess that’s why they call it fishing and not catching! Both trips had a blast despite the not so great fishing conditions. Sometimes its not about catching a ton of fish but more the experience that matters. Happy clients are my goal and I’m glad that they were both happy and were looking forward to next year and fishing again!

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Fort Myers Fishing Report 10-28-14

Wow! Thats all that can be said about the fishing in this month of October. We have been fortunate enough to have multiple fish days (20-30) multiple times so far. We have had a few cool downs that has really turned the bite on. Bait is not necessarily an issue right now for anyone fishing our area. Guides tend to use Pilchards and Pins but with the fishing the way it has been there is plenty of options. Shrimp, to Cut bait has all been producing. Reports from other area captains have even been as good as catching 32 redfish on CUT BAIT! Thats a sign that the fish are pretty much eating anything right now! The higher tides have been slightly better than the lows but fish can be found on either. When fishing a low tide you have a couple options, either fishing  a grass flat or staying close to passes is a couple good ways to ensure success. If you decide to fish a flat be sure you have a boat that can get skinny, the water falls quick and you dont want to be stuck high and dry waiting hours for the water to come in. If you’re fishing a flat the absolute best advice anyone can give you is to find life on the flat. Mullet, bait fish, any type of life is a good sign and usually a starting point. The passes are usually synonymous with structure. Mangrove edges, docks any type of heavy structure will hold Snook as well as other species like Jack Crevalle. Either tail hook a pinfish or nose hook a pilchard free lined in to the docks and mangroves and you will be in the best place for a hook up. Look for Triple tail fishing to heat up with the recent start of Stone Crab season in our area! Be sure to check out our Facebook page for recent updates and tips.

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Fort Myers Fishing Report 10-15-14

The fishing is as expected this time of year, very good! It’s usual October experiences for everyone fishing in Estero Bay right now. Redfish are everywhere, Snook are still close to the passes and inlets but expect them to start moving once we get a few more cold fronts moving in. Right now the flats are great action for the fisherman with shallow drafting boats, schools of Redfish can be found as long as you can get to them without them knowing you’re there, or your boat bottoming out on the shallow flats. Pinfish are good but when fishing the flats sometimes a 5 inch Gulp jerk shad rigged on a weedless worm hook is the go to method. You can cover lots of ground and Redfish this time of year are not picky. A little girl fishing the other day caught one on a piece of a hot dog if that tells you anything! Get out early and find the pins and even some pilchards on our grass flats, when deciding what flat to chum look for static grass flats. In other words all grass no sand spots. That will ensure your best chances of finding the bait you want. Tail hook the pins and nose hook the pilchards on a 2/0 Owner circle hook. Don’t bother going with any other hook when trying to decide, Owners are super sharp and the best quality i have found hands down. Once the tide starts creeping up start moving towards the bushes and use the same tactics to get the bite. A great tip i can offer is when using lures and not live bait fishing a shoreline, position the boat so you can make casts that are parallel to the trees you are fishing while being close as possible to the trees. This will drastically change how many fish you catch since your bait stays in the strike zone much longer than casting directly at them and pulling it out. This is the prefect time to fish our area so get out and fish!

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