FMB FISHING REPORT Fishing has been pretty good across the board, both in Estero Bay and the Gulf waters. The weather continues to bounce around a bit but the fish don’t seem to care. Getting out early is an option but not necessary. It’s more about the tides than the time of day. If the water is moving, you’ll most likely catch fish. Capt. Rob Modys, SoulMate Charters. The up and down weather pattern doesn’t seem to have put the bite off all that much. Do your best to fish moving water and keep your baits small and close to the bottom. The big story is sheepshead. This is the time of year they come inshore to spawn and there are some big ones to be caught. On a recent trip we landed 14 keepers with the biggest at 4 plus pounds. Sheepshead are delicious table fare and can be cooked a number of ways. The meat is very similar to snapper, it’s light and very tasty. Live shrimp or sand fleas, a small crab found at the waters edge along our beaches, are both great baits. Keep the rigs light and the hooks small for success. Capt. Alex Dolinski of Spot On Charters noted that this is the time of year that our bay waters can drop or rise in temperature 5 to 10 degrees in a day or so. When this happens it’s time to slow down your fishing techniques, use smaller baits, sit in an area longer and if your retrieving the bait, do it slowly. Dropping hook, leader and weight size can also help as well as using fluorocarbon leaders. Deeper holes, channel edges and areas with cleaner water are also a good place to fish during these temperature swings. Live chumming can also be key if using shrimp or live shiners. Be sure to get enough to throw in the water around the areas your fishing. Slow down and spend some extra time at that spot and youll most likely produce a nice catch. Capt. Jon Fetter of Catching The Cure Charters said that sheepshead are on the menu and anglers looking for some delicious table fare can catch their limit. Fishing mangrove islands, oyster bars, or dock pilings with shrimp tipped jig heads or #1 circle hooks with split shot will do fine. Remember, only put just enough shrimp to cover the hook as these convicts will suck the bigger offerings right off. Mangrove snapper and black drum can also be caught using this method. Spotted seatrout, whiting, and silver trout are beginning to show up inside the passes on the grass flats in 5 to 7 feet of water. Bouncing shrimp tipped jig heads off the bottom or using popping corks on top will both work. The deeper water of the passes has been producing whiting and silver trout. Get your baits down on the bottom for the bite. Capt. Greg Stamper of Snook Stamp Charters noted steady fishing from Captiva all the way down to Estero bay. The snook action remains good on the incoming tides when using free lined whitebait on 1/0 circle hooks. Most of the snook have been hanging out in the creeks and river mouths. Seatrout are still plentiful in numbers on the grass flats between Pine Island and Captiva but finding big ones wasn’t all that easy. Most of the trout are in the 4 foot depth range. Sheepshead fishing continues to be great with some fish in the 5 to 6 pound range. The bigger ones are actually picking up whole shrimp meant for a redfish. The redfish bite has been good, but Capt. Greg said his anglers had to put some time in soaking baits before the reds committed to eating. Most took whole shrimp on a 1/4 ounce jig cast along the mangroves.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 21:51:00 +0000
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