First off Happy Holidays to all my readers out there. We are coming into the last week of 2020, so hopefully you will be able to get a line or two wet this week. Here in Southwest Florida, we have been dealing with a lingering red tide that is slowly pushing its way south from Sanibel towards the South Southwest. Luckily for us this event happened late in the year as water temperatures cooled off, suppressing what could have been bad. Once again, the releases coming down the Caloosahatchee river coincided with a red tide event. We have had to deal with a bit of respiratory irritation in some areas and along the nearshore waters of Fort Myers beach down to Naples. The fish kills I have seen are mostly dead mullet and catfish. The mullet I have been seeing look to be probably a week old based on the deterioration.
We did catch fish this week especially those that got offshore and took advantage of some slicked-out days. Red groupers came in on all the trips that ran out of my marina this week. Reports of red grouper in as shallow as 65 feet were reported along with a lot of mangrove snappers and lane snappers as shallow as 50. The few boats that took runs of 60 miles plus, scored black fin tuna, mahi, wahoo, and even a few catch and release sailfish.
The back-bay bite was good overall. Even with the worry of red tide creeping in on the incomings. Pompano fishing was good inside our passes and on the same flats that we have been picking up trout. Redfish have been caught from as small as 12 inches all the way up to 32 in the bay. Snook are still available and caught mostly on top water and swim baits this week as few of us tried getting bait on the beaches with what is happening.
The near shore guides are fishing as soon as they reach clean water. Some are exploring areas they have not been in awhile and finding action. Cobia, snappers up too 2 pounds, sheepshead, and kingfish have been their primary targets. Hopefully, this will be the last week of dealing with the water quality problem as all of us do not need any more problems in 2020!
Tight lines, Capt. Greg Stamper
Snookstampcharters.com Fort Myers beach, Fl
239-313-1764
Christmas time
