Dear Easter Bunny, can you please do something about the winds and dirty water. If you can help me out here, I promise I will not let my dog Tippet chase rabbits for at month. Yep, it continues peeps as strong winds make water dirty, and fishing challenging. Fish are still being caught even with the conditions being tough, but you must work and fish in good moving water. The nearshore guys continue to be grounded unless wind is from the east. Offshore other than two days was basically out, unless your good with sporty conditions.
We start off with the inshore and back bays this week as we fished most of the days. The trout bite continued to be very good, but only when the water was moving well. Water movement was a big deal, and it did not matter if it was incoming or outgoing. Shrimp under popping corks, Flies that were dark colored, or a top water lure worked slowly did best. Redfish as well as snook took up the rest of our time with the snook being the best bet. Cut ladyfish as well as whitebaits did do a number on snook this week, again when the water was moving good. I thought the pompano bite would have been great by now, but without clean water no.
The nearshore bite has shown signs of tarpon starting to show up in the area. This does not mean the big migration has begun though. The fish being caught sporadically are most likely local fish, coming out to see what is going on. A few fish have been caught especially in the intercoastal of Pine Island and in the Caloosahatchee River. That tells me these fish are locals waiting for Spring break to happen. Permit as well as a few cobia filled in the rest of the nearshore bi-catch when winds permitted.
Offshore happened twice this week, but with good results. There were plenty of mangrove snappers, lane snappers, as well as red groupers caught. The red grouper bite took top billing for sure as fish that were 15lbs were brought into the fillet station. Moving forward should the Easter Bunny read this, that may be a consistent thing.
Tight lines, Capt. Greg Stamper
Snookstampcharters.com Fort Myers beach, Fl
239-313-1764
Easter Bunny wish
