It was another great week of weather throughout the area. We even had the pleasure of high 60’s temperatures a few of the mornings. This is a great time of the year to be on the water, and the fish thought so to. Early morning runs required a light jacket until the sun got up over the mangroves. The back bays and nearshore waters remained calm most of the week, as winds were low. Those that went out to the deeper waters took full advantage of the calm conditions and burnt some serious fuel.
The shallow water fishery was good for redfish, snook, and jacks this week. Many of the jacks caught were simply bycatch while looking for snook and reds. Often anglers will see these schools of jacks moving down shorelines as they chase small fry. The redfish were found in groups and varied in size. Interestingly, we still have not seen many redfish in the 24-28-inch range. I believe an entire year of fish was lost somewhere. Snook along the mangrove shorelines and oyster bars have been plentiful. Beach fishing for snook of Bonita beach and Fort Myers beach has not yet been good. As more bait moves onto our beaches, so will the snook.
The nearshore bite for tarpon continues. This will not change for many months to come, and only gets better with the good weather. Tarpons have been almost everywhere. Some days when I have been looking for bait on the beaches, I’ve seen them within feet of my boat. Other times when I’ve been running from place to place, I’ve run over pods of fish in 25 feet of water. Permit, cobia, and snappers take up the rest of the nearshore time, for those not tarpon fishing.
The offshore fishing was again great. Reports of easily filling coolers with snapper continue. Those that fished out past 70 miles also caught their limits of red grouper fast. Black tuna seem to be a normal catch for many anglers this week, when fishing around the shrimp boats. African pompano, cobia, and a few wahoo also gave anglers some fun.
Tight lines, Capt. Greg Stamper
Snookstampcharters.com Bonita Springs, Fl
239-313-1764
Good fishing
