Happy New Year

Things got a bit windy this week and that did mix things up a bit. The windy days during lower tides really muck up the waters in the shallow areas. Even the nearshore waters were affected as the tides came in and out, moving the dirty water around. The offshore fisherman doesn’t have to worry about dirty water that looks like Yoo-hoo, but they do need to pay attention to the winds. Fish have been caught, anglers did need to work a bit harder, and there were only a few days fisherman could go out deep.
The inshore bite was a morning thing all week. There was several afternoons where we had very little water movement, making the bit tough. When the water was moving good, we caught trout, pompano, redfish, and snook all week. There have been a few sightings of the big black drum schools coming into the back bays and areas around the bridges. These schools of black drum will be easier to find as our waters clear up again. When the water is clean look for large areas of muddy water. The muddy water this time will be schools of drums rooting around on the bottom eating crabs, shrimp, and what not.
The nearshore waters have also found a few schools of black drum moving into the area. These fish have been found around the artificial reefs in as shallow as 20 feet. Those fishing the reefs themselves are finding plenty of mangrove snappers, some decent sheepshead, trout, a few cobia, as well as permit. Oddly we have not seen good numbers of kingfish in close in the southern part of the area, only north of Captiva.
The offshore trips that have ran on the calmer days are getting out to the 100 foot plus range. Red groupers are now in play, as gag groupers have been shut down. The reemergence of bee-liners as well as good numbers of vermilion snappers has those wanting some good eats happy. Porgies are also available in those same depths as well as mangrove snappers up to 5-pounds. Most of the snappers are being caught on a simple jig and shrimp combination all week. There have been a few kingfish seen free jumping when they have been bottom fishing. Remember that if you are out that far it is always a good idea to have a flat line out, as you never know what may stroll by on the surface.
Tight lines, Capt. Greg Stamper
Snookstampcharters.com Fort Myers beach, Fl
239-313-1764