Happy Thanksgiving

It has been a windy and chilly week here in Southwest Florida. We are seemingly receiving a cold front about once a week, making for a few tough days. The water temperatures are now touching the high 60’s. Some anglers are finding water in the low 70’s and that’s been a key component. Offshore temperatures are still in the low 70’s until you get North of Boca Grande.
Starting off with the back bays, water temperatures varied significantly. When fishing out in front of the passes water temperatures were right about 70-71. The day or two after these fronts move through, we will have no clouds in the sky. These blue bird skies allow areas that are shallow with dark bottom to warm up a bit as the sun gets overhead. These areas produced temperatures one or two degrees warmer than near the passes. Fishing these warmer areas produced redfish and trout all week, even on the coldest days. Pompano continue to be a bi-catch in these same areas, but not thick on our beaches just yet.
The nearshore waters are teaming with cobia. Fish ranging from 29 inches up to 45 inches are common. Most boaters are not even trying for cobia, they are just showing up while they fish for snappers on the bottom. Tripletail fishing has been good for numbers, not so much for size. Most of the fish are 15-17 inches with a few 20–25-inch fish here and there. Trap lines near me are running East to West making finding the beginning and ends of crab lines tough to figure out.
Offshore on the days that fisherman could get out was good for porgies. Snapper fishing in as shallow as 70 feet went well when a bunch of chum is used. Typically, chumming for an hour while throwing some chunks of sardines in the water before fishing, is the way to go. When your just sitting on anchor chumming, you too must also be ready for the cobia showing up randomly. Kingfish are showing up more and more and should show up in the nearshore waters very soon. The bait fish schools are still thick and sticking around.
Tight lines, Capt. Greg Stamper
Snookstampcharters.com Fort Myers, Fl
239-313-1764