Another week of rain made anglers either fish at night or fish early. We have had some strong thunderstorms, usually starting about 2pm. After the storms come through anglers did have opportunities to fish and a degree or two of water cool down. The fishing overall was decent, and we found the best bite to be either at night or early in the morning. The offshore water surface temperatures are 87, inshore the water temperatures have been 91 in some areas. The hot water means lazy fish in general.
The offshore anglers that fished for snappers did well in 80-100-feet of water. Obviously, the water is cooler as you get deeper, and they did well on catching limits. Most of the fish were caught on live pinfish or cut sardines. A few anglers that are getting into the slow pitched jigging trend also produced similar catches. There has been a few cubera snappers caught on the same trips. This species seems to be showing up occasionally both offshore and inshore.
The nearshore bite has been just ok. Permit fishing is still available, but finding the right sized crabs are a problem. Freelined shrimp are the other option when it comes to permit fishing and will work freelined or slightly weighted with a split shot a few feet up the leader. A few tarpon have been caught of the beaches of Sanibel too Baca Grande, but not in good numbers. Small snappers, sheepshead, as well as snook are still biting good on the reefs and wreaks.
Back Bay fishing was best at night. Fishing the late evenings and early mornings was good. Tarpon were caught on many of the bridges. Live ladyfish freelined on the shadow lines, is a good way of going about it. Snook fishing the dock lights was another fun thing for those that are night owls. Typically, you will be able to get one or two snook to bite before they wise up. Once they stop chasing baits, move on to the next light. The other option with the temperatures being so hot by noon is to start at sunup. Red fishing was decent during the first few hours of the morning or even juvenile tarpon. The problem there is you will need to decide what you’re going after as the bite is all but done by 10am.
Tight lines, Capt. Greg Stamper
Snookstampcharters.com, Fort Myers beach
239-313-1764
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