Finally, it is warming up! See I told you it would happen and now the next thing to look forward to, are the bugs biting. With the warmup in the air the water temperatures will now be moving upward. It is not to say that we will not get a few tail ends of cold fronts over the next month or so. Typically, fronts in March are more of a refresher than a cooling down event. Already some signs are pointing toward Springtime fishing. Bait is beginning to show up, a few tarpon have been spotted creeping around in our bays, and we are back to wearing flip-flops.
Nearly all the shallow water bays in the southern part of the region are just now starting to clean up a bit. We probably need another week of nice weather and low winds to get water clarity where we like it, but it is fishable. The Northern bays especially in the upper Pine Island areas look better. Trout fishing continues to be the easiest of quarry to go after as top water lures, small D.O.A. terror eyes, as well as the good old popping cork and shrimp worked all week. The redfish bite was not that good, but the fish we did catch were all upper and over-slot. Snook are beginning to come out of the rivers and creeks and are now about as plentiful as the redfish. Pompano fishing continues to be hit or miss, but the water cleaning up should help that bite out considerably.
The nearshore guys are still hammering the sheepshead. Jigs tipped with shrimp dropped around the local rock piles in 20-40 feet of water have produced some good ones. This week several sheepsheads that were close to nine pounds have been brought in on multiple days. A few tarpon were sighted this week, but not really in the numbers that you would be targeting them. These tarpons are what many call “scouts”, just checking things out for the fish south of us. A few permit as well as a cobia or two finishes up the nearshore report for this week.
Offshore it’s been a continuation of red grouper out in 100 feet or more. Using whole sardines or pinfish bounced over the hard bottom will get the job done. Mangrove snapper fishing took up the rest of the time after red grouper limits where met. A few anglers that got way out to 150 feet had reports of sailfish as well as one wahoo while trolling out 60 miles.
Tight lines, Capt. Greg Stamper
Snookstampcharters.com Fort Myers beach, Fl
239-313-1764
Warming up
