It has been a crazy week for most guides throughout Southwest Florida. We have been dealing with strong winds, a bit of rain, and the tides that are affected by them. The fishing was great mid-week as then we got dealt the North winds. Currently we are dealing with hopefully the last of our tropical storms for 2020, and a transition into our short Fall and quick Winter patterns. The offshore guides are basically stuck at the dock this week till things calm down, but nearshore was doable with winds coming mostly from NE to East most of the week. The shallow water fishing continues to anglers best bet, especially with the bad weather moving through.
We will start off with the back-bays and shallow water areas, as that was the best bet for the most part. The benefit of fishing these areas payed off for anglers that pay attention to wind direction and how it affects our local tides. Fishing in these areas produced quality fish those that fished on tides with decent moving water. Hiding on the less windy sides of islands, passes, and rivers that were blocked the wind for the most part was productive. Redfish, snook, trout, and even pompano fishing was good until the waters got dirty. Black drum continue to be found moving into our areas from the North and are feeding on the plethora of blue crabs found in our bays. Pompano, baby groupers, and small mangrove snappers are now full speed.
Nearshore on the strong East winds, anglers still had opportunities to get out. The one good thing about strong East winds is that those fishing within a mile or two of our beaches find relatively calm water. Those that go out past 3-5 miles start to feel the effects of wind creating rougher seas. Tarpon up to 120 ponds, cobia, and snapper fishing was good for those earlier in the week. This storm going through is going to shut this bite down till mid-week at the earliest moving forward. Hopefully, the massive schools of threadfin herring, menhaden, and pilchards will stick around, but a ten degree drop in water temperature could push them South.
Offshore was doable the first few days before the wind ramped up. Red grouper, mangrove snappers, lane snappers and the beginning of our kingfish push were the targets before the wind started blowing. I am guessing that there will not be an offshore report next week as even if things calm down by Wednesday it will take a day or two for things to calm down out 30+ miles for a few days.
Windy week
