What a crazy week of both ideal conditions and, outright once a year stuff. Some of the offshore gurus had a few days to get out and go far. Lots of the bay boat guides had plenty of near shore options. To top that off the back bays and skinny water areas produced excellent fishing even as the coldest air in two years pushed through.
Offshore the mangrove snapper and yellowtail bite was fantastic, the one or two times it was doable. Mangos up to 10 pounds were caught in 80 feet of water, with a six-person trip limiting out in less than two hours! Yellow tail snappers close to 4lb’s filled the rest of those boxes up as by-catch. The near shore charters went well for a day or two longer, as the strong east winds still allowed anglers to fish relatively close i.e. 1-8 miles without getting beat up too much. Those that fished the reefs and wrecks nearby did very well on blackdrum, kingfish, tripletail, and sheepshead.
The back-bays and skinny water was much better than even I expected, considering the wind and temperature drops. Sheepshead up to 5lb’s, blackdrum up to 8lb’s, redfish, snook, and trout all obliged. During even the coldest day when the feels like temperature dropped into the 30’s this bite continued. Water temperatures have now dipped below 60 for the first time this year, but it’s going to warm back up a bit so fishing should continue to be good. Angler fishing this week should be ready for pompano, mackeral, kingfish in close, and of course tripletail as targets nearshore. Likewise the redfish, blackdrum, sheepshead, and trout absolutely love this weather so be ready for that.
Tight lines, Capt. Greg Stamper
Snookstampcharters.com
239-313-1764 Fort Myers beach
snookstampcharters@gmail.com