Fresh Captiva Island Fishing Reports

December was a strong finish to a great year. There was an extra busy Christmas rush full of great new and return clients and the fishing did not disappoint. Early met mornings, we were able to find huge schools of spanish mackerel, lady fish, trout, and blue fish. They were all working pods of bait underneath diving pelicans and turns. The feeding frenzy had them primed up to eat any jig or spoon in eyesight. One after the next drag pulling run, or large splashing jump from the water lead to quick work filling the live well with bait for later in the day or the cooler for a mackerel dinner. After everyone had caught their fair share of fish, we would move on, usually to docks with strong currents. The docks were all fished with shrimp and a small lead weight. These docks produced large numbers of redfish, both big and small, and nice tasty sheepshead. Also many small snook, grouper, and snapper were scattered in. A lot of the trips had time to do some shark fishing as well. There were a lot of sharks landed this month with some trips having up to five opportunities. The sharks were between two and five feet, and consisted of bullsharks and spinner sharks. Additionally just want to thank all of my new and returning clients who are quickly becoming friends. This year has exceeded my expectations and goals, looking forward to seeing you again next year.

This October stayed very warm as we finish off the month with 90 degree temperatures. Its still warm, sunny and beautiful here in Southwest Florida. This hasn’t slowed down the fish from moving into their fall patterns. My October fishing charters were consistent throughout the month. My clients caught a lot of mangrove snapper, snook, jack crevalle, trout, and spanish mackerel throughout the month. October was pretty windy throughout the month only allowing us to run offshore a few times. We were rewarded when we did make it offshore, with constant action and a big variety of fish. The triple tail are showing back up along the coast and then while fishing nearshore structure, we had no shortage of snapper and grouper to keep us busy. The king fish are showing back up on the structure as well and while looking for kingfish we even landed an African Pompano. That African Pompano was a first for me and was a very cool experience I won’t soon forget. There were also huge Barracuda patrolling the structure that were caught while trolling lures over the structure. These fish are extremely aggressive and cause huge explosions on top of the water while chasing the moving lure.

redfish are hungrryyyyy

September is a notoriously slower month for fishing charters, as everyone is ending summer vacations and the kids are getting back to school. Some time off was taken to relax and get the little things fixed on the boat before busy season starts again. The fishing in September has been excellent. We noticed big shift at the end of the month with northern winds and less humidity bringing cool mornings and comfortable days. This shift got the redfish schooled up in huge numbers. On the fishing charters lucky enough to find the needle in the haystack (school of redfish) we were able to take advantage of unbelievable fishing. Every rod with bait would go off at the same time with oversized redfish leading to multiple double, triple, and quadruple hook ups. At times 32″ redfish were being reeled in as quick as possible just to be tossed back and a new bait put on to catch another fish immediately. On the trips that we didn’t find the schools of redfish, we were still able to catch plenty of single redfish in the mangroves. We also had exceptional snook and trout fishing too. For the clients wanting to catch something for dinner, we had no trouble filling the cooler with mangrove snapper. Book your trip soon for fall redfish and beautiful weather.

The bite has been excellent through August and September. The redfish have shown their anual fall patterns early this year. These reds are schooled up and hungry! This is the best time of year to target these redfish. Book your trips now and lets go catch some!

The theme throughout August and the first few days of September has been the inshore slam. An inshore slam is catching a snook, redfish, and trout during the same trip. Nearly every fishing charter last month has lead to catching an inshore slam fairly easily, this is a very exciting accomplishment for anyone who fishes. There have been plenty of big redfish throughout Southwest Florida. We are still managing to catch a good amount of decent snook and the trout are plentiful. Fishing charters have also been finding huge schools of jack crevalle, lady fish, trout, and spanish mackerel. These fish put up great fights, and provide nonstop action from the time we arrive until the time we leave. Last but not least the fishing charters have also been catching plenty of mangrove snapper that are delicious to bring home for dinner. On a side note, it is stunning and very encouraging to see the difference a year can make. Last year at this time there was a terrible green algae/red tide crisis that was destroying the Southwest Florida ecosystem with major fish kills. Thanks to FWC taking quick action and closing snook, redfish, and trout seasons; paired up with less water releases from “Lake O” we have seen an unbelievable recovery to our waterways. It is amazing how resilient mother nature is, and I’m personally excited to see what the next few years brings with continued focus on conservation and recovery of our fishery.