We are here in the dog days of summer, heat waves and strong fish are the name of the game during this season. Tarpon are still hanging around, providing for some of the best fights any angler could ask for. Mangrove snapper have made their way inshore for their summer invasion. Summer is time for snapper fishing and they are personally one of the best table fare our waters have to offer. At this time you cant go anywhere inshore without finding mangrove snapper ready to eat whatever you throw in their vicinity. Redfish and snook keep doing their thing hiving us some fun action on beaches, bars and mangrove islands. Reds have been particularly active and schooled up in alot of our common fishing areas. Bait is perfect right now, great size for whatever you care to fish for.

The summer fishing is heating up and you don’t want to miss a second of the action. Big beautiful redfish, powerful snook and an abundance of seatrout have been giving us some fun days on the water lately. Most of the anglers that step on my boat accomplish an inshore slam before the trip is over. Bait is all over the sound and it’s the perfect size to sit off groups of fish and access the bite with long casts. This time of year we really try to use a long light leader so as to not give ourselves away. These lighter leaders sometimes means tougher times getting those big fish to the boat and requiring a lot more maneuvering when these fish get us in a tight situation, but that’s what makes this sport so fun, the thrill of the fight. The water is heating up quickly which means we are required to keep less bait so they have plenty of oxygen in our well. We are starting to see some mangrove snapper moving into the inshore waters and it’s about to get even more exciting when we can fill limits of delicious snapper. Tarpon are all around and we’ve managed a few short hookups but with the windy conditions we’ve been facing some days just aren’t great days to fish for them so the time spent fishing tarpon has been limited unfortunately but that is sure to change with nicer weather on the horizon.

The spring bite is on fire here in Southwest Florida! Bait has arrived and is just about anywhere you look, the trout are big and in the middle of their spring spawn, redfish and snook are present all over the mangrove islands as well as some juvenile tarpon and the weather is great most days. As stated the trout are large and in charge, most of the trout we are finding are over slot, big females that are very obviously carrying eggs. Most trout range around 19-23 inches but we have been fortunate enough to catch a few in the high 20’s. We have had some really great fights with juvenile tarpon lately in some of the common spots in the backcountry. They put on a great acrobatic show with huge jumps and strong runs pulling drag along the way. Snook and reds are out and hungry, throwing bait fish chum around the mangrove lines will usually make for a great show as they begin chasing, popping and inhaling the greenbacks fluttering through the water. The fishing is heating up and lines are tight every day from start to finish.