Fort Myers Beach and Estero Bay Fishing Still On Track

Fishing this past week was good with lots of catches and some beautiful southwest Florida weather. There's going to be a cool down late this week but things should bounce back quickly over the weekend and I really don't think it will affect the bite much. Sea trout action in both the north and south end of Estero Bay has been great with mostly slot fish and few over 20 inches in length. As long as the water was moving, they were biting. We used a mix of live shrimp on the bottom during the early part of the day and popping corks later in the afternoon. Artificial Gulp Shrimp, Rapalla Skitter Walks and D.O.A. Shrimp also produced a lot of quality trout. Redfish are biting well when the water is up around the mangrove islands. Cut ladyfish for bait worked the best and it's not unusual to pick up a nice trout in the same area. If it's sheepshead you're looking for, the rivers and creeks in Estero Bay are the place to be. Moving water around oyster bars is producing the biggest ones and we've been keeping our baits and jigs small. Late in the day the passes have been good for a mixed bag of fish and lots of action. Pompano, trout, snapper, ladyfish, jacks and small sharks are all biting on shrimp tipped jigs or on ladyfish chunks on bottom rigs. I ran a couple of fly-fishing trips last week. My anglers caught trout, ladyfish, jacks, redfish and small snook in the back country using small chartreuse over white Clouser Minnows and a fly I tie called the Estero Shrimp. Long cast and slow strip retrieves worked best and most of fish were caught late in the morning and early afternoon after the sun warmed the water a bit Snowing where you live? Come on down and enjoy the southwest Florida sunshine and winter time fishing, Florida style.