Ft. Myers - Offshore

Greetings; Fishing lately has been done between blow days. The days when the sea was pretty sporty out there found me near shore or at the dock. We were lucky to get a couple of days offshore that were nice. The rest of the days were spent working the near shore structures and along the beaches working bait schools and bird activity. When able to get there, offshore has been very good. On one trip we started in close waiting for the Gulf to calm a bit. We were rewarded with a couple of twenty five pound redfish for our efforts. The reds hit cut lady fish in twenty feet of water off Sanibel Island. After that we targeted grouper and managed over fifty fish. after culling enough for dinner the rest were released. Add in a limit of snapper and seven sharks and you have the recipe for a nice action filled day. Most of our fish came on cut cigar minnows but a few fell to squid and shrimp combination. Live baits were not touched. On my only other off shore day we had a great time in the morning working jack schools with light tackle. Later in the morning we caught and released eleven barracudas from eight to twenty pounds. These were caught slow trolling live mullet. Mid afternoon we chased around huge schools of little tunny's (false albacore) with crippled herring spoons. They were tough to get to bite but we managed to hook two or three. Inshore all of the action for us focused on ladyfish, mackerel, and jacks. Great fun on light gear and fly tackle. Hundred fish days are common. Jigs, spoons, and clouser minnows were the bait of choice. Sincerely, Capt. Rick