Good Redfish, Snook Action in Pine Island Sound

4Cast SwFL 12/08/15 Capt. Ron Kowalyk Offshore: It was a dream come true, finally some decent weather for crews wanting to hit the way out marks. Some crazy kids here in San Carlos Park ran out 60 plus miles and found Dorado, snapper and grouper, a good bite but dangerous for bay boats. Closer marks gave up some nice limits of snapper, grouper and other stuff. Cobia ate pins, bait tipped jigs and big shrimp. Draggers found big Spanish, a few kings and bonito as they moved over the reefs. Crews soaked cut stock on all the marks and came up with nice snapper, fat grunts, the odd flounder and a mixed bag of other critters. The close marks afforded mom and dad crews lots of drop fishing action, snapper, grunts for grunts and grits and the odd buster cobia. Inshore: My crews were all newbies but they came on strong, got a nice green monster tutorial and yoked some nice reds outa the bushes and off the oyster bars in the middle fields of Pine Island; always fun to see the kids get into a bully red, snapper or even the omnipresent whisker trout. Reds are on the rebound in San Carlos Bay and Estero after the mega freshwater incursions. You had to find green water in the bays to get into a bite; Pine Island Sound is nice and green as is much of Charlotte Harbor. We soak gobs of stinky shrimp, live shrimp on a jighead and cork rig and cut ladyfish, all good for a happy bite. There are aplenty of in the pinfish and shiners bays, cast netting was easier than as of late. Bring plenty of stinky shrimp to chum the bushes with. Snook are active in the brown water creeks and river with mixed size tarpon for company, plugs, flies and pins were all working. We fished the Estero, Imperial and points south and came up with nice largemouths, cichlids and snook, good easy boy outings from our flatback river rat canoe. Capt. Ron Kowalyk: 239-267-9312, [email protected]