Marco Island, Ft. Myers & Boca Grande

Redfish and Trout We're about a month away from what we call "spring" fishing here is Southwest Florida. Until then the majority of the inshore fising is for redfish and trout. Ninety percent of the time I only use artificial lures this time of the year. Sometimes I'll bring some live hand-picked shrimp if we're targeting tailing redfish or if its really cold and the bite has slowed down. Most of the time I use soft scented plastics like the new Fishbites lures and other plastics soaked in Lunker Sauce. The trout fishing has been awsome all winter and most of the time we're averaging 40-60 per half-day charter. About half of the catch has been within the slot of 15-20 inches. There have a few days that have been over and beyond what one would expect for a day of trout fishing. Last week, Fred Lieb who is a good friend of mine was out and boated 20 redfish and 26 trout all with lures. Of the 26 trout 22 of them were 20-26 inches with the other four 17-18 inches. The redfish were also mostly within the 18-27 inch slot limit. Its rare that your average trout is bigger than the average redfish. I have been targeting the trout in the deeper runs of Pine Island Sound and Charlotte Harbor. Look for shallow grass flats that have a deep trough in the middle that is at least 5 feet deep. the fish will scatter out on the grass during high tide and fall off into the deeper water during the lower tides. Fishing for redfish this winter has not been as good as years past but the reds have been big and its alot better now than it was a month ago. Look for the redfish to be alot shallower than the trout. I've had the best luck up in charlotte Harbor during the higher tides. The fish have moving up under the mangroves and feeding on crabs. On really low tides, fishing for "tailing" redfish has been decent. Fish the last of the falls water and the first of the rise. Good Luck, Capt. Scott Hughes Blackwater Charters 941-575-2389 home 941-628-4247 cell www.blackwatercharters.com