Southwest Florida Fishing Report - Bonita Springs to Captiva

The Tarpon fishing has been as good as it gets. The Redfish are all over Pine Island Sound. As a bonus, the Snook fishing is on fire but Snook are always easy to catch when you can't keep them. Big Tripletail can be found on remaining crab pot markers and channel markers. All of the above is very cool BUT all of the above was before the rain. Rain? The last 4 days have meant cancelled charters. Four trips in a row down the tubes. Tarpon season has been the best in recent history. Big Tarpon. "All I want to do is land a tarpon" is a very popular response from customers. Know this: "Be careful for which you wish." Deanna Martel and husband Bob had never released a Tarpon after numerous brief love affairs fishing on their own. Deanna hooked a 150LB 'poon' and encountered the fight of her life. 90 minutes after the jump, this big Tarpon had her yelling "UNCLE" and "MAYDAY"!!! The fish was released and Deanna decided to target redfish and trout in her future travels. It was hysterical! Nothing comes close to a great Tarpon battle! Redfish are looking for dead bait fished on the bottom. We are talking low tech fun fishing here. Buy a jighead and attach a piece of cut mullet. Throw it out and crack open your fave beverage. More fresh water should mean more redfish. You gotta go to find out so go low tech when you do. Beach Snook rule right now. Early AM and late PM seem to be the perfect time. Try Yo-Zuri Tobimuru lures in green or blue. Oh my! These lures make Snook go nuts. It is so much fun to walk the beach for snook. Here is my tip. YOU WILL CATCH MORE FISH BY KEEPING YOUR FEET DRY. Invest in a great pair of shades so that you can see them 5Ft away. If you run a Honda Outboard, you can probably afford to go look for Tripletail. These fish are great fighters. Check out anything floating. I recently spotted a bucket and 3 T-tails were hanging off of it. The biggest, a 12LB brute destroyed my pinfish under my Cajun Thunder cork float. "GIDDYUP"