Fishing Action Recovering Fast One Week After Issac!

One week ago, hurricane Issac brushed by us a a strong tropical storm. The storm managed to dump plenty of rain on the area and along with high winds and surf, the waters really got churned up. Needless to say, there weren't many folks wanting to be on the water until later in the week. I managed to get out for a couple trips late in the week and was happy to find the fishing getting back to normal quickly. Unable to catch any live bait, we had decent success with artificial baits. Berkley Gulp shrimp on jig heads as well as soft plastic swim baits such as Strike King's Shadalicious both brought strikes. The jigs seemed to get the better action in the murky water however. On Thursday evening, I fished with return clients Jim and Mark. We worked a lot of shoreline managing a few small snook before moving towards Gordon's pass before sunset. There we found a frenzy of action for the next hour. Both anglers were continuously hooked up to snook and redfish. Mark released his personal best snook, a 31 incher on a jig. Several slot redfish were released while a couple were invited home for dinner. Conditions have really improved over this weekend with winds returning back to the east and waters gradually cleaning up along the beaches. This means a return of the bait fish that were so plentiful. September is by far one of my favorite months to fish here in SW Florida. I look forward to some good weather and great fishing this month! -Capt. Todd Geroy