Fishing in Estero Bay this last week I was thrilled to find two things. First, the trout bite is awesome. We had two days with over thirty five fish released and both days we left them biting! Clients just wanted to try for something else we had caught so many. Gota love that! Fishing with a young ten year old angler yesterday we released over seventy trout on a four hour adventure. Amazing! Small redfish are mixed in as well. One eighth ounce jigs tipped with shrimp were the bait of choice presented in a natural drift pattern through the deeper holes was the key to success. My second happy surprise was finding very few dead fish. After three days of fishing I only saw a half dozen and no large fish. That was not what I was reading or hearing from official reports. It seems Estero Bay was spared the big fish kills that other parts of the state suffered. In the near shore Gulf sheepshead is the mainstay of our action right now. Knocker rigs baited with shrimp brought us the best bite. There are a few black drum mixed in as well. Further offshore on our six and eight hour trips the snapper fishing remains the main attraction. That said the grouper started to bite for us yesterday as well. Cut baits were preferred. Small live baits will catch he abundant Amberjack that are around the larger structures. Sincerely, Capt. Rick Featherstone