Good sheepshead fishing should continue throughout the week. Dave Lewandowski and his friends caught some big fish around Pine Island Sound with Capt. Bill Russell. PHOTO GIVEN
Well, as usual of late, the week started off cold, got nice, then rained and colder for the weekend. At least the days in between are nice, and fish are biting.
Calm seas on weekdays allow anglers to head west into gulf waters where many are reporting good fishing. Of course, going into the weekend the wind picked up and as we know, Sunday was just a miserable day.
A mix of snapper, grunt, sheepshead, lots of small grouper and a few hogfish have been caught in depths from 30 to 50 feet. Shrimp fished on the bottom is the bait of choice rigged in a variety of ways. A few keeper-size tripletails were found under the buoys and fishing the artificial reefs turned up Spanish mackerel, sharks and barracuda.
For larger snapper and keeper red grouper, depths from 70 to 100 feet out west of Captiva Pass and southwest of Knapp point.
Each week as we get a few days of good weather, pumpno catches increase. Pompano have been caught in south Matlacha Pass between the powerlines and Tropical Point, on the gulf side of the Sanibel A-span, inside Redfish Pass and on the sand bars around Charlotte Harbor. Pompano are attached to shrimp fished on the bottom, bottom popping or rattling plugs, bounced on the bottom on jig heads and with a pompano jig. If you hook a pompano, you will be fishing the area, they are generally in schools.
This past week may have been the peak of the sheepshead run. Good numbers and sizes have been reported along the coast, around gulf passes and near the beach. Most of the big fish are full of eggs and are usually a bit bloated, this means that the last spawn is near. With the cool weather, decent to good sheepshead fishing should continue throughout the week.
Anglers are fishing the deeper shorelines with hard bottom and structure in south Pine Island Sound and San Carlos Bay also hooking black drum to 8 pounds, snook and redfish. Snook and redfish are hooking plastic shad tails in Pine Island Sound between Demere Key and Pineland on the incoming tide targeting sandbars and shorelines.
Seatrout were caught throughout Pine Island Sound from Useppa Island south to Chino Island. Numbers are often good; however, many fell below the 15-inch keeper size. Trout congregate in different terrains. They were caught on 3- to 6-foot-deep grass flats, sand holes and bar drop-offs adjacent to grass flats, and near oyster bars. Shrimp-tipped jigs, live and DOA shrimp fished under rumbling floats and paddle tails in a variety of colors are fooling trout up to 21 inches. Ladyfish and bonnethead sharks are also common catches.
A week, if only we could go a whole week without the weather being an issue. I know we’re doing better than most of the country, but it sure would be nice to settle into a consistent fishing pattern. Winter is almost here so this could be the week.
Stay current on fishing regulations by visiting www.myfwc.com. Also, upload the Fish Rules app to your phone. It has current regulations and seasons with pictures to help identify the fish.
As a lifelong resident of Matlacha and Pine Island, Capt. Bill Russell has spent his life fishing and studying the waters around Pine Island and Southwest Florida, and as a professional fishing guide for the past 23 years.
