3 days at Chokoloskee, 17 Nov
Capt. Bob LeMay
November 17, 2021
Chokoloskee - Saltwater Fishing Report
We did three days last week out of Chokoloskee and found a variety of fish along the outer coastline and back into the interior of the Ten Thousand islands area. I'll keep this report brief and let the photos do most of the talking... This was the scene that first morning, headed towards the nearest pass from the island...
We found good numbers of smaller speckled trout at several spots - then finally found some good sized ones fresh in from the Gulf (the first of many to come all the way to next spring) and kept a few for the table. each day...
On the second day we ran into several big schools of black drum, pushing along at the surface on a very calm day so you could see them coming from a distance... All of them were 10 to 20lbs and eager to eat any lures we presented...
They were so hungry that we had several double hookups and went on to catch and release nearly ten of them (and every one of them pulling really hard on fairly light spinning gear...).
For the last two days we also found good numbers of tarpon still enjoying relatively warm water this late in the fall - but we never hooked any. The fish were both outside and back up inside the one interior bay we checked and ranged from 10 to 20lbs all the way up to around 60 to 70lbs... not something you'd expect in mid-November...
We also found a few snook each day but one of them was a big one, measuring right at 33", the slot limit. She was carefully released to fight another day...
Here's Bob and Andy Strawbridge from Indianapolis with Bob's trophy...
To round out this week so far, I was also able to take a morning and do a bit of exploring out in the freshwater Everglades in western Broward county where good numbers of small (and not so small) peacock bass were holding in roadside canals... Flies were the ticket that day and I quit counting after catching and releasing more than ten on my 7wt. They were small, quite dark, but very feisty slamming a clouser over and over again.. Great fun!
That's it for this week and we still haven't had hardly a bit of cold weather this fall..
Tight Lines
Bob LeMay
(954) 435-5666
"Be a hero... take a kid fishing"
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