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Estero bay fishing mid February
Capt. Greg Stamper
February 24, 2016
Estero Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Good weather kept fishing going. Although we had to be aware of the continued Lake Okeechobee water dumping, when we did find clean water fishing was good. Nearshore the sheepshead, snappers, grouper, and occasional amberjack fishing was excellent. We caught a bunch of gag grouper this week, not in season but a fun bycatch while catching snappers and sheepshead out to 40 feet. Shrimp worked just fine on 1/2oz jigs with 30lb leaders of four feet.
The backcountry bite continues to be good one day, and not so much the next. With that said, as the water temperatures continue to rise it will get better, and more consistent. Through out the week when the wind was blowing East, it was much better for redfish with fish in the 23-28 inch range. Redfish could be found throughout Estero bay as long as your willing to move around and locate them. Sheepshead continue to take jigs tipped with shrimp meant for redfish and from time to time we caught a 5lb'er. Trout although rarely over 20 inches this week, are consistent in the passes as well as along the beach edges. Mackerel are also showing up in the backcountry, a bit earlier this year so if you get cut off that's probably the suspect.
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