Charlotte Harbor Redfish and Kingfish

Capt. Scott Hughes
April 4, 2008
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

The majority of the last two weeks was spent running Charlotte Harbor and just off the beaches from Redfish Pass to Boca Grande. We have been looking for tarpon and kingfish for the most part. We have been hitting the kingfish with pretty good success with catches almost every day on king from 20-40 pounds. We have been drifting large thread herring in 30-50ft of water. There have also been some good kings pushing up into Charlottte Harbor. We also scored on a couple of nice tarpon last Friday. We landed a 120 and 180 pound on consecutive drifts in Boca Grande Pass. I hit the pass for an hour every day the rest of last week with a bite so either they moved up into the harbor or they are aren't biting.

Early in the mornings i've been focusing on a couple of schools of bull redfish. On most days I've been able to get on at least one of the schools. We have been catching most of them with either cut herring or ladyfish chunks. One day i got a couple on top water but the bites go way down with lures. These fish are very wise and spook easily. These bull reds are running 30-35 inches.

When the winds are out of the east I've been running the beaches alot looking for kings and I've been finding a few pods of snook and gator speckled trout schooling up in the surf. The trout are running 20-23inches and are full of roe. Most of the snook are little males that are getting ready for the females next month.

Fort Myers Fishing Forecast:

It all depends on the weather. If we can get some light winds the tarpon fishing should kick off. All the ingredents are in place for it to start but i haven't found them yet in fishable numbers.

Target Species:

Tarpon, Redfish, Snook and kingfish

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