Fort Myers to Boca Grande fall fishing report 11-19-2012

Capt. Scott Hughes
November 20, 2012
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

My tarpon fishing ended on October 20th this season. That is a couple of weeks longer than most years. Over all, it was a good tarpon season. I stated catching tarpon on March 20th, which was a few weeks earlier than the previous year. With that said, I only caught 13 more tarpon than in 2011. The month of May was a dissapointment. There were plenty of tarpon but strong west winds coupled with an early migration into Boca Grande Pass made catching the tarpon difficult. The winds eliminated most of the beach fishing. High jig boat traffic made live bait fishing in Boca Grande Pass tough during the morning hours. The aggressive style of "jig" fishing all but eliminates all other types of fishing when there is high boat traffic. I don't jig fish for tarpon because its actually a method in which the tarpon run into the line and get foul hooked so i don't find it very sporting. July through October had good tarpon fishing. The months of September and October had above average tarpon fishing. In fact, my average hook-ups trip were some of the highest of the season.

For the past three weeks I have mostly been targeting redfish, speckled trout and flounder. The fishing has been pretty solid overall. I've had some excellent days on redfish and the trout are running big. I've not been catching the numbers of trout that I'm used to for November. I'm not sure if this is because of the redtide that we've had this fall or if its the new open recreational season and larger commecial bag limits that the FWC allowed this year. Redfish fishing has been the best thing going. Most of the reds are running 3-6 pounds. Flounder and snook have been mixed in. The flounder have been on the small side. The snook have been running 10-12 pounds. I don't usually target snook this time of year but from what I'm seeing they are making a good come back.

Fort Myers Fishing Forecast:

I don't see much changing for the next few months. A little more cool weather hopefully will push in a few more speckled trout and flounder. I'll be targeting redfish, speckled trout and flounder until mid March, then I start looking for tarpon again. If it is a cold winter I won't start looking for tarpon until the beginging of April.

Target Species:

redfish, speckled trout, flounder, snook

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