Ft. Myers - Offshore

Capt. Rick Featherstone
August 8, 2002
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

Pinch Me!

Greetings;

Solid action continues to make fishing excellent. Knock on wood and Pinch me! From the beach out, most anything we try is working. Inshore along the beach lots of snook are biting. Within five miles the shark action is excellent. From ten to twenty five miles there is a very good permit, little tunny, and cuda bite. Snapper fishing is good, as well as red grouper over the hard bottom spots.

I have hit the beach a couple of times on the way in this week. There seems to be plenty of snook on the snags or structures. We did not hook any big ones, but lots of bites from mid twenty sizes fish. We used what ever live baits we had left in the well from our day outside. We released a couple of tarpon hooked on catfish this week. They were in small pods off Sanibel. Sharks including some nice hammerheads and lemons over six feet were very active. Loads of blacktips kept us really busy on the light tackle also. Mullet was the bait of choice.

From forty to sixty feet of water we had good success on little tunny's to fifteen pounds. These fish are so strong its amazing. Jigs, and spoons were hit quickly as were Deceivers, and Clousers minnows on the fly rod. We had two great days of permit action. One morning we had hooked nine by noon, and released six. One was eaten by a Goliath Grouper. We hooked three other Goliath's, but were not able to get one up for pictures Cuda's are thick, but picky. We caught some large ones over thirty pounds though, on a Jumping Minnow.

Most any hard bottom we stop on is holding some snapper and red grouper. I did not target them this week, but it looks as if the reds have moved much closer in.

Its summer so its a good idea to get off the water early to avoid the afternoon thunderstorms.

Sincerely,

Capt. Rick Featherstone

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