Ft. Myers - Offshore

Capt. Rick Featherstone
November 6, 2002
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

Pelagics Run Wild

Greetings;

Offshore fishing in our area right now is hard. Not hard to catch fish, but hard to decide what to target. We are in the middle of our fall pelagic run and the fishing has never been better, KNOCK ON WOOD. Not any other time of year do I have this many choices. I love it. There are still pods of tarpon migrating through, spanish and king mackerel are here in force, the biggest cudas of the year are patrolling the reefs, little tunny (false albacore) are as thick as I have ever seen them, blackfin tuna are mixed in as well. Cobia, permit, grouper, and snapper has also picked up dramatically closer shore.

Inshore along the beach and artificial reef system you can find tarpon feeding early and late in the day. Our best luck has come on Bomber type plugs and deceiver flies. Spanish and a few king mackerel are over and around the inshore reefs. Loads of action, and just about any plug, spoon, or bait will do the trick. There are some nice grouper on the same structures, and over the inshore rock ledges and piles, but it can take patience to get one out and up to the boat. In the passes and near structure on the beach snook are still there waiting for a bait to come by on the moving tides. Big jacks are marauding around the bridges and docks also.

Offshore has been no less than spectacular for me. I almost hate to write about it, as there is a cold front passing through today and I just do not want conditions to change. But that's fishing, its always changing. From forty to sixty feet of water there have been kings all over the place following bait and hanging out over good bottom areas. I have heard of plenty of school sized kings being caught but that has not been my case. We have caught loads of smoker sized kings this past two weeks. Other than a few five pound fish that were with spanish schools, all the other fish have been over seventeen pounds. The largest that we were able to land was forty two. We have had much larger fish hooked. Mixed in with them have been big spinner sharks, and a few cobia, and huge jacks. Lures, spoons, and live baits have all caught fish this week. I prefer to change to single hooks on my plugs for safety. They are stronger, and I do not feel I give up anything in lost fish. All I do is try to "match the hatch". I look at what type of bait is present and pick lures or baits to match that. Out among the shrimp boat fleet there has been solid little tunny action. We have caught them until our arms went numb on our fly trips. Its tough on the gear though, as lost fly lines are common, and broken rods happen more often than I would like to see. These fish are very strong! We ran into a couple of schools of blackfin tuna also. Some were busting through the tunny's, others were just feeding behind the shrimper. We had great luck with Billy Baits, and rubber ballyhoo.

Catchum up, and watch the fronts as the bad weather for us boating people is always several hours in front of where they say it is.

Sincerely,

Capt. Rick Featherstone

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