Ft. Myers - Offshore

Capt. Rick Featherstone
October 7, 2003
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

Fall Tarpon Fishing Heats UP!

Greetings,

If I were to rate the months of the year to fish Southwest Florida, October would be near the top for sure. Choices and action, big fish and lots of fish. Can that be beat? Inshore fishing remains solid. Not a trace of red tide in the area has brought plenty of bait right into the beach. With them is a variety of predators that are gobbling as fast as they can. So far this week we have released five tarpon, several big sharks, snook, redfish, and a truck load of Spanish mackerel within a mile of the beach. Between Doctors Pass and Mantanzas Pass there are more bait pods than you can count. The bite is different every day and I prefer to use artificial and flies but natural bait will do the trick just as well. Black Death flies have put tarpon in the air every day. White Clouser’s will catch mackerel until the last hair is on the fly.

Further offshore there is a fair permit bite as well as cobia in the area. Patience is the key as neither is showing well at the surface, but are present if you put in your time. Natural baits are best due to the conditions involved. Big codas are on the chew offshore as well. With lots of chumming we manages three this week that were over twenty pounds on fly. I just tied some Deceivers with longer than normal crystal flash about twice as long as the fly, and presented it with a few live baits from our well. We also got our first nice king of the fall this week. A pretty twenty four pound smoker that was released to fight another day hit our kite bait (blue runner) in thirty seven feet of water.

Tight Lines,

Capt. Rick

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