Ft. Myers - Offshore

Capt. Rick Featherstone
February 16, 2004
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

Spring Time Is Permited

Greetings,

Ever hear the line “when its nice its really nice, when its bad its really bad”? Well that sums up our weather of late. Good news is that the warming trend is on, the water temperatures have risen from sixty five to sixty nine in a single week. That seems to be putting the Gulf into a spring time mode for sure.

Offshore the snapper bite is on. Lots of mangroves are coming up in a good size range from two to six pounds. Long distance is the key to larger fish. Bigger grouper are tougher now, but still around. Plenty of catch and release grouper though, some spots are simply non stop action that is perfect for young and old anglers alike.

The big news this week was calm seas and warm air temps. That combination produced the right conditions for a permit search. Search and find I might add. We found a school migrating that was over a mile across with hundred and hundreds of fish in it. Very tough bite, but still lots of fun with lots of shots. A Few big cobia and cuda’s were mixed in to keep it interesting as well.

Near shore I found mostly sheepshead on the bottom bite. We took a few gags trolling lures and a few Spanish mackerel. Our best action was triple tail. Sight fishing from marker to marker produced steady action and lots of fun. Weather forced us back into the bay’s a few times. Here it was lots of ladyfish, sheepshead, silver trout, mackerel and the occasional jack to heat our drags up.

Take care for now and thanks to all who wrote and called with kind words about our ESPN2 shoot with George Poveromo.

Tight Lines,

Capt. Rick

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