Southwest Florida Nearshore Reefs Producing Mixed Bag
Capt. Rob Modys
May 11, 2011
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report
Summer like weather has set in along the southwest Florida coast and that's made for great inshore and nearshore fishing. The best and most surprising bite was on pompano just off the the Sanibel Lighthouse and around the May Reef. Daily catches of 4 to 8 fish in the 2 to 3 pound range were common using live shrimp on yellow jig heads. Mixed in with the pomps were a lot of nice trout and some small sheepshead.
The spanish mackerel are showing up in big schools in about 14 feet of water and are busting on the surface. Just look for the churned up water with birds flying overhead and you've found the macs. Anything shiny cast into the melee will almost always get a strike.
There are some nice reds along the mangrove shorelines in Estero Bay, but we had to wait for a decent high tide with moving water to catch them. The go-to bait has been cut ladyfish.
Tarpon are schooling up nicely just a few miles out in the Gulf and we've been able to jump several on each trip. Stout tackle has been the order of the day due to a lot of big sharks in the area. Once hooked, it's important to land the poons quickly to avoid them being attacked and eaten by bull and hammerheads.
Grouper on the nearshore reefs have been mostly undersized but there are a lot of keeper sized mangrove snapper in the same areas. We've been chumming with pieces of live shrimp and then delivering small shiners on circle hooks to the mangs and that has worked well to get the larger fish.
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