Fishing In Paradise
Capt. Bill Russell
June 14, 2009
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report
The week started with a couple stormy days but by mid week it was absolutely beautiful with bright blue skies and calm seas. Sometimes I forget what a unique and beautiful place the coast of southwest Florida is until I share days like the last few with newcomers to our area.
An early morning tarpon on the beach of Sanibel
Fishing was mediocre; we were on slow tides on most days that had an effect on the bite. We fished tarpon each day during the early morning hours then switched to snook and other species the rest of the day. While we did manage one tarpon off the beach of Sanibel most of the tarpon are concentrated around the waters at Boca Grande Pass. And so are the anglers with eighty to one hundred boats fishing the area daily and many more on the weekends. I generally like to fish away from the crowds but you have to fish where the fi sh are. We averaged one or two hook-ups each morning casting live herring and pilchards into the schooling poons.
This snook took a live shimer in Matlacha Pass
By late morning on most days it was time to go bend a rod on snook or at least try. The beaches are really loaded with fish, we caught snook each day but not the numbers you would expect from the fish that could be seen cruising the surf. Again the tide was moving pretty slow. Our largest snook of the week was a fat thirty inch fish that was caught and released from Matlacha Pass that took a live shiner. The same angler caught a thirty inch redfish from the same spot on the cast before he hooked the snook. That was one of only two redfish we boated over the week
A fat redfish caught and releaseed in Matlacha Pass
We also caught sea trout, Spanish mackerel, bluefish, small grouper, snapper and a variety of sharks during our week.
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"Catch the Action" with Captain Bill Russell
Target Species:
Tarpon, Snook Redfish
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