Fishing Reports by Capt. Bill Russell

Fish are Getting Bigger in Southwest Florida - Were getting there, slowly, but we are getting into spring like fishing. We had a few cool mornings and several windy days however overall fishing is getting better and larger fish are moving in. Most of the week we were on slow two a day tides, more...
Capt. Bill Russell - Pine Island Sound

Spring, Mackerel and Bait have arrived in Southwest Florida - Three good things happened this week, first we said good bye to one long winter and welcomed the arrival of spring (even though it's still kinda cool). Second, Spanish mackerel showed up all around the southern side of Charlotte Harbor and third more...
Capt. Bill Russell - Pine Island Sound

Southwest Florida Fishing Getting Better Each Warming Day - We had a good thing going this week then came the wind and rain and boy did it rain. Fishing was getting better each day as we hit our first eighty degree day in a long time. We never left Matlacha Pass the entire week for a couple of reasons, early more...
Capt. Bill Russell - Pine Island Sound

Another Cold Week in the Books - This will be the winter we remember for a long time, I never understood why so many people leave the cold states to our north to move to Florida, but now I know why. A couple days of cold weather is tolerable, but when it's constant it really is mis more...
Capt. Bill Russell - Pine Island Sound

Here We Go Again - I am beginning to wonder if we will complete a week of fishing in southwest Florida without weather becoming an issue. This past week was pretty brutal on the water with lots of wind, rain and more cold. Again we are in for another lengthy stretch of more...
Capt. Bill Russell - Pine Island Sound

Waters are Coming Back to Life in Southwest Florida - I wouldn't say we had a great week of fishing but it was good and getting better each day. Our water temperatures are slowly rising and it's getting easier to pattern fish again. The waters are coming to life with the warming as dolphin are eve more...
Capt. Bill Russell - Pine Island Sound

Southwest Florida Fishing Improves with Warming Trend - This week our weather pattern was what we expect from southwest Florida, mild days with highs near eighty. We had a couple rainy days, but overall it was a vast improvement from the deadly cold we recently experienced. The fish are slowly coming a more...
Capt. Bill Russell - Pine Island Sound

Thawing Out in Southwest Florida - After a long stretch of unprecedented cold weather we are finally thawing out in southwest Florida. As many have already reported our snook population took a pretty hard hit as unknown numbers succumbed to the cold. Early reports suggest the num more...
Capt. Bill Russell - Pine Island Sound

Too Cold to Fish in Southwest Florida - I know compared to what's going on to our north our weather probably isn't that bad, but with temperatures expected to dip into the low thirties again tonight it really hurts our fishing in sub-tropical southwest Florida. Its funny looking back more...
Capt. Bill Russell - Pine Island Sound

Southwest Florida Cold Weather Fishing - This past week we got our first dose of cold weather fishing as we switched from live shiners and pinfish to shrimp. The cold has pushed most of the bait fish to warmer waters to our south so it's time to switch to shrimp and look alike imitations more...
Capt. Bill Russell - Pine Island Sound