Ft. Myers - Offshore

Capt. Rick Featherstone
December 23, 2006
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

Greetings,

The warm weather as of late has kept water temps higher than normal. With that our baitfish schools have stayed close and in large numbers. Near shore on the artificial reefs Sheepshead have started to show up. Bull Redfish are in the area as well. Shrimp and shrimp tipped jigs will catch both.

Offshore over live bottom school kingfish have been pulling on our lines every day we get out. Trolling with spoons, live Threadfin’s, and Bucktail jigs all work well for us. My favorite way is live Threads under the kite. They really put on a nice show. Fishing the bottom with shrimp there is a ton of Porgies, smaller Red and Gag Grouper. Less than keeper mostly but loads of action on light spin gear. We also have found plenty of Mangrove and Yellowtail Snapper. Shrimp seems to bring the best results for us here as well. Goliath, Lesser Amberjack, and Smoker Kings are on some of the wrecks. Dropping live baits like Blue Runners will tell you if anyone is home pretty quickly. The bigger wrecks past fifty miles are loaded with big Amberjack up to fifty pounds and more. Live bait is the way to go here as well.

Watch the weather, especially on the long runs. It seems like the weather report is understating the wave size almost every day lately.

Sincerely,

Capt. Rick

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