Fort Myers Beach fishing report for May 18, 2012

Posted on May 18, 2012 by

With the beginning of the Tarpon migration starting about a month early this year, they have been our primary target the past few weeks of April and May.

Just like with any species of game fish, no two days are ever the same. This applies to the sliver king as well. There’s been days where there’s been reports of guides jumping more than 18 tarpon in a day. Then the next day, it’s a hunt to find them. Yesterday we had our lines in the water for two hours before we landed the first and only Tarpon for the day.

The migration is bringing the fish north along the Sanibel and Captiva coast about 22ft to 26ft out. We’ve been drifting threadfins using size 6 to 8 size hooks, 40 pound braid and 60 to 80 pound leader (depending on the clarity of the water and location). In the passes you can try both threadfins and/or crab. In Boca Grand pass free line crabs if you see them rolling. Once they head to the bottom to shade themselves from the sun in the afternoon try using a weight the get the crab to the bottom.

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The information in this report is provided as a service to the Fort Myers and Sanibel Island angling community by FishSkinner Charters, Fort Myers beach FL.

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15351 Briarcrest Cir.
Fort Myers, FL 33912
 (239) 851- 9600
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Fort Myers Beach fishing Report for May 5, 2012

Posted on May 5, 2012 by

Fishing Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Island the past couple weeks has been a bit tough. Mother nature has produced more storms then we’re used to this time of year, which has made the normally windy months of spring even more windy. Now that summer is approaching, the wind will start to die down and we can start taking advantage of those flat, calm days that make fishing much more enjoyable.

The bait has been scattered and harder to catch the past few weeks. The wind usually holds off until the afternoon hours but it hasn’t been giving us much of a break, even in the mornings. So between the rain and the wind, it has stirred up the water making it hard to steady yourself under the causeway to throw the net or to even find the bait.

On days when bait is a hot commodity, I like to get as many pieces as I can without throwing out my back and then head to my lady fish spots. I catch lady fish with shiny artificials that have hairy tails. If the lady fish are there, you’ll know right away because they devour these baits. I’ll use the smaller ones as live bait for snook usually in the river or deep cuts. The bigger lady fish is used as cut bait for redfish, trout, etc…They are attracted to the scent of cut bait.

The information in this report is provided as a service to the Fort Myers and Sanibel Island angling community by FishSkinner Charters, Fort Myers beach FL.

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15351 Briarcrest Cir.
Fort Myers, FL 33912
 (239) 851- 9600
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Fort Myers fishing report for April 6, 2012

Posted on April 7, 2012 by

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve had some time to catch up on my sleep, gather my thoughts and sit down to write a fishing report. I’ve been fishing EVERYDAY since the 2nd week of February, so although I’ve had a lot to report about. I just haven’t had the time or energy to put it in black and white. So here we go…

The month of March has brought Fort Myers and Sanibel Island with some of the best weather we’ve had in years. Beautiful skies with no rain. Perfect for spring breakers and boaters. A little less perfect for anglers. With this great weather pattern comes high pressure, which is usually more difficult for fishing. The fish will still eat but you basically have to put it right in front of them. The theory is that barometric pressure is greater in shallow water (which is where we fish) than deep, probably due to the pressure of the weight of the water in deep water being so high, that the air pressure above it is less significant. A great example would be the experience I had yesterday. We had a cool front come in late evening, early morning before my trip. This weather system brought in a lot of rain and wind. This was the first time in almost two months that the pressure was falling because of the degrading weather. I came very close to canceling my trip because of the rain and wind. The problem was that these guys were driving in from Tampa, just for the day to fish. So I didn’t want to disappoint anyone. On the way to the boat ramp, I had a blow out on my trailer, so to say the least it was not off to a good start. I got to the boat ramp late, at 7am and still had to catch bait before I picked my clients up at 8am. All of the other guides canceled their trips for the day except myself and my friend Bruce. Fortunately Bruce didn’t have a blow out on his trailer that morning so he was already on the bait. I threw my cast net once and I couldn’t even pull the net in my boat because it had so much bait in it. Once I got it in the boat, I emptied it into my livewell and the rest spilled out all over the boat. All of a sudden I was being attacked by birds and pelicans. Bruce was just sitting back laughing at the chaos, lol. I started thinking then, that the fishing’s gonna be awesome today. I was right. We caught fish all day long. We were still catching fish when it was time to leave. We left with three keeper redfish, four trout and released the snook that we caught (closed until 8/31/12). We caught everything using live Pilchards with 20 pound Power Pro, 30 pound leader and #3 hooks. The tide was really high, so we fished the mangroves because the fish were pushed up into the trees. These boys knew how to fish and pull them right out of the structure.

On to the subject of tarpon. I have been noticing more and more migrating in each day. My first tarpon trip is not until this week. I’m a little leery because I’ve seen them but not in large enough numbers to really target. I haven’t noticed them in the passes yet but I have hooked two under the bridges and one on the flats. Unfortunately I was unprepared to catch a tarpon and we were using light tackle gear. It was fun though. Once I realized what was on the line, I dropped my anchor and put the boat in gear. My client fought the tarpon under the bridge for about 5 minutes, which I’m surprised it lasted that long. It was hooked on a 7 ft medium action St. Croix rod with 20 pound line and 30 pound leader. I was waiting for the line to break at any minute but it just kept going. Finally after the 3rd jump the leader broke about 3 inches up. I thought maybe, just maybe I was going to be able to say we caught a 150 pound fish on a light tackle set up. Maybe one day……

The information in this report is provided as a service to the Fort Myers and Sanibel Island angling community by FishSkinner Charters, Fort Myers beach FL.

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15351 Briarcrest Cir.
Fort Myers, FL 33912
 (239) 851- 9600
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Fort Myers Sanibel Fishing Report for March 17, 2012

Posted on March 17, 2012 by

It’s been spring break here in Fort Myers and Sanibel this week, which means a lot of fishing trips and a lot of opportunities to catch nice, quality fish.

The temperatures have been in the mid eighties all week with perfect weather conditions. We had a few breezy days but not too windy. Water temperatures were an average of 75 degrees.

I had my best days this week when it wasn’t too windy and I could get up into the river to fish. I’d start the morning off loading my livewell with bait off the beach. Enough bait so that I could chum. I’d then head to the river. We did really well catching Snook using 40 pnd leader with 4/0 or 5/0 circle hooks. With the larger Snook I would use a live ladyfish with a heavier action rod, 30 pound power pro, 40 pnd leader and 6/0 circle hooks.
On days when I didn’t fish in the river, I fished near Matlacha and Pine Island on the flats. I had more luck away from the trees on the flats with Snook, Redfish and Trout.

Tarpon are becomming more abundant. I’ve had reports of them being jumped in the captiva area.

The information in this report is provided as a service to the Fort Myers and Sanibel Island angling community by FishSkinner Charters, Fort Myers, FL.

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15351 Briarcrest Cir.
Fort Myers, FL 33912
 (239) 851- 9600
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Fort Myers Fishing Report for March 10, 2012

Posted on March 10, 2012 by

Today was a perfect day of fishing on the water here in Fort Myers Fl, other than all the weekend warriors. Between the Fort Myers Beach Shrimp festival, two fishing tournaments and spring Break boat traffic we still managed to be where the fish were, all day. The temperature was a sunny 86 degrees with the winds 5 to 10 out of the N.E.

I started the morning off catching a load of pilchards off the beach. I picked up my clients, Dave and Doug Hawley from Minneapolis Mn. and headed into the river. I had some really nice sized bait so I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity with some big fish.

Today I had the poles rigged with 30 Pound leader and line with a 6 o circle hook. With our first two casts we caught 2 decent sized snook. I decided to move just around the corner where I know there’s really big snook, there just usually finicky eaters. I had enough bait that I chummed up the water with the extras and had them throw there lines out. Those juicy pilchards must have been just what the snook ordered because I would see them swim past the bait and swim right back and explode on it. We lost atleast a 40 pound snook right at the boat when I had the net in the water. It decided to take one last leap into the air and spit the hook right out. We had to take a breather after that one. Or just maybe me, because my hands were shaking from excitement! Hooked another one about the same size but lost it to the trees.

Over all we had a good quality day catching Snook and Redfish! Spotted Tarpon on the way in but didn’t give it much time. We were all whooped. The tarpon have been making scattered apppearances but not enough to really concentrate on them yet.

The information in this report is provided as a service to the Fort Myers and Sanibel Island angling community by FishSkinner Charters, Fort Myers, FL.
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15351 Briarcrest Cir.
Fort Myers, FL 33912
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Sanibel Island Fishing Report for February 22, 2012

Posted on February 22, 2012 by

What else can I say about the past few days of fishing other than It’s been great and the weathers been amazing. Blue skys with sunshine and temperatures reaching 83 degrees. The winds been calm and the water temps have stayed steady at 73 degrees.

Today I fished in the afternoon, picking up at 1:00 PM. The tide was incoming until 3:00 PM so it gave me a great opportunity to fish a spot that always produces nice quality redfish. I just have to get in on a high tide and out before the tide becomes to low. The area was near the entrance to the caloosahatchee river and always seems to pull through for me. It did today too.

I’ve been noticing this week that the larger fish are starting to show up and eat. Today was no exception. We Caught a few nice sized Redfish and Trout along with some really big snapper. We were using live white bait, 30 pound leader and 20 pound power pro. Great day on the water!

sanibel fishing reports

The information in this report is provided as a service to the Fort Myers and Sanibel Island angling community by FishSkinner Charters, Fort Myers, FL.
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Sanibel Fishing Report for February 20, 2012

Posted on February 20, 2012 by

Today the weather in Fort Myers and Sanibel Island was a vast improvement from yesterday. We had sunny skies with temperatures reaching 76 degrees. Water temperatues at 72 and winds out of the N, NE at 5 to 10 mph.

I started the morning off catching a cast net full of baitfish under the Sanibel Causeway. I had two charters today so I was able to catch plenty for the day.

My morning tide was a very low incoming tide. We fished in Matlacha and caught Trout, ladyfish and Redfish on 20 pound power pro and 30 pound test leader with a 2 watt hook and a popping cork.

My PM trip we fished in Ding Darling on an incoming tide and caught redfish and Trout again. We caught the redfish on cut ladyfish that we caught earlier today.

Sanibel fishing Report

The information in this report is provided as a service to the Fort Myers and Sanibel Island angling community by FishSkinner Charters, Fort Myers, FL.
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15351 Briarcrest Cir.
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 (239) 851- 9600
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