Florida
Fishing Reports
Panhandle, West
Central, Central,
Southwest Florida and Bahamas
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Sport
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This Full color
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features his 50-plus years of fishing knowledge.
Each of the 231 species is illustrated with
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What Is This fish? Is It Good to Eat?
Is It a Record? Answers to
these common questions, plus many others are
answered in this book.
Plus, Common and Scientific Names, Distinguishing
features, Food Values, Average and Record Sizes,
Range throughout Florida, Main Habitats,
Game Qualities and Best Fishing Methods.
By Vic Dunaway, Published By Florida
Sportsman
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Florida
Fishing reports are provided by professional Fishing Charter
Captains
and Fishing Guides throughout the State of Florida, The Keys,
and Bahamas.
Whether you prefer fishing salt water, freshwater, inshore or
offshore, flats,
back country or flyfishing, for bass, trout, marlin or
tarpon,
you'll find what's happening on the water here.
Click on region name below to see
fishing reports for that area.
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Fishing Reports -- SOUTHWEST FLORIDA
(Back to top)
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(For contact
information, see the Charter Directory)
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Capt.
Becky Campbell --
Everglades City, Florida--
Everglades Fishing Charters
Phone: 239-695-2029 Email:
CaptainBecky709@aol.com
FISHING
REPORT BY
Capt. Becky Campbell
239-695-2029
Everglades City, Florida
Well,
here we are again with July just around the corner.
The weather is starting to get predictable and so is
the fishing.
We
are starting to have our afternoon thunderstorms
pretty consistently. Seems like they are a bit
late this year, but better late then never.
They
(the thunderstorms) build in the late afternoon and
usually start raining in the evenings. This is
very much needed for a couple reasons.
Number
1 - the rains cools everything off quite a bit which
is very much appreciated.
Number
2 - it floods the wetlands and makes the water flow
out of our backwaters into the passes and river
mouths. This is where the Big fish (snook)
come this time of year to bunch up before spawning.
Tarpon are in the passes along with the snook and
your chances of hooking into a Silver King are
pretty good.
SNOOK
are on the beaches, in the passes and also around
the river mouths. We are starting to hook up
on and catch some Big fish (snook) up to 40”.
Now talk about exciting, think about it.
Free-lining a pinfish, white bait or shrimp on light
tackle and having one of these monsters grab your
bait and almost pull the rod out of your hand.
That will wake you up really fast while in the split
second he is up and dancing on the surface trying to
throw the hook back in your face, then making your
drag sing like you have never heard before.
Gets us excited just thinking about it. There
is nothing better sounding than a singing drag,
unless it happens to be your reel that’s doing the
singing.
TARPON
seem to be everywhere and you never seem to know
when they are going to eat your bait. These
fish are running from 50# to 175# with the average
size about 100#. They are up on the flats, on
the edges of the flats, in the passes and along the
beaches. Therefore we fish for them while we
are fishing for snook, redfish, trout and pompano.
Now tackle busters are what these guys are as they
will put you and your equipment to the max.
TROUT
are feeding well and are still really nice in size.
This has been a good year for big trout. We
are catching them up on the flats and also on the
edges of the flats and in the channels.
Artificial and/or live baits along with a popping
cork are our favorite way to fish for them. A
lot of fish being caught with no problem catching a
good mess for a dinner or two.
REDFISH
are working the edges of rocks and around the oyster
bars. We like to free-line small pinfish or shrimp.
Artificial will work also. Most of the fish
are in the slot size, meaning you can take some home
for a blackened redfish meal. So no matter
whether you like to use live bait or artificial
bait, redfish can be a lot of fun to catch and also
good to eat.
POMPANO
are still around and they are big in size. We
catch them also while fishing for trout. They
are usually on the edges of the flats.
We target pompano in a couple different ways.
The easiest way and also very productive is the
shrimp under a popping cork. Pompano jigs are
a great way to catch them also. These fish are
running 2-4 lbs. This is a great tasting fish
for the table.
For
the last 3 days, I fished Mike, his son Craig, and a
friend David from N. J. The weather was
perfect and the fishing was good also. We
started our day off catching our limit of nice size
trout and a 4 lb pompano. Then we went to try
and catch some redfish and snook. We didn’t
do so well on the redfish, but we did catch some
snook. They counted and said we landed 5.
These fish we up to 30 inches. Just the right
size and a lot of fun to catch. When back in
the River at the dock the guys tried their luck at
tarpon fishing (baby tarpon). They each jumped
one for a total of 3 so the score is Tarpon 3 guys
0. We have several restaurants here in town
that will cook your catch for you. They chose
the Seafood Depot for dinner that night. Said
“wow, these fish were really good” so the next
day we headed down south to catch some more for
dinner that night. We started out trying again
to catch some redfish and with no luck returned to
the trout flat to catch enough for dinner that
night. With no problem catching trout we then
decided to try for snook and redfish again. On
the first cast, David got a hold of a nice size
snook…..well, snook 1 boat 0. As the story goes on
the final score was snook 5 and boat 9.
Needless to say, that was a fun bite. When
that was over we decided to call it a day and head
back to clean the fish for a tasty dinner.
Mike tried his luck again at Tarpon. Well,
tarpon 1 Mike 0. The next and last day of
fishing we had a rather slow day. Again trying
for snook and redfish we landed 2 snook and lost a
couple. On to trout fishing we went to catch a
few and some ladyfish and big catfish. But the
story hasn't ended yet. About a half hour
before the trip ended, I made the comment that we
hadn't got a hold of a tarpon while trout fishing
for 3 days. Usually, the odds of jumping a big
tarpon are better than that. Well, within
about 10 min. of making that statement, Mike yelled,
tarpon and as we all turned to him, up up up in the
air came this huge fish. A tarpon it was and
huge it was. Bright and silver this fish of
about 125-135 lbs jumped (about 10 feet from the
boat) and threw the hook. What a site that was
to see. Really gave us something to talk about
for the rest of the trip. On the way back to
the dock we came by the bird rookery to take a look
at some of the birds. The guys took a lot of
pictures of the trip and I can't wait to see them.
We saw lots of wading birds some turtles, manatees,
dolphins and rays, along with a couple white
pelicans that have been left behind from winter.
What a great trip they had (me too).
So
come on, give us a call (239-695-2029) the weather
is getting hot, but so is the fishing.
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Capt Brook Wallace
Full Boat Charters -
Bradenton, FL
(941)725-0798 Email:
captainbrook@tampabay.rr.com
May 31, 2008
Unbelievable fishing!
Recent charters have been catching tarpon, reds and snook in great
numbers. Nice "fat" redfish are being caught from 27
to 32 inches and up to 12 to 13 lbs around the mouth of the Manatee
River (aka The Bulkhead) on a daily consistent basis. Tarpon
are all over Egmont Key at the mouth of Tampa Bay. Our last
tarpon trip resulted in 9 hookups and one 150 pounder landed after a
45 minute battle. Snook are being caught usually in good
numbers after sunset around the deep docks I have been working on an
assortment of live baits such as pinfish, shiners and threadfin.
If the tide is flowing out lightly shrimp seems to be working good
too. If interested in a charter, give me shout!
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Capt Rick Rodriguez
Gulf
Grouper Deep Sea Fishing and
Dive Charters, Hernando Beach, FL
(727) 992-9494
Email: gulfgrouper@tampabay.rr.com
27 May 2008
Fishing this spring is unbelievable.
We are catching Gag and Red Grouper
throughout the day everyday.
Lately we have had the task of fighting
Goliath Grouper.
Almost every trip we get a shot at theses
huge fish. Some
are larger than others; however each one is a
guaranteed battle that will hurt most people.
You can look forward to plenty of Grouper,
Grunts, and Mangrove Snapper.
Dead threadfin herring is the preferred bait,
left to stay still on the bottom will get you bit.
Live bait works well, Pinfish, small Grunts,
and Spot tails will do the trick most of the time.
Sea ya on the water!
Capt Rick Rodriguez
727-992-9494
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Captain Thom Smith -- Bradenton,
Tampa Bay , FL --
FLATS LADY CHARTERS & ANGLER'S REPAIR
Phone: 941-795-6711 & 776-1187
Email:
tesmls@infionline.net
MAY
3,
2008
With
the
price
of
gas
going
up
almost
daily,
even
anglers
that
own
boats
may
be
looking
for
ways
to
save
a
few
dollars
and
still
get
out
fishing
without
spending
alot.
Over
the
years,
I've
been
impressed
by
the
quality
and
size
of
the
fish
that
wading
can
produce.
Eventhough
you
may
or
may
not
have
a
boat,
it
doesn't
matter.
Yes,
it
would
be
nice
to
have
a
boat
and
find
a
spot
that
is
away
from
everyone
else,
but
for
the
"boatless
angler",
there
are
plenty
of
places
to
wade
around
the
county
and
with
water
temps
in
the
mid
to
upper
70's,
it's
very
comfortable.
First
of
all,
the
standard
equipment
for
boater
or
wader
should
be
a
hat,
polorized
sunglasses
and
plenty
of
sunscreen.
For
a
wader,
a
good
pair
or
shoes is
a
must.
I
suggest
something
with
a
high
top
on
them.
Lowcut
sneekers
and
those
little
beach
shoes
are
OK,
but
being
low
cut,
they
allow
sand,
shell
and
other
things
to
get
into
your
shoe
and
eventually
it
starts
to
grind
on
your
ankles
and
feet,
making
walking
difficult.
I
like
the
"Dive
Booty's".
They
usually
have
a
good
tough
sole
that
can
handle
oysters
and
with
the
higher
top,
the
grit
has
a
harder
time
getting
into
your
shoe.
What
you
wear
is
up
to
you,
but
I
prefer
to
wear
shorts
as
long
pants
tend
to
have
more
resistance
in
the
water
and
rubber
waders
are
too
cumbersome
and
hot
in
the
summer
time.
What
you
carry
with
you
is
also
up
to
you,
but
I
would
suggest
a
stringer
and a
small watertight
container
to
carry
extra
leader
line,
hooks,
jig
heads
and
lures,
in
case
you
have
to
re-rig.
For
waders,
there
are
some
items
on
the
market
that
are
like
towing
a
small
boat
around, but
they
can
be
handy. If
you
need
to
use
live
bait,
I
recommend
a
trolling
style
bait bucket.
A
pair
of
needle
nose
pliers
and
a
pair
of
scissors
or
fingernail
clippers
to
cut
braided
line to
trim
your
knots,
rounds
out
what
you
need
to
carry.
As
I
mentioned,
there
are
alot
of
areas
here
locally
for
waders
and
I'll
mention
some
that
I
feel
are
easily
accessible
to
the
water
and
your
vehicle
will
be
reasonably
safe
while
you're
off
fishing.
1.
Palma
Sola
Bay
off
of
Palma
Sola
Blvd.
You
can
fish
the
flat
out
from
the
shoreline
where
it
drops
off
into
deeper
water
on
a
lower
tide.
The
fish hang
out
on
the
edge
of
the
dropoff,
waiting
for
the
tide
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