offshore fishing in sw florida?

GRAVYTRAIN

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:confused:where are all the fish around lee county?i have been out to about 15 miles from sanibel island area checking out public reefs looking for grouper and snapper and havent seen anything but catfish and shark! am i that bad or is this area dead from caloosahatchee run off? cant even get a bite trolling! any comment from area fishermen would be appreciated.
 

capt sam

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Re: offshore fishing in sw florida?

:confused:where are all the fish around lee county?i have been out to about 15 miles from sanibel island area checking out public reefs looking for grouper and snapper and havent seen anything but catfish and shark! am i that bad or is this area dead from caloosahatchee run off? cant even get a bite trolling! any comment from area fishermen would be appreciated.

there's a lot of factors here, I fish 2 or 3 times a week, and it's always changing. Pine Island Sound and Lighthouse Point are usually pretty productive when I fish them although most of my fishing is south of lee county. Have you gone on myfwc.com and gotten coordinates for all the wrecks and reefs in your area? When the wind is blowing and water temp is in the 60's and the water is dirty then you're looking at a catfish trip. Once the wind lays down and the water warms and clears you'll see a big difference. If you are snapper fishing the wrecks, you need to use about 10' of 20lb flurocarbon leader with a small jighead. Bury the jig head in some bait, white, greenies, shrimp, whatever and open your bail and let it drift down, once you feel the hit, close the bail and reel, works everytime.
 

triumphrick

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Re: offshore fishing in sw florida?

Agree with the capt. Also, February is typically one of the slowest fishing months due to the cold weather and drop in water temperature. Fish are moving all over seeking some warmer weather. Also, look at your tide charts. These days with one big tide gives slower moving water and less activity.

Do you have gps numbers for the artificial reefs? You have to have some structure, or nothings biting...except the catfish and squirrelfish.

Also, do you use live bait? This time of the year it is better using something fresh and cut. In another month however you will need to start locating the greenbacks on the shoreline or around structure and begin netting them. The mangrove snapper bite will be the first to start up when the water warms, followed by the pelagics (mackerel, kings). Then the trolling will be productive.

Anyway, this time next year you will be farther along than you are this year! You have a great fishery down there, things are about to get better with the warmer weather. Good luck! :)
 

gcboat

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Re: offshore fishing in sw florida?

The last six weeks or so has been absolutely pathetic ! I couldn't bring anything home for dinner even if I was using explosives.
Some of the bottom boats out of Naples / Tin City area have been resorting to all kinds of tricks to keep their customers happy but even with their years of experience still slim pickins'.
Totally agree with Capt Sam and Rick about the bite. Things should start picking up a bit soon - how soon? Your guess is as good as mine.
Just keep an eye on the weather and the fronts coming through. When they start to slow down then possibly you'll see an upswing in your catch.
Look on the bright side - at least you're out on your boat instead of shoveling snow !!!!! :eek:
 

capt sam

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Re: offshore fishing in sw florida?

we went 30 miles out offshore of Naples last week and hit the black hole, we were looking for AJ's and kings but all we found were snappers.....
 

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gcboat

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Re: offshore fishing in sw florida?

Geez Capt. Sam - and you didn't even invite us over for dinner?????;)
 

capt sam

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Re: offshore fishing in sw florida?

lol...if you're gonna burn $60 in fuel, you better bring something home.
 

triumphrick

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Re: offshore fishing in sw florida?

Nice lookin spread of mangos there, capt. What was the bait of choice??
 

capt sam

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Re: offshore fishing in sw florida?

Some white bait we netted on the way out, some threads mixed in, cut the head and tail off, they both worked. We also ran thru some bonito we had but it wasn't too successful. The boat to our left was pounding the yellowtail, the boat to right was getting gags and reds, weird how that happens.
 

GRAVYTRAIN

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Feb 22, 2009
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Re: offshore fishing in sw florida?

there's a lot of factors here, I fish 2 or 3 times a week, and it's always changing. Pine Island Sound and Lighthouse Point are usually pretty productive when I fish them although most of my fishing is south of lee county. Have you gone myfwc.com and gotten coordinates for all the wrecks and reefs in your area? When the wind is blowing and water temp is in the 60's and the water is dirty then you're looking at a catfish trip. Once the wind lays down and the water warms and clears you'll see a big difference. If you are snapper fishing the wrecks, you need to use about 10' of 20lb fluorocarbon leader with a small jig head. Bury the jig head in some bait, white, greenies, shrimp, whatever and open your bail and let it drift down, once you feel the hit, close the bail and reel, works everytime.

Thanks for the info capt sam, yes i do have about three pages of gps coordinates from charlotte harbor all the way down to marco island area. I have been to three or four of those areas marked as reefs and i really couldn't find any noticeable structure at all. wondering how much debris they actually drop and if its really noticeable or not?
I have heard from other people around here that if i want to catch anything i need to go either north or south of the lee county area.
I'll give that jig suggestion a try next time out.Again thanks for your reply
 

capt sam

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Re: offshore fishing in sw florida?

Thanks for the info capt sam, yes i do have about three pages of gps coordinates from charlotte harbor all the way down to marco island area. I have been to three or four of those areas marked as reefs and i really couldn't find any noticeable structure at all. wondering how much debris they actually drop and if its really noticeable or not?
I have heard from other people around here that if i want to catch anything i need to go either north or south of the lee county area.
I'll give that jig suggestion a try next time out.Again thanks for your reply

sometimes those coordinates can be off a little, there's been a few I haven't been able to locate either even after checking the whole area. If you go out on a weekend and check for some of them, sometimes you'll see some boats sitting on them, which helps mark them. The biggest issue with Lee County is the fact the Caloosahatchee dumps freshwater out into the gulf cerrtain times of the year, causing algae blooms or dirty water conditions, like I said I mostly fish the ten thousand islands or the Keys. The Sunshine in Bonita has a pretty good fishing department, try asking those guys about hotspots.
 
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