Southwest Florida Fishing Reports

Big snook in February

nice bass

February was a good month for solid keeper snook. We broke off or had  big snook follow without taking the lure or fly. This day we hooked three big snook and landed this dandy 32″. The others broke our lines. Wow the Everglades can seem dead and then it comes alive suddenly without a moments notice. This snook was the smallest one in the school of 10 or so snook… Tarpon were free jumping behind us but we decided to stay with the snook fishing. Tough decisions!!!

After the perfect storm the sun came out and this 8lb redfish showed up

One of a few nice snook we caught that day

We had some nice trips in the Everglades and had a great time. We found the mother load of big snook on the last day but they would not eat. We broke a hook on one big fish and missed some others but that is what fishing is all about.  We caught lots of big trout , ladyfish, snapper, and a few snook in a afternoon bliz on the last day as well.. Followed by a few beers at the Seafood Depot. See you guys in May.  I still have the last week in Jan. open. Someone should get in on this wintertime sightfishing action.

Fished 4 days last week with Big John King. These are a few of the highlights of last week. Even with the cold weather  we found snook and redfish that were happy to eat. The water was so clear we could see fish 100 ft down the shoreline. It is really fun when it get like that. Started each day around 8:30 am to let the sun warm the water and it paid off.  Looking forward to fishing with some great clients and friends later this week. Just be ready Adam Taylor and company to have a blast..It looks like the warming trend is set for later this week. Perfect!!!

It is cold for us south Florida folks today!! Might get in the 30’s tonight. Wow and only December. We were catching tarpon last year at this time.  Must be Global Warming.. HAHA!!

Another nice redfish sightfished in the shallows

Another nice snook caught in 6" of water last week

Backcountry photo

Southwest Florida has been fantastic over the month of October with lots of 15+ snook days. Lots of exploring followed by some great action when we find them. One of the most fascinating experiences of the last month was seeing over 1000 tarpon in one bay and all of them were only 10-15″ long and all rolling like their big bros. From Estero Bay down to the Everglades the snook fishing has been great with some redfish and baby tarpon on occasion.I still have a few days left in November and December up until Christmas. Last year we had a few days before Christmas when we hook and landed some big tarpon on fly laidup and moving threw. It just needs to stay warm. STAY WARM!!!

Redfish on a jerkbait

New Freestone Tibor on the 8Wt Sage

Some Tarpon will be around up until Christmas if the weather stays warm

Adam’s First Tarpon on fly and what a great fight!!! Great job!

Lets do it again soon!!

Wayne and Walt fished the Everglades with me for four days last week and caught lots of snook, trout, and a few redfish on fly. We really had some great mornings fishing for tarpon and this is one we got to the boat..Great job Wayne on your first tarpon everglades style!!!

This has been typical of the last couple of months and will continue all through the summer.. Leaving around 6:00am and getting back to the dock around 2:00pm. I will try to post some more photos and I have a lot but they don’t have the correct format for this web-site. Just be patient!!!

On another important note. Please make your plans to fish southwest Florida because the oil from the spill will never reach our shores. The loop current and the southeast winds will keep the oil hundreds of miles from our shores.

April is half over and the tarpon have been here for a few weeks now.. We have hooked some monster tarpon and broke hooks and line over the last couple of weeks. Landing a few! We hooked a 20lb snook and landed one about 36″in the last few weeks.  We are still seeing some monster snook when we are looking for them. The redfishing is solid and caught a few 25” fish sightfishing in inches of water.. But still everyone wants a few shots at laid up and rolling tarpon. It seems as though it is March!! The water temperature and the patterns are the same as last March.. Must have been the cooler than normal temperatures this past winter!!!

March Madness

It is starting to warm up and the fish are showing up in good numbers. Wally had a 30-32″  snook eat his fly and the hook popped out but this redfish ate the second fly we presented in 6″ of clear water way in the Backcountry. 10 minutes later we had this amazing 15lb 36″ redfish in the boat. The biggest Backcountry redfish I have ever seen period… We saw another come down the bank even bigger.. After a slow start in the morning things really heated in the afternoonas they typically do when we have a cool night.

Photos from the first and second week of March. We saw and cast to numbers of 15-20lb snook these last couple of weeks and they wouldn’t eat. We really had some great shot and had monster snook track the fly for 15 feet and not eat. Wow what Drama!!! Adam Taylor one afternoon had 25 shots on two shorelines at these giant female snook and had them make passes on the fly many times. I think when the temperature warms this next week these big fish will eat!!!  The tarpon should be here any day now!!!!!!

Pickup at the dock and full of anticipation

Big redfish caught early in the day

One of two nice snook Les caught during this very memorable day