Ft. Myers Fishing Report

Redfish, Trout a Tarpon or two
Capt. Scott Hughes
March 26, 2010
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

This week produced some of the best redfish action that i've seen in quite a while. The water is starting to warm up and the redfish are schooled up and hungry. There aren't amny baitfish around yet, so when you get a lure or a shrimp in the face of a redfish, it will eat. There are two choices for redfish fishing right now. You can fish schools or singles. The schools are much more pressured and I haven't been doing much with the schools. I've been targeting singles and flats that have scattered redfish. The singles are taking a variety of lures and of course live shrimp.

Trout fishing is good also with lots of small fish schooling on the outside of the bars. The bigger slot sized trout are way up on the flats as shallow as they can get. I've been catching a bunch of good keepers while i'm targeting redfish. I'm also catching a few flounder while redfishing as well.

I saw a couple of tarpon this week. I had a 100 pounder try to take a trout that we had on the line and I saw another "free jump". I also have a friend who caught a 90-pounder on fly today. He had three shots a tarpon this morning and caught one of them. Its the first one that i've heard of being caught on the flats this year.

Fort Myers Fishing Forecast:

Redfish action is hot and i don't see it getting any worse any time soon. The trout fishing should continue to be excellent and the snook fishing will get better although I'm not sure how good its going to be this year. There aren't enough tarpon showing for me to target them yet but I expect to start catching some within a week or two.

Target Species:

Redfish, Trout

We're still catching redfish and trout. No snook or tarpon yet.
Capt. Scott Hughes
March 17, 2010
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

The weather has sucked so far this month. Its been cold and windy and feels more like January rather than mid March. The fishing hasn't been as bad as the weather. We're catching winter species like redfish, speckled trout and sheepshead but the usual players like snook, mackerel and tarpon are absent.

Redfish: Fishing for redfish has been pretty good most of the time even when the weather has been bad. I've been doing the best when the winds are out of the south or west. The west winds pushes up the water on the flats and the south winds warm up the water on the flats. Northwest winds have been difficult fishing lately. I've been able to get on some decent speckled trout bite on a northwest but that about it.

Speckled trout: The fishing for specks has been good with good numbers of keepers moving out toward the passes. I'm also catching a handful of very large "gator" trout while targeting redfish.

Sheepshead: Sheepshead fishing is still going strong out in the passes and there are scatered groups of fish on the flats. I haven't targeted sheepshead in a week or so but I'm catching some big ones each day.

Snook: I haven't caught a snook yet this month. I saw about a half dozen yesterday. That the first ones that i've seen alive on the flats this year.

Tarpon: No migratory tarpon have shown up yet. In fact we are even seeing any bait migrations yet. If we start to get some bait, I'll be able to target some resident tarpon that stay here all year.

Mackerel: There are no mackerel here yet as far as I know. There were some spanish mackerel off Marco Island a month ago but they have moved out due to drop in the water temps down there.

Fort Myers Fishing Forecast:

When the bait schools show up and the weather warms up will be able to target more of the normal spring species. Right now I still using shrimp and artificial lures. The same as i do all winter. I ready to due something different.

Target Species:

Redfish, Speckled Trout

Is it sping yet?
Capt. Scott Hughes
March 7, 2010
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

They tell me its March, but it sure doesn't feel like it. The fishing has been more like what we get in January rather than March. Water temps are in the upper 50's and winds have been gusting to over 20 mph almost daily. I haven't been able to get out most of them time because my customers are used to catching a bunch of fish and I'm long past thinking that I'm good enough to beat a strong cold front. On days that I've been able to get a trip in, we've had decent catches of sheephead, trout and smaller sized redfish. All of the fish have been caught while fishing with fresh shrimp on a jig. From what I've seen, all of the areas have been about the same. Pine Island Sound, Matlacha, Charlotte Harbor and Marco Island are all holding keeper sheepshead, good sized trout and small redfish. I've only seen a few snook around. There are a some spanish mackerel starting to show up off Marco so spring shouldn't be far behind.

Fort Myers Fishing Forecast:

The weather forecasters are calling for a warm up this week. If the winds are light, I'm going to start trying to target some of the larger sized redfish that have been showing up. If not the trout and sheepshead will suffice.

Target Species:

Trout, Sheepshead, Redfish