Southwest Florida fishing report for Charlotte Harbor
Capt. Scott Hughes
November 10, 2009
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report
Right now we have a hurricane passing about 300 miles to the west of us and the winds are gusting 30-35 mph. I actually ran a charter yesterday. We hid between the island of Pine Island Sound and had a pretty good day considering the conditions. We caught some good sized snook and few redfish and some trout. We the winds subside I expect the fishing to be as good as it was before the storm.
Snook: Snook fishing has been excellent with fish moving off the coastline into the backcountry. Look for the fish to stage off sand bars and near ambush points of Charlotte Harbor and the rivers.We have been doing best with live sardines which are also called "white bait".
Redfish: The reds aren't schools up like they were last moth but there are enough around to catch a few. We have been mostly catching them as a bycatach while we are snook fishing.
Trout: Fishing for speckled trout is good but the season is closed for the next two months.
Grouper: We have lots of gag and some red grouper inshore right now. Most of the fish are runing a few pounds but I've caught grouper up to 10 pounds on almost every trip the past few weeks.
Snapper: Mangrove snapper has been decent. I am having to target them more ow that trout season is closed to harvest.
Tarpon: Yes, there are still some very large tarpon around. I've hooked 10 in the past weeks that were all over 100 pounds and most of the them were approaching 150 pounds. If the winds lay dwon and water doesn't get to cold we should be able to catch a few more before they leave for the winter.
Fort Myers Fishing Forecast:
Snook and tarpon will be heading up the rivers and the trout, and grouper fishing will stay good. Refish and snapper should stay fairly consistent thoughout most of the winter.
Target Species:
snook, redfish, tarpon, grouper, snapper, speckled trout
