south West Florida trip

[mike o]

Fished the last 2 1/2 weeks in SW Florida. The fishing has been tough. It has been very windy. I usually only fish artificials but did try shrimp on 2 days. We have had some cold fronts that have really shut the fishing down. I fished Charlotte Harbor first, trolling the channel with no luck. I headed to some docks, found some bait fish and caught a grey trout and some lady fish. I fished San Carlos Bay next catching a few spots and lizard fish. I saw some big marks on my fish finder next to the sannibel bridge but couldn't get any bites. I also saw some nice sheepshead caught by the bridge. I next fished Estero Bay a lot because it was close with varying degrees of success. I did catch one of 2 red's I caught, the first time I fished here.The water was cloudy and there was a lot of boat traffic. I found I could catch a few trout in the channel if the tide was moving. Except for a few fish on shrimp all of my fish were caught on Tony's. I met up with snaggedliner Chip from PA, he was using shrimp and was catching some trout and sheepshead. It was nice to meet him. The warm weather lately has improved fishing. My last day I fished by Sannibel Island. The ware was clear and there was not much boat traffic. It was my best day. I stated using shrimp and had a lot of action but the fish were small. After the shrimp were gone I used a 14 Tony and caught 6 Jacks, a couple nice trout and a Red fish on my ultra light rod. Those Jacks were fun on my ultra light. In addition to the info from comeonfish I got info from South West Florida Kayak angler website on where to fish. So the fishing wasn't as good as I hoped but it was still really good to get away to some warm weather and fish in my Kayak.

[DOGFISH]

Glad you had a good time. Jacks are very fun. They fight right up to the kayak and never give up. I had good luck with trout and lady fish on shrimp, in Charlotte Harbor, February 1 through the 15th. I would have liked to have caught a few redfish. However, like you, the cold water conditions slowed things down. Of course the fishing there is better than here.

[J.A. Veil]

Good report. Sorry the bite was slow -- but in any case, it was faster than the bite we have experienced in local waters recently. I had a similar experience in Tampa last month -- the fish were there but were hard to tempt. Cold water definitely makes for a tougher bite.

I plan to be back in Tampa on March 9-11 to see how things have changed since Jan. If any other Snaggedline members are in the area on those days and want to join my guided trips, let me know.

[EDGEWATER]

Good meeting you Mike!

Looks like Sannibel paid off for you. Think I should have made the trip to get out of the wind and away from the boats.

[mike o]

It was good meeting you too, Chip. Sanibel was still windy but there was almost no boat traffic and the water was nice and clear.