?Fishing was either feast or famine over the (Memorial Day) weekend,? as reported to Dave Westra of Lehr?s Economy Tackle in North Fort Myers.
Of the feasts, many were taken by anglers fishing well offshore for red grouper, which were biting in limit numbers.
This weekend, anglers will be hoping for similar results even farther offshore, as the 40-day recreational season for red snapper begins Friday.
Nearshore anglers reported tarpon largely indifferent to flies and live baits, in contrast to 11 released by Cape Coral Capt. David Holzhauer?s parties fishing cut baits.
Anglers from Estero Bay to Charlotte Harbor reported inshore slams of snook, redfish, trout and miscellaneous other denizens biting live baits and artificials.
Freshwater anglers have given up for the time being on the too-shallow waters of Lake Trafford. But Lake Okeechobee continues to produce good action for anglers on the hunt for bass and bream.
OFFSHORE: Robert Pierce, Brian Clark, and Julie Meng boxed a dozen mangrove snapper to 16 inches, two keeper hogfish including a 17-1/2-incher, and five keeper yellowtail snapper, while releasing Spanish mackerel, crevalle jacks, blue runners, grunts and short red and gag grouper on an offshore Fishbuster Charter in 47 feet of water out of New Pass.
Also fishing offshore with Capt. Dave Hanson, Dick Bromby and Paul Gilbert did double duty, 37 miles west of New Pass, where they used shrimp to catch 10 yellowtail, four mangs, and a dozen whitebone porgies for the table, while matching brawn in catch-and-release struggles with goliath grouper estimated at 60, 80 and 175 pounds.
Another catch-and-release Fishbuster trip produced two just-short 32-inch cobia, a 15-inch scamp grouper, short reds and gags, a bluefish and 10 Spanish to 22 inches on Thursday, in 40-foot depths.
Paul Gaudreault, Kevin Kay and Luis Nunez caught six keeper red grouper and some large grunts fishing west of Redfish Pass on a Hot One II Charter with Cape Coral Capt. Roy Bennett.
Al Hayden, Chuck Reigle, Randy Mackenzie and Tom Snodgrass fished with Hank Littleton of Bokeelia in 90 feet of water, southwest of Boca Grande Pass, where they used live and butterflied grunts and squirrelfish (sand perch) to catch 20 keeper red grouper to 15 pounds.
Jerry Helms and five friends ran to 100 feet of water to get their limit of 24 red grouper and mixed bottom fish.
Two King Fisher offshore charters out of Fishermen?s Village in Punta Gorda worked depths of 60 to 65 feet out of Boca Grande Pass for catches of one and two keeper red grouper, plus mixed boxes of lane snapper, porgies and grunts over the past week.
REDFISH: Keith (Jack) Frost and Doy McPhail used artificial baits to catch four redfish including two in the slot, eight trout to 22 inches, nine snook to 24 inches, a sheepshead, a flounder and a sailcat over the Memorial Day weekend in Estero Bay.
The Bait Box on Sanibel reports anglers have been doing well on redfish at the Sanibel Pier, and they?ve also been catching a few keepers along Wildlife Drive (closed Fridays) in the J.N. ?Ding? Darling National Wildlife Refuge.
Norm Zeigler?s Fly, Bait & Tackle Shop on Sanibel reports a few redfish being taken along the island?s beaches.
Cape Tool & Tackle anglers have been reporting good action on low-slot reds to 24 inches in Matlacha Pass and Pine Island Sound, with the best results coming on cut baits fished in the northern sound around Patricio and Mondongo keys and Part Island.
SNOOK: The best snook activity of the year has been reported over the past week, although activity hasn?t necessarily corresponded to action.
Norm Zeigler used his namesake Norm?s Crystal Schminnow fly to catch and release a 32-inch snook Sunday morning at Sanibel?s Lighthouse Beach, before opening his shop on Periwinkle Way. And Zeigler reports Dave Beall of Cape Coral caught that fish?s twin Sunday evening in the same spot, on his Dave?s Silverback pattern fly.
Zeigler reports anglers along the city beaches have been getting mostly refusals due to lousy winds and spawning activity that has been taking precedence over feeding. Michigan angler Pete Squib reported counting 70 without getting a bite.
Bait Box anglers fishing with live shrimp and cut frozen threadfin herrings on the bottom have been catching and releasing good numbers of snook at the Sanibel Pier and at the other end of the island in Blind Pass.
North Fort Myers anglers Rick and Ryan Courson used live sardines to catch 15 snook to 28 inches, six redfish and two trout of 20 and 22 inches last weekend fishing the lower east side of Charlotte Harbor. Lehr?s reports they fished under the bushes for the snook and reds, and out near the bar for the trout.
Matlacha Capt. Gregg McKee reports lots of big snook in Matlacha Pass, where Montana angler Sam Peplinski used a white Zoom swimbait to catch and release a 33-incher Tuesday in the Two Pines area on his WildFly Charter, during which he also jumped a 20-pound tarpon.
TROUT: Zeigler?s reports anglers fishing with live thread herrings have been catching trout in Blind Pass. That?s been a ditto for Bait Box customers, who also have reported some nice trout biting along Wildlife Drive and at the Sanibel Pier.
King Fisher bay boats have been catching trout scattered down Charlotte Harbor?s eastern flats south to Pirate Harbor.
TARPON: Cape Coral Capt. David Holzhauer?s weekend parties combined for 11 tarpon on cut baits fished off Sanibel?s big bend, Knapp?s Point, where the veteran guide told Westra that guides deploying live baits including threadfins were getting little action.
Capt. McKee reports getting hundreds of fly-fishing refusals off Lee County?s northern beaches over the past week, although smaller fish in Matlacha pass have been jumping on flies and Gulp! artificials.
Cape Tool & Tackle is hearing of a slow bite, despite thousands of tarpon in Boca Grande Pass.
Cape Tool also reports a new twist in tarpon fishing by Cape Coral angler David Mentist, who has been snipping the points off of very large blue crabs and fishing them on the bottom in Charlotte Harbor?s deeper holes. Metist reportedly released one fish that taped at 230 pounds, and lost four other giants over the past week.
SHARKS: Some of the slow action on tarpon off Knapp?s Point is attributable to sharks getting to the baits before the tarpon have a chance.
Capt. Bennett reports a complementary Operation Open Arms trip for Staff Sergeant Lee Riek, returning from two deployments in Afghanistan, produced eight sharks to 25 pounds, including a five-foot hammerhead, caught Memorial Day by Sgt. Riek and his dad Kyle, of Estero.
The Bait Box reports fishermen along the Sanibel Causeway?s Island B bridge abutment at the center span have been catching small blacktip and bonnethead sharks, plus flounder, jacks and ladyfish.
King Fisher bay boats along Charlotte Harbor?s eastern flats also have been catching a few bonnetheads during the course of fishing for trout with live shrimp.
SPANISH MACKEREL: Bait Box customers have been catching lots of Spanish mackerel at the Sanibel Pier, and Zeigler?s customers are reporting good numbers of Spanish along island beaches.
King Fisher bay boats have been doing well while freelining live herrings and shrimp at the Charlotte Harbor Reef, where they?re also catching a few keeper mangrove snapper.
MIXED BAGS: An inshore Fishbuster Charter with Bill, Alyce and Tori Geronimo produced releases of 15 mangrove snapper, two stingrays and a sheepshead Saturday.
Zeigler?s got a report of a goliath grouper that was caught at the Sanibel Pier and illegally dragged onto the beach (and thus rendered into possession) for photographs.
Cape Tool reports ?a ton of bonito? (little tunny) in the nearshore Gulf off Sanibel.
Anglers fishing from the north abutments of the Edison Bridge have been using frozen shrimp and halved blue crabs to catch black drum weighing as much as 40 pounds, according to Lehr?s.
LAKE OKEECHOBEE: Ryan Eckman of Roland Martin?s Marine Center in Clewiston, his uncle Mike Hodgson and friend H.B. kept about 30 panfish including bluegills, shellcrackers (redear sunfish) and four crappie caught on crickets along the rocky side of the Rim Canal, between Bare Beach and the Miami Canal. Eckman also reported anglers doing well on bluegill while fishing from the shoreline at the Miami Canal pumphouse, at John Stretch Park.
Anglers casting lipless crankbaits including blue-back/chrome Rat-L-Traps have been catching as many as 30 bass per day when targeting schooling fish under diving birds off islands outside Uncle Joe?s (Mayaca) Cut, and to a lesser extent off Clewiston?s ?ship channel? spoil islands.
Shiner fishermen still are catching bigger bass along the outside of the Big O?s emergent vegetation lines, although the artificial bite there as slowed significantly.
