Capt. Billy Norris
This past month has without a doubt been a new experience for us all. With the Coronavirus keeping us all socially distanced and quarantined, charters were halted for several weeks. However, that doesn’t mean that like me, everyone hasn’t gotten out to fish on their own! Out of all of the negatives from the current world situation, the one bright spot is the opportunity to spend some extra time fishing with the family. I even got my 8 month old son on his first snook! The State of Florida is now reopening, and we have resumed charter operations. April and May were excellent fishing months. The absence of rental boats, jet skis and other nuisances to fisherman made the local waters a joy to fish. The backwater bite has been excellent! With the arrival of spring and the warmer weather, snook have begun showing up in big schools in the passes and along the beaches. There are plenty of small snook in the 20-28 inch range, but there are larger females mixed in as well. It’s hard to go wrong using pilchards or threadfins to target them, but mullet or artificial can be effective as well. The mangroves have been holding lots of redfish, many of them being overslot fish. Without jet ski tours constantly burning over grassflats and blowing fish out of every mangrove shoreline in Estero Bay, the redfish are less spooky and have been eating well. Target redfish using pilchards, pinfish or shrimp. The tarpon are here and in large schools. Usually this time of year, Pale Horse Fishing Charters is running tarpon charters out of Marathon in the Florida Keys, however, due to the Coronavirus we were unable to make that happen this year. Luckily, there are still plenty of tarpon in the Bonita Springs area. This past month we have been catching them all up and down the coast, from Caxambas to Captiva. Tarpon are constantly on the move, so finding a school is the key to success. For bait of choice, I use either threadfins or crabs. Permit have also showed in the nearshore waters. We have been catching some beautiful fish, ranging in size from 5-20 pounds. Cobia have also not been uncommon catches this past month. Schools of mangrove snapper have started to come closer to shore, and if you can get them chummed up well behind your boat, catching a limit will make for an excellent dinner during your quarantine! For bigger sport, there are still plenty of large sharks and goliaths around in the area. Fishing is great right now and we are back up and operating! Call to book your trip today (239)285-7710 and be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram for daily fishing reports and catch photos!
