By: Capt. Bart Marx
January in Southwest Florida and the beginning a new year for fishing in our area. This month, there should be plenty of those spotted sea trout hanging out on the grass flats lying in the little sand patches waiting for a non-suspecting bait to swim by and ambush it for a meal. Around the docks and seawalls will be holding sheepshead as their meal of choice is crustaceans. Flounder can be found in closer from the Gulf in preparation to head offshore to spawn. Redfish should be along the edges of the mangroves and in the small creeks throughout Southwest Florida. If you are heading offshore this month there should be plenty of snapper to target. Mangrove and lane snapper are good table fare and they can be found in forty to eighty feet of water, and look for hogfish on some of the bigger ledges and artificial structure. There crustacean eaters too, therefore, if you are heading offshore to fish, take some live shrimp as this will make for great bait to catch these fish. January is also a good month for white grunts as they like the cooler water and they are plentiful. If you have ever been to the Florida Keys and had grits and grunts these are the fish. They are one of the fish that are very good eating fresh never frozen. And if you mix grunt filets and snapper and fry them you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. We have many ways to catch various species of fish, and if you would like to come along and learn some of these skills feel free to call us!
Many of the newer residents of our area may be unfamiliar with our fisheries and we can help with the fishing learning curve. We provide training on your boat or ours. Feel free to contact Capt. Bart Marx at 941-979-6517, or e-mail me at captbart@alphaomegachartrs.com