Capt. Billy Norris
Fishing this past month has been stellar! The unusually warm winter has made for some excellent fishing, as we have been catching both summer and wintertime fish! In the backwaters, the redfish and snook bite has been great. Although most of the snook are the average 20-25 inch size, there has been no shortage of them! The redfish have been equally as plentiful, with many big over-slot fish being boated. Again, remember that snook, redfish, and trout remain closed for the foreseeable future. This time of year, the snook have been readily taking pilchards free-lined or pitched with a 1/4-ounce split shot. For leader stick with 30-pound fluorocarbon. Redfish have been eating mostly shrimp or cut bait on the bottom. Although there are plenty of pinfish around right now, the fish tend to shy away from eating them this far into the wintertime months. Pinfish work great in the fall, but right now they are like poison little fish biscuits to predators. Trout have finally begun to show up in the Wiggins/Estero Bay area after being wiped out during 2018’s red tide disaster. On a very positive note, the recent red tide bloom is now completely gone, with FWC reporting levels of 0 presence along the entire coast of Florida.
Offshore the bite has been just as hot! With the water remaining warm, we have caught enormous goliath grouper, permit, and even tarpon this past month. In addition, cobia and kingfish have been plentiful. For some drag screaming fun action, there are huge schools of big bonitos up and down the coast. And as always, winter time brings stone crab season, so there are tripletail all over the place. Last year the size limit was raised to a minimum of 18 inches. As unbelievable as it seems, tripletail actually grow on average about 1 inch per month. That means that all of those 16-17 inchers that were released last year are now big dogs! Now that the water is finally beginning to cool down a bit, we are starting to see big black drum and sheepshead show up on the nearshore wrecks as well. The fishing is, and should continue to be great in the upcoming month so call today to book your charter!
Contact Billy Norris at 239-285-7710