by Capt. Billy Norris
Summertime fishing is in full swing and the fishing is on fire! The backwater bite has been producing great snook and redfish. This time of year, whitebait or threadfins are a great bait choice. As we move closer to the fall months, the bigger fish start to prefer pinfish as their meal of choice. For snook and reds, you have a couple of choices for rigging. If you want to keep your bait suspended, go with 2’-3’ of 30 pound test fluorocarbon leader under a popping cork with a #3 circle hook. For bottom rigging, use the same leader and hook with a ¼ ounce split shot about 12” above the hook. Trout are still pretty much non-existent in the Estero Bay/Wiggins area but the trout bite up north in the Pine Island area has been stellar. Also, there has been a fantastic mangrove snapper bite in the backwaters, with most of the fish being from 10”-14”. The water is very warm right now, so fishing in the morning or evenings has been the best bite, avoiding the heat of the day.
Offshore, from eating fish to sea monsters, everything seems to be biting. In shallow, there has been a great tarpon bite. Tarpon can be finicky eaters, so trying a variety of different baits (threadfins, crabs, cut-bait) is the way to go. Once you figure out what they’re eating, stick with that bait and have patience. Mixed in with the tarpon are TONS of sharks. We have been catching bulls, lemons, hammerheads, spinners and blacktips. There are so many blacktip sharks around right now that catching 15-20 of them in one charter hasn’t been uncommon. The wrecks and reefs are also holding some trophy fish. The goliath grouper are here in big numbers, a lot of them in the 100-150 pound range, with some giant 300+ pounders mixed in. Bring your BIG tackle if you are going to try and tangle with the kings of the wrecks. In addition, there are large barracudas on nearly every wreck right now. Steel leader will be a must, with at least a 5/0 Owner hook. Any big live bait moving quickly will tempt a strike out of these toothy creatures. Some good-sized cobia have also been present this month. Although there haven’t been a ton of them around, the ones we have caught have been quality fish. Up your tackle to 40-50 pound fluorocarbon with a 5/0 circle hook and fish for them with live bait. The live bottom areas have been producing fantastic mangrove snapper. Chumming them up higher in the water column and fish for them like you would yellowtail. We’ve been having great success snapper fishing, limiting out nearly every charter. Fishing this past August was great, so get out there this September and catch ‘em up! -Capt Billy Norris
