By Capt. Dave Stephens
By far the hardest decision to make during the summer months here in Southwest Florida has got to be what to fish for. With so many species available in the harbor, proper trip planning can ensure that you and your party have a great day on the water. Species such as tarpon, shark and Spanish mackerel are all found in the deeper holes in the harbor. When I plan my light tackle flats charters, I target snook and redfish during the peak tide flows. I fish for species such as trout and snapper when the action tends to slow.
The shallow flats have been very productive early in the morning, before the sun gets too high and really starts to heat things up. There have been plenty of juvenile tarpon on the flats. I have found the best way to target these guys is to locate fish by sight. Boat position is very important, try to position yourself with your trolling motor or push pole. A live sardine with a 1/0-3/0 circle hook depending on the size of bait. A small non-weighted float can be used to keep your bait from hiding in the grass. Also, a 30-40# fluorocarbon leader is necessary to keep their abrasive jaws from chewing your hook off.
Snook fishing is very high on my list of fish to target during the summer months. Fishing has been excellent from the flats to some of the deeper creeks and canals. I have had some very productive charters lately with very good numbers of snook. Some of which were in the 12-15# pound class and many more in the 5-10# range. Live free-lined scaled sardines are my bait of choice this time of year. A 30-40# leader is recommended. When landing and handling fish, please be very gentle as summertime is when snook are spawning.
Redfish have been very good on the higher tides around the mangroves. During the summer months, reds will be tucked way back in shadows around the mangrove roots. I found cut bait such as ladyfish or cutting the tails off scaled sardines to be very effective ways to get reds to bite.
Speckled sea trout fishing has been very good on the deeper grass flats. Also, the mangrove snapper fishing has been very good in the deeper cuts along the mangroves and on the deeper shorelines. Structure such as docks is also a great place to locate fish. A small hook and light leader will help you to get more bites. Mangrove snapper have very good eye sight.
Please remember that it is summer time in Southwest Florida, so when you are out on your next boating adventure, keep an eye out for evening thunderstorms. These storms move in fast and normally have plenty of deadly lightning.
If you would like to experience some of South Florida’s best fishing, give me a call or send me an email. You can also follow me on Twitter @backbayxtremes for weekly and daily updates.
Capt. Dave Stephens, www.backbayxtremes.com, 941-916-5769