by Capt. Billy Norris
Fishing over the past month has been great! Summer is officially here and the bite has been fantastic! The backwaters have been producing a lot of nice snook, including some big oversized fish. In addition, big jacks and redfish have been cruising the local waters. Best bet for bait is to use pilchards or pinfish either freelined or under a popping cork. Trout have still been virtually non-existent in the Bonita area, after being devastated by last year’s red tide. If you do catch trout, it’s important to remember that on 11 May trout will be added to the list of catch and release only, along with snook and redfish in our area. Although there isn’t much you can keep in the backwaters right now, the closures are important and necessary in order to let the populations rebound.
Offshore has been stellar! The kings have left, but there are tons of big Spanish and bonitos around. The snapper bite has also been great. For the first time since red tide, big goliaths are also showing back up on the wrecks and reefs. The amount of big sharks around this year has been a nice surprise! We’ve been catching sizable hammers, tigers, bulls and blacktips on nearly every charter. Tarpon are also hanging around off the beaches and if you can get crabs or catch threadfins you’re in business! Fishing will continue to improve as we move into summer, so get out there and catch ‘em up! Captain Billy
