By: Capt. Terry Fisher
The July 4th Holiday brings out the best in boaters looking for fun and anglers looking for fish. Except for Christmas, the 4th of July weekend is my favorite holiday to enjoy with clients, friends and family. We are all blessed to live in the United States of America and fish, beach and swim the waters of the Gulf of America and the Atlantic Ocean. The Florida Keys and the Straits of Florida provide the most beautiful, cleanest and most productive waters of our country, which have been defended and protected by our brave men and women of the Armed Forces. The 4th of July allows us to take time off to celebrate our independence.
Last year 1st Mate Vicki and I spent two weeks in the Florida Keys with our beloved Chocolate Lab (2nd Mate, ‘Moby’). We were joined by family the second week to enjoy the pristine fishing grounds and sand bars around Marathon. Each day we fished, swam and beached on one of the many sandbars to relax and cool off, even though it was very hot. Like every year, Moby got to go along to approve the daily catches when we arrived dockside. Moby loves to sniff the fish and hang out with the Gang. He looks forward to his evening sunset walks along the beach at a small park. He has been doing this for years. He has quite a following of dog lovers and is a friend to all.
This trip, 1st Mate Vicki wanted to go to the Marathon Key area to circumvent the summer heat and take advantage of the early mahi run and yellowtail snapper bite. Fishing is always good in the Atlantic so long as the wind and storms do not put a damper on plans. I write about our experiences in the Florida Keys is to make boaters and anglers aware of the different opportunities that are only 3-4 hours away from our Southwest Coast. It is totally a different, eye-opening venue and experience to boat and fish the east coast. I suggest everyone give it a try!
July Inshore Fishing in Southwest Florida offer good numbers of snook, redfish, seatrout and mangrove snappers and summer-time catfish, unfortunately. Snook are in the passes and swimming along the beaches of all the outer islands. My bait of choice for snook are pilchards.
Large redfish have begun to move into the back waters of Pine Island Sound (Panther Keys, Rat Key, etc), Charlotte Harbor (Bull and Turtle Bays), Matlacha Pass and its more secluded areas like Oyster Creek, St. James Creek, Two Pines, Smoke House Bay. These areas will require anglers to wait until the higher tide days arrive as they are very shallow and will restrict boat access, especially in Matlacha Pass. Move and fish until you find them.
Seatrout will be small, but with enough work and light tackle they are fun to catch. Tenacity will provide the better opportunity to get a few slot-size ‘Keepers’. Shrimp under a popping cork in 4-5 foot of water over the grass flats should provide plenty of action, otherwise use artificial presentations such as scented plastics, spoons and swim baits.
Offshore fishing this month will require long range runs for the larger fish. Water depth will require 120-160 for these desired large reef species, as the water temperatures were 87 degrees in early June and will rise throughout the summer, driving the bait and game fish deeper into the water column. The target species offshore will be your choice by design or accident and will include gag, red and black grouper, American red snapper, triggerfish, african pompano, mangrove snapper, lane and yellowtail and other Pelagic species will be higher in the water column and more than likely swimming and holding around and over some sort of structure.
Inshore fishing requires only light tackle consisting of 2500-4000 series spinning reels on a matching rod with light rated line (10-15lb) and light leader material (20-30lb.) with hook or gig to match. Long offshore in deeper water require Medium Heavy gear; such as 5000-6000 series reels with 30-40lb line and a 50-80lb leader and 5/0-7/0 circle hook. Feel free to call me directly at 239-357-6829 with any questions.