By Capt. Billy Norris
Conditions have been improving over the past few weeks. Tropical Storm Gordon, along with a long stretch of east wind has helped to push the red tide offshore and hopefully that pattern will continue. Although we still have a major problem due to abhorrent water management, we are starting to catch good fish again. In the backwaters, we have been landing some nice redfish, snook and big jacks. Although bait can be hit or miss, we have been able to find whitebait and pinfish if you look hard enough. As a backup, shrimp has been working fairly well in the absence of whitebait/pinfish. Important to remember that FWC has closed snook and redfish to harvest for the foreseeable future and even if it legally gets opened back up, as responsible anglers you should highly considering practicing catch and release. The backwaters got hit the hardest, so allowing our backwater fish populations to rebound will be critical to ensure that we give our fishery a chance to rebuild.
The bite in the rivers has been fantastic as well. The farther up you get, the more fish seem to be hanging out including snook, jacks and juvenile tarpon. Offshore, there has been a pretty good snapper bite and in addition we have been catching some grouper, mackerel and cobia. Due to the severity of the red tide in the beginning of August, we ran several fishing trips in the Keys, as well. Since it was unaffected by the red tide, we were able to load up on snapper, lobster and even some nice cudas! The local bite in Bonita Springs and Estero Bay is improving every day, so get out there on the water and get back to fishing!