Cape Coral Fishing Reports

Snook remain all over the beaches just have gotten picky as we get deeper into summer.  Snapper have moved in to the mangroves and docks which are picking at white bait and bringing home nice inshore sizes for dinner.   Trout have been the go to on slower days on grass flats.  This past Monday northern sound flats produced plenty of trout action with by product catches of grouper, snapper, and big ladyfish which always make for a fun fight!    Both live bait and artificial have been producing good fish. 

The full moon and bigger currents have scattered bait and fish around the sound a bit but the usual suspects are still around and next week will just heat up again.  Snook remain on the beaches and back sides of the barrier islands.  Target them with live bait.  Redfish along interior islands in the sound are plentiful.  Tarpon are still thick in the passes and bridges but you can find bigger tarpon settling on inshore flats as well perfect for fly or sight casting!  Local bait shops like D&D in Matlacha or Gromms on the water north of Boca Pass have plenty of crabs available for your silver king adventure.   The bait has been scattered.  Chumming will produce plenty of pinfish.  Reports of white bait south of Matlacha bridge and they can be found on the flats but have moved off the beaches now.  Look for them to come back inside with the full moon gone.  Sky got her a beautiful snook off the beach this past week all on her own!  The smile says it all! 

Redfish and snook from sub to over slot are cruising all over the mangroves.  Both live whitebait, cut bait like mullet/ladyfish and crab, as well as artificial baits like gold spoons/paddletail jigs/topwater and subsurface twitch baits are producing great numbers of inshore fish from the flats boat.  Good water tides have allowed us to get deep into the creeks and site cast in 1-2' of water is the funnest way to chase these fish.  You cover lots of ground, see tons of fish and really get to test your fishing skills with casting and presentation to get hook ups!

Tarpon have arrived en-masse and the fishing couldn't be better!  As we tick into May, more and more big fish will be showing up.  Outgoing tides work best but Tarpon will be around beaches and passes thru summer at this point.  Sight casting snook on the beach and pass edges makes for a fun day and nothing beats dropping a crab or thread fin into a mass of tarpon and experiencing that fight.  We are having multiple hook ups each day now on our tarpon trips throughout the day.  Boca Grande pass, Matlacha, Sanibel Causeway and the barrier island beaches of Sanibel and Captiva all are holding good numbers of fish.  

As our waters crept into the low 80's this past week, our fishing is just getting better.  Snook and redfish are out of their back country hides and cruising mangrove islands, trout are covering the flats and our tarpon migration is hitting full stride.  The winds these past few weeks have made tides difficult to judge and days on the skiff difficult.  On calm days, watch the tides.  At lower tides, fishing oyster bars and grassy ledges in 3-4' of water has been key.  As the water rises on the flats and we are able to get into the islands and mangroves, snook have been hitting artificial and live thread fins especially as water gets moving down the banks.  Beaches for tarpon and snook site casting is a great late spring task and outgoing currents in local passes flush crabs and bait out which fire up the tarpon and snook bites!  

Very choppy conditions at first light prevented live bait options so we shifted to all artificial and it paid off!  First cast started the day off right with a slot trout hitting it as it landed.  We escaped the wind and went with Plan C chasing trout on the grass flats in upper PI Sound before moving to Redfish spots a little further south.  Trout continued to follow us as we sought out the slam landing one slot redfish at 22" and a monster redfish at 32".  The 32"r gave us a run for our money darting around islands as we chased line under mangroves with the trolling motor.  All in all we boxed 3 trout and 1 redfish and released another 15+ trout!

As our waters clear up and flush out from the red tide issues, the fish are getting active.  We have bait on most flats firing up the fish.  Redfish and snook are cruising the mangroves.  Fish them with chummed live bait or cut ladyfish, which are abundant along grass flat drop offs in both Matlacha and Pine Island Sound.  On the grass flats in 3-4' of water, trout ranging from 14 to over 23" are hammering suspending twitch bait lures like the Mirrodine 17MR as well as paddle tails on jig heads, top water on calm waters.  Finding the water depth trout are hanging out in is important.  If you make a pass in 2-3' with no strikes, shift to 3-4'.  While throwing the lures and drifting the flats, throw a shrimp or smaller white bait under a cork/bobber to drive behind you keeping an eye on it for a big trout, ladyfish or passing Spanish mackerel to strike it.  If you are having a slow day or have kids on the boat, turning your focus to the trout flats will spark a slow day!