Matt gets his first snook on fly rod in Pine Island Sound.
Stefan Piccone had a great couple days of back country fly fishing with me in Matlacha Pass this week.
Stefan is a true magician when it comes to wiggling the fly out mangroves branches and is very good at reading the waters of Charlotte Harbor. Even with a southwest of wind and cloudy water we had two very productive and fun days together. by the way, catching 6-8 pound jack cravalle in 2' of water on a Helios 2 8wt. fly rod is FUN!
Safe travels home Stefan, I hope to see you again the next time you are in SW Florida.
Stefan Piccone fished Matlacha Pass with me today. He caught snook, mangrove snapper,sea trout and jack crevalle all on his 8wt Orvis Helios 2 fly rod. Great job Stefan!
Great light tackle and fly fishing for jack crevalle today with John Kern. We had schools of them busting bait in 2 feet of water along back country mangroves of Matlacha Pass. Sure did put John's new 8wt. fly rod to the test. John, we'll get you one of those big snook next time.
Charlotte Harbor / Pine Island Sound Fishing Report January 4th, 2016 - Happy New Year Everyone! Welcome to the first of 2016 weekly Fishing Reports from Charlotte Harbor Florida. My guiding season kicks later this month and I'm looking forward to enjoying the sun and warmth of Southwest Florida through early June.
Conditions: Typical January fishing conditions this week. Low water levels and dropping water temps.
Bait: Mullet, Ladyfish, pinfish, shrimp, crabs
Fishing Tactics: Cool temps and northeast winds will move the water and fish from the mangroves into the potholes and troughs. Concentrate on deeper water with slower presentations.
Species to target: Redfish, Snook Seatrout, Jacks, Spanish Mackerel and Ladyfish.
My Fly Fishing Tip of the Week: Cool water tactics, swap to a sinking or sinking intermediate line and weighted flies. Fish edges and holes.
My Spin Fishing Tip of the Week: Fish slow and low during cool water conditions.
7 day outlook: Average temps and northeast winds subsiding mid-week. 40% chance of showers on Wednesday.
This 3 minute video captures some pretty intense action of a 15 minutes fight with a 150-200 pound mako shark. Several jumps and long runs ending with the shark leadered. We had hoped for a few boatside pictures but the mako wrapped himself in the outboard and broke off. We caught several blue sharks on spinning gear and fly rods during this trip also. Thank you to Erin and Jeremy Libby and Sumner Crawford for the camera work and colorful commentary!
Great day sharking yesterday With Jeremy and Eran Libby and Sumner Crawford. 11 Blue sharks (5 on flyrod) up to 140 pounds. One small Porebeagle and a 5'-6' Mako that went airborne 4 times on light tackle stand up gear. Videos and pics coming soon. Water temp offshore has finally reached 67*. We'll have great fishing through September. Get out there!
