Good weather kept fishing going. Although we had to be aware of the
continued Lake Okeechobee water dumping, when we did find clean water
fishing was good. Nearshore the sheepshead, snappers, grouper, and
occasional amberjack fishing was excellent. We caught a bunch of gag
grouper this week, not in season but a fun bycatch while catching
snappers and sheepshead out to 40 feet. Shrimp worked just fine on
1/2oz jigs with 30lb leaders of four feet.
The backcountry bite continues to be good one day, and not so
much the next. With that said, as the water temperatures continue to
rise it will get better, and more consistent. Through out the week
when the wind was blowing East, it was much better for redfish with
fish in the 23-28 inch range. Redfish could be found throughout Estero
bay as long as your willing to move around and locate them. Sheepshead
continue to take jigs tipped with shrimp meant for redfish and from
time to time we caught a 5lb’er. Trout although rarely over 20 inches
this week, are consistent in the passes as well as along the beach
edges. Mackerel are also showing up in the backcountry, a bit earlier
this year so if you get cut off that’s probably the suspect.
Redfish, snappers, sheepshead
