Cape Coral - Fort Myers - Sanibel
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Had another group of 6 heading offshore looking for some fun. We had to wait for the growing thunderstorm to pass us to the north before heading out. We picked up our bait and then made the run out into the blue. First spot we pulled up to looked fantastic on the sounder, but couldnt get anything to eat/one big break off. Tried the drift twice more with no results. moved to another area and found some ARS willing to chew. Fish started coming up and over the rail quickly. Fished ranged from 18-23 inches. A couple really big hits off the bottom that couldnt be turned. Had a monster hit, ran of drag, and then was able to subdue... thought it was a giant grouper, turned out to be a 7-8 ft bull shark.... Sweet catch on a 6500 spinner with 60 lb mono leader... circle hook got him just right... Saw some really nice Mahi swimming under the boat but they didnt want to eat, not even live threadies.... Had a Tripletail that was floating with the boat and also didnt want to eat anything... very finicky.
Younis has his rod double over and he picks up a stud red grouper. Once we had our limit of ARS, we switched gears and moved to a grouper/lane snapper area. Our lanes were pretty big, averaging 16" ot so. A few porgies were added. Caught a ton of red grouper, but they were nursery size at 16-19 3/4 inches. Had a few large breakoffs here as well. John finally managed a keeper red grouper before heading to the barn. We did get caught in that big thunderstorm in the afternoon. We set up the eisenglass and still punched thru the 4-5 ft seas at a comfy 25 mph. The boat instills more confidence with every trip. The bite is hot and heavy so get out and fish!!! Had a group of 6 join me for the run offshore. The depth ranged from 160 to 170 today, and the bite was pretty decent. We had our American Red Limit relatively quickly. We caught a monster triggerfish which had to be let go due to being out of season. We had a few monster hook ups that got back to their holes (big grouper). Bite kind of slowed down so made a quick move. We picked up a stud Mangrove, and a handful of Lanes and Verms before heading back to the barn.
Had a group of 4 guys who met me at pineland at 6AM. We procured a bunch of pinfish and misc other baits before heading off into the blue. Two hours later pulled back the throttles on the Salty Beast as we arrived at our destintion. The sounder lit up like an xmas tree and we set up for our drifts. The water was flat calm, and very little tidal flow. Baits went down and the bite was decent... nothing on crazy fire this trip, and in fact not as busy as you would expect with the screen looking the way it did. We picked up a legal red snapper on just about every drift not keeping anything under 20" We had some VERY LArge hits that unfortunately got the best us. We were kind of stuck at 7 nice red snapper towards the end of the trip, and with an hour or so left before needing to make the run back, made a quick move.
IT was 100% the right decision. Over the next 45 minutes, we boxed some trophy size fish. First was a solid 37" Black Grouper who inhaled a pinfish. Next was a Gag just short of the 30" Mark. Next was a solid and our largest red snapper of the day. And in the closing minutes, a 24" Red Grouper was added to the box. It was a great flury of action. Had a group of 3 ladies on board looking to catch something other than the normal lane and Red Grouper fishing. So We pushed on out and went looking for ARS. Again today, we were not disappointed. First drop down over a new mark and a nice porgy and then a small tile fish are brought up. Reset the drift and it was like de ja vu with another nice porgy and a second larger tilefish! Moved onto some other numbers and the Red Snapper were happy to play. Jan got the first, Karina the second, and Lisa hooks into a solid fish... not knowing what it was but definitely not acting like a Red Snapper. Up comes a beautiful Black Grouper! We continued working the area and finished off our ARS limit, and then went to work on some tasty fat vermilion snapper and looked for some red grouper. We were rewarded with some fat verms and 2 more red Groupers that we were able to get up ( a few just flat out kicked our butts! and made it back to their hole). Was another fantastic day of fishing in SWFL!
Headed out with a group of 6 from Pineland Marina. We pushed off at 6 AM and made the run out looking for some tasty eats. Marked a good show on the way out in about 145 and Lo Roy was rewarded with a nice Scamp grouper. A nice mango nd a decent Red Porgy also joined the party. We continued our run out and the hot bite today was in 160 ft. We quickly procured a 6 man limit of quality American Red snappers. We moved around a little bit and dropped on a small, but good show. Up came a beautiful porgy, and 2 red grouper. Had a couple break offs here as well. We moved a around a bit and I saw some small splashed on the surface a little bit away. Ran over to it and made a cast with a live spanish sardine. Pauls got inhaled and the drag was off and ripping. Water was super clear and I could see bright silver flash so was thinking king until it turned sideways and I could see the tiger stripes... WAHOO! played her soft and got her boatside for the gaffshot. Not a huge fish, but anytime you get a Wahoo in the gulf, its a bonus fish...and on mono leader, just that much better! Some high fives all around and then time to turn on the air conditioning... Made the run on in. We were stopped just outside of Captiva Pass by FWC who boarded and checked our fish. All was good and we were quickly on our way. I openly welcome the check as Ive seen a couple other people back at the docks with some very questionable fish lately...
Saturday had a 1/2 day trip. launched from punta rassa a bit after 7AM. Jason, his wife Susan, their son Dillon and susans parents JoAnne and Dale were looking for some fun time out on the boat. We made our way out to some live bottom in 60-65 ft where we worked on Lane Snapper, Porgies and a slew of small red grouper. We landed a small gag grouper along with a bunch of key west grunts, and a small blacktip shark. A nice yellowtail was added for some fresh sushi for dinner to go along with the gallon size ziplocks busting at the seams. They enjoyed the beautiful blue water and took the opportunity to go for a nice swim before heading back to the docks.
Friday had Fed, his 3 sons, and buddy Yani in town to do some ARS fishing. We hammered them. On the way out, we saw some surface activity and decided to check it out. Im glad we did as we started seeing blackfin tuna going airborne chasing small flyers. Hooked up a couple live spanish sardines on flat lines and casted out ... immediately get hooked up on both rods.... Both fish pulled lots of drag, but rod #2 has a monster on... after a few minutes, blackfin one is gaffed and in the boat. Meanwhile, fish 2 is being worked in... Got the fish within 30 ft of the boat sraight up and down and the fish rolled sideways and the circle hook came unglued... Id estimate the fish to be in the high 20 to 30 lb class....
Stuck around looking for more action but none to be found so we continued out to the grounds... Arrived at the area to find quite a few boats within a few miles. Watched the sounder and found some nice quality marks. Yani drops down a vertical jig while everyone else deployed either live baits or squid. Yani is the first to hook up but comes unglued 3/4 of the way up... drops back down and hooks up again... brings in a solid 20+ inch red snapper. The bite stayed hot till we left. Didnt matter what bait you dropped, you would get a solid snapper on. put a 5 man limit in the boat throwing back a bunch of solid keepers as well. Had one big long run on the flatline that came unglued after a 45 second run... likely another tuna. A couple break offs on the bottom were probably some big grouper. We pushed back in a bit shallower to see if we could find some keeper rgs, but they werent much in the mood, so we worked on the lanes and vermilion snapper. The kids really enjoyed the constant fast action, and reeling from 120 feet was much better than 170... Thursday the 14th headed out on an ARS trip. Jack and 4 of his buddies from Wisconsin did a 3/4 day trip. We pushed out with a well of pinfish, runners and a few spanish sardines. We got into a nice show of red snapper in the 135-140 range. We landed quite a few and were throwing the legal 16 inchers back in the beggining. Shouldnt have as the bite turned off like a light switch. Tide stopped moving almost entirely. No wind, and we would drift 30-40 feet over a 30 minute period. Got set up right on top of the beautiful shows and the red grouper finally turned on. Landed some quality fish, and then one real STUD well over 30 inches. Picked up a few big lanes to go with them. Very nice box of fish at the end of the day.
Monday the 11th headed out on a 3/4 day trip in search of some grouper. after securing a well full of bait, we pushed out to the 115-130 range looking for some fish. We landed a couple nice red grouper to bring home for dinner. Snapper bite was ok as well. All the snapper were decent size... Tide was a bit on the slow side. Ended up with a decent box but had to work for it. Saw amazing shows of fish all day, but just seemed like they just werent chewing well...
Had a group of 6 that met us at the pine island co op for a 3/4 day of fishing. We loaded up the coolers and ponied up the motors in search of some fish for a meal or two. We headed out of Redfish Pass out to about 30 ft of water where we sabiki'd up a mess of live pinfish. Set the autpilot for our coarse some 40 miles out and turned up the tunes on the radio. We dropped down some baits along the way on some shows which gave us a few lane snapper and small grouper, so continued on out. At our destination, big bait gets hooked up and rod doubled over, but lost the grouper on the way up. Bite was slow with very little tidal movement. Picked away at short grouper. Made another move and we absolutely destroyed the vermillion snapper. They ranged from 12" up to 18" and kept the rods bent for a couple good hours. We added a decent mangrove snapper as well as a triggerfish to the fish box.
The weather couldnt have been better. and the water was pristine. The adult beverages stayed cold and flowing all day which made for some great laughs. The crew was constantly in and out of the water swimming to help stay cool. Probably one of the most fun crews I have had a pleasure of taking out. Looking forward to having you guys down again in the future. |
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January 2026
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