The Fort Myers Boat Show is just around the corner! Mark your calendars for the event which takes place at the Lee County Civic Center from Thursday, March 7th until Sunday, March 10th. The show will be open from 10am – 6pm Thursday through Saturday and 10am – 5 pm on Sunday. Admission is $7 per person, with children under 12 free. Tickets can be purchased at the door. You will find a wide range of different makes and models of boats up to 35′. You will also loads of accessory displays with electronic equipment, motors, fishing equipment, boat lifts, and more. Plus you will find a wide variety of service companies, insurance, marine financing and educational information to help you get the most out of your time on the water. And, lots of nautical clothing and gift items as well. For more information on the Fort Myers Spring Boat Show, click here.
Over 100 boats are going to descend on Cape Haze Marina for the Water Tribe Everglades Challenge on Saturday, March 2nd. Depending on weather conditions, boats should begin arriving on Saturday afternoon after departing Fort Desoto Park in the morning. These races are open to boats propelled by human and/or wind power only! Full details can be found at www.watertribe.com.
Holding a fish. Should you hold it supporting the belly, putting the weight of the fish horizontal? Or, holding by the lower jaw and let it hang? Well a lot of thoughts about that. Horizontal holding, while it is a good idea, should be tempered with just a bit of real. I have watched 1000′s of bass fisherman holding fish by the jaw. It seems that when a fish is smaller and not huge around the belly while it is not great for them, it is not going to unhinge the jaw. And when a fish is smaller using your hands on it’s belly you are removing the slime coating of the fish and making is susceptible to Bactria sores, and a slow death.
The other side of that is when the fish is heavier and the weight of the fish is much greater, large Belly. Then it’s a serious problem. The weight of the fish will then unhinge the jaw and the fish will most likely starve to death, not good use your judgement when handling a fish.
Do not be taken in, like no stainless steel hooks. Every study ever done has found no difference between stainless hooks and other types of materials, stainless does not rot or corrode so no poisons in the blood like when a bronze type or cadmium. If stainless killed, every kid in the mall would be dead.
People swing and around at the end of ropes by their teeth, spin around on their heads dancing. Would I like or want to do that? No! Tarpon fisherman break off lines while the fish is in the water, and the hook is in the Tarpons Jaw. We are talking about 50 to 60 pound of jerking to break that line and no one is complaining about that. Why? Because no Eco not thought to tell you it was bad. We all do things which are not great, the truth usually lies between the far end of the topic. Let’s use our best judgment. Let’s talk to each other not point fingers and say you are a bad person, or good person, because they did not get the latest memo about going to hell for the latest do gooder cause.
We pull the fish to us by its jaw with a hook. Really there is no 100% good way to do this. 5% of all fish caught & released die! So yes we are working to be better people. Let’s start being better people by the way we talk to each other instead of the blame game. Tell the next person your ideas about what they are doing and why it may be bad. We are all guessing here and trying to keep what we love doing (fishing) alive and keep the fish from as much harm as possible. So we need to stick together not pick each other apart.
Just a thought from the middle of this twisting turning highway of life.
Southwest Florida, be safe, have fun and be nice to each other.
Frank
What a great time to be here in S.W. Fla. The best bite time starts about 11:am and gets better into early afternoon. Sleep in, have a nice breakfast, stop at Fishin Franks Bait Shop a bit, hit the water catch fish, a The dream lives!
The cool thing now is that the fish will eat Shrimp, Bait fish, Lures, If you cast it they will bite 😀
SOUTH WINDS 15 TO 20 KNOTS. SEAS 3 TO 4 FEET. BAY AND INLAND WATERS A MODERATE CHOP TO CHOPPY. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS…MAINLY LATE IN THE AFTERNOON.
With these words of Ahh dang it! Take hope fellow fisher people. There is always the rivers and canals to explore. These are shinning examples of safe fishing. Lets start on the Peace River. On the northern shore of the Peace River, there is a deep channel which right now has whiting, Silver Trout, and Snook in it. Best way to fish is to drift, head into the wind and then cast out a shrimp on a hook with a #5 slit shot. It’s just enough weight to keep the shrimp in the water but not on the bottom.
It you’re on the canals look for a bridge, I would think they would not be hard to find. This method of fishing bridges has been working great – idle your boat under the bridge with your depth finder on. See how deep the water is, then go up current and anchor. Don’t block other boats from getting through. Now put a bobber stop on the line so your bait is about a foot off of the bottom. Cast towards the piling and let the tide take it.
Last week’s forecast was pretty much ‘on target’ with fish starting to be more active than previously. I expect more of the same this week, especially with the extended warm water temperatures. My clients and I had more than our share of larger Spanish Mackerels, a couple of Pompano together with a whole lot of Seatrout. I am attaching a picture of my friend (Mr. Du Wayne Traut with a nice Sea-‘trout’ recently taken in Matlacha Pass on the top half of an incoming tide using a live shrimp on the bottom.
In addition to the mild cold front predicted later this week (together with the warmer water temperatures mentioned above), the ‘bite’ should pick up prior to this coming Thursday (Feb. 14) in time for Valentine’s Day! So I recommend if you have the time, plan on going fishing now!
Until next week, this is Captain Terry Fisher inviting you to call me at 239-357-6829 or email me at [email protected] to request a charter. Check out my fishing articles at my website; www.fishfacecharters.com.
Because of the water temps going up and down I would be ready for plan “B”. If the flats aren’t doing well, I would head to the mouths of the canals. Have some different bait. Shrimp, Fiddlers, White bait, whatever you can get.
There are no solid rules with the way the water is changing right now. One day or morning it is all shrimp. Then bang, it’s changed and they are eating white bait. Or maybe fish in the morning and shrimp later. If the weather stays steady for a while then you can get handle on what’s going on bait wise.
The last week of January produced some fantastic canal fishing in the Cape Coral area with artificial baits for Snook and Crevalle Jacks. I have attached a picture taken on an iPhone of a 36” Snook caught by Ray Dziewit of Pennsylvania on an artificial in a Cape Coral Canal, just before dark and on his ‘last’ cast of the day. One can see the ‘joy’ on his face with catching a “Winter Fish” of a lifetime! Sheepshead were in and around the canals of Pine Island as many die hard fishermen and ladies utilized them to stay out of the high winds via the cold front. Unfortunately, my experience on the flats of Punta Rassa, Pine Island Sound and Matlacha Pass were not very pleasant in part due to the southeastern winds pushing and churning the waters on the afternoon incoming tides. I noted a lot of dead mullet in northern San Carlos Bay and up as far as Blind Pass. However, the waters of Pine Island Sound, north of Redfish Pass were much clearer.
Nonetheless, with the lighter wind forecasts and change in wind directions, fishing should improve over last week. I think the fish are going to be hungry, as they were not active on my baits like they usually are just prior to a cold front. Last week, the artificial baits were the ‘baits of choice’ in canals for both Snook and Jacks, while scented soft baits provided the best results on the flats. ‘Offshore’ should be worthwhile as long as the winds and seas remain relatively calm. Remember to be safe and layer up as the evenings bring cooler temperatures on the rides home.
This is Captain Terry Fisher of Fish Face Charters. If you would like to book a charter or have any questions, I am easily reached at 239-357-6829 or via email at [email protected]. Check out my website at www.fishfacecharters.com.
What a great day to be in Southwest Florida, especially if you like Tank top shorts and flip flops.
Yes, the weather is warm, it’s sunny and the fish are starting to really bite. Yes, the Florida mountains ranges are visible all over the Harbor and there is even bait fish showing up at the markers and on the flats on both side of the Harbor.
Weird thing here “Besides me” I used to always toss out any Skip jack “Leather Jacket”. In the net, I would these stinging little bait fish. If you grab them around the body, they have stingers and their belly and back. While not deadly they will light you up. I have tried them for bait over the Years and no real luck. Now for some reason they are great Trout bait! Yes Dracula likes them hitting the skip jack before a white bait or a shrimp?????
Now I am confused. I know most all of the rules about fishing, what to do, what works, how to rig. But I am really starting to think no one told the fish what the rules are. Al Gore I believe was right. It is warm, beautiful and January so why should the Trout be eating Skip jacks?? So enjoy the view. Catch some trout either side of the Harbor or for some bigger trout try 41 or I-75 bridges.
Where are the fish? Good question, But a key is also asking when.
For instance, Ponce De Leon park is loaded with fish. Sheeps head, Snook, Red fish, Jacks. But the trick is to catch the last half of the incoming tide. It seems they have somewhere else to be on the incoming, but load up in the canal during the out going.
