With both snook and trout season now closed, the focus has turned to redfish on the flats. We are catching them but not in great numbers, all the reds over the past week come from Matlacha Pass. We caught several on one day around oyster bars in the northern Pass on the falling tide. Most were small but we did manage one better fish at around twenty-three inches. These were all caught on free-lined shiners on a small circle hook.
Our best redfish day and best day of the week for that manner came on the windiest day of the week. I really like fishing the wind and concentrating on shorelines and Islands where the wind and current are pushing into the shore. After a slow start and a couple moves we hit the jackpot and had a great red bite for better than a half hour. There were several double hook-ups with fish ranging in size from twenty-two to twenty-eight inches. Live pinfish from three to five inches were the bait of the day and free lined or under a bobber both worked great. The bite didn't slow it just stopped completely, but that was OK, it was late in the afternoon and time to head home anyway.
Also around the oyster bars we are catching really big trout for this time of year, a few big bluefish and an occasional snook or flounder.
The weather for the next several months will dictate our fishing but we should have a big variety to choose from. I have noticed a lot of sheepsheads moving inshore and pompano along bar edges, plus some of the biggest gag grouper of the year should be making their push inshore.
For charter information contact us at (239)283-7960 or www.fishpineisland.com.
"Catch the Action" with Captain Bill Russell
