Boca Grande, Fl
05 Dec. 2005

 

Back country fishing has been very good this week with snook and redfish atop the hit list.  Most fish came on flies, but spin fishers have been doing very well also.  Snook are hanging on the points of mangrove islands from the Placida bridge to the west wall.  Moving water is the key for snook in these locations.  Exceedingly low tides made travel in the back country hazardous.  Go slowly when you don't know the water.  The fish are starting to react to changes in available food.  White bait (scaled pilchards) are becoming scarce due to dropping water temperatures.  More shrimp are beginning to show up on the grass flats.  Small crabs are also present in good numbers.  This signals a change in color of artificials and flies from white to brown or brown/olive.

 

When redfish are found in larger groups, they are generally in the pot holes of the grass flats.  Otherwise they have been scattered along the mangrove shorelines.  The exception is the outside edges of Bull and Turtle bays.  There the fish are slowly moving from hole to hole near the drop off.  When you find them, you should be able to rally the fish easily.  The best artificial baits are jigs, spoons and plastic jerk baits.

 

Ron Whitely took several trout and some small snook on white Eztaz flies of Thursday.  Dan Chillimi and fishing partner Al, used motor oil colored Exudes on Friday and caught over 60 fish; reds, snook, trout and jacks.  Saturday saw the Sarasota fly tyers group wade fishing the shallow back country.  Eight anglers landed over 200 fish on custom flies.  Everyone did well.  Les Fulcher provided a superior gumbo for lunch.  Good fellowship, great food, excellent fishing matched with beautiful weather made for a wonderful day.

 

Prognosticator!  Some weak cool fronts are approaching as I write this.  I see a small amount of rain coming in tonight.  This may cloud the water just enough to make the big fish get on the feed.  A late evening trip today may prove very successful.  The full moon falls on the 15th this month and fishing will get a bit squirrelly around then.  again, try fishing early and late for best results.  The Christmas rush is on.  If you plan on fishing the dark moon, the best moon, around Christmas, you better book your trip now.  Everyone I know will book solid for the three weeks around the holidays.

 

Remember that trout season is closed until Jan. 1, and snook close on December 15 until Feb. 1.  There has been a lot of talk about catch and release of late.  Be sure to adhere to the best c&r methods you can find.

 

Fish Hard,

Pete