by Capt. Matt Mitchell
The giant, bright super moon we had all last week gave us some crazy-strong tides and fired up the bite. Early morning, negative low water quickly came in and rose in what seemed like record time, and just like that, in a few hours, we had high water.
These extreme tides brought extremely fast-moving water, which gave my clients some of the fastest-paced action I can remember in the past few weeks. One of the species that really cooperated was the speckled sea trout.
Shallow edges in 1-2ft of sheltered flats throughout the sound had trout of all sizes feeding. Like all my fishing this week, a free-lined shiner was the bait of choice. When fishing such shallow water, keeping the rod tip really high while retrieving the bait in a stop-and-go method seemed most effective.
When targeting trout, which have a really soft mouth, not setting the hook at all works best. When a trout bites, I have my clients reel faster to create a bend in the rod, then continue reeling just fast enough to keep the rod bent. Any aggressive hook set pulls the hook on these soft-mouthed fish.
Trout are a great telltale of our water quality, as they thrive in clean, clear water. With so many trout throughout the sound, it’s a great sign of a very healthy body of water. Trout are one of the more delicate species we target.
Using a hook-out tool and avoiding any fish you do not plan to harvest is best for the survival of the fish. If you do have to touch them to remove a hook, wetting your hands first is a good idea, as this lessens the damage to their slime coat.
FWC regulations for our region of Florida are a 15-19-inch slot limit, with three fish per harvester per day, and only one per vessel over 19 inches allowed. Trout are open year-round.
With water temperatures in the low 70s most of the week, snook fishing was also a good choice as the water warmed throughout the day. During the higher incoming tides, mangrove shorelines with fast-moving current were loaded with snook of all sizes.
Skipping live shiners up under the trees and letting them drift naturally in the shadows had these fish crushing the baits. Points and eddies held what seemed like never-ending snook. During the afternoon outgoing tides, I switched gears and headed to the passes.
In this deeper, faster-moving water, a pinfish with a small weight or split shot is the more productive bait. The vast majority of these snook are well under the 28-inch minimum, though what they lack in size they make up for in sheer numbers.
We did manage a few slot-sized fish last week, though we released them. These bigger snook are what I call a trip maker, and watching them swim off unharmed is always a good thing, as they are the future of this amazing fishery.
The redfish bite was a little tougher for me last week, with only a few being caught on the higher periods of incoming tide. We did manage a few slot fish fishing on smaller wind-blown mangrove islands in the middle sound.
Cut ladyfish and tail hooked pinfish seemed to be the bait of choice, although I never did find a hot redfish bite all week. It was very random for us with one red here and one there.
With a bigger cold front forecast early this week that will bring us strong winds and temperatures maybe as low as the low 50’s, things on the water will change quickly again until conditions improve.
This same pattern of ups and downs in both temperature changes and wind conditions is all part of the game of our winter-time fishing.
Capt. Matt Mitchell moved to Sanibel in 1980 and has lived in St James city since 2000 when he started his fishing charter business. He spends over 300 days a year “living the dream” fishing. For questions and info: bookings@captmattmitchell.com
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