If sea trout fishing is your passion, be aware of the new rules that started the beginning of the month and are long overdue. What it means to Southwest Florida anglers is reduced size and harvest limits which, in the end, will only benefit the overall fishery.

Instead of bringing home four trout for dinner, you can now harvest three trout and, the slot size limit has also been changed from 15-20 inches to 15-19 inches.

The old harvest rules allowed each recreational angler to harvest one trout over 20 inches as part of his four bag limit.That’s now been modified to one trout over 19 inches – per boat – not per angler.

Commercial limits allow no more than 50 per harvester but with a 100 per boat limit.

I can hear and understand many recreational anglers groaning about the reduced personal harvest limits with the boat next to you allowed a hundred keepers. Those feelings and that ongoing controversy has been a sore subject with many for a long time concerning other species sought after by both recreational and commercial interests and will continue, I’m sure.

These new limits benefit the species and the angler and personally I’d like even stricter limits imposed. Southwest Florida is not known for north Florida-sized “gator” trout where no one gets excited unless their trout is over 8 pounds or more. Here a 5-pound trout is a prized specimen and most local anglers might fish for sea trout for a lifetime and never see a 5-pound trophy. A no-kill policy of any trout over 19 inches in the long term would probably offer the trophy trout angler a better chance at catching and releasing a gator and still serve the needs of those wanting to take a few slot-sized fish home for the grill.

Something I’ve always enjoyed is watching a client’s lite rod bend double and the drag start giving line. After a long, hard fight, a small chrome white fish finally comes to boat side and anglers are simply amazed that the fish isn’t at least double or triple in size than what’s before them.

Welcome to the world of the pompano, one of Florida best tasting fish and always a hard fighter simply because, they are members of the always hard-fighting Jack family.

When you’re motoring along and suddenly fish start jumping in your wake, you’ve just found pompano. Slow the boat and quietly return to the scene and start fan casting small colorful jigs on light leaders.

Pomps can be found around sandy inlets and passes as well as on the flats. My biggest pompano was caught within 100 yards of Bert’s dock on a gold spoon intended for redfish, so you never know where you might find these delicious fish.

The time honored retrieve is to always make sure your jig touches bottom, kicking up bits of sand as you hop it along. Adding a tiny morsel of shrimp to your jig helps increase the odds in your favor.

This time of year the Keys have often spectacular offshore fishing. Sailfish usually comes to mind and something every angler should experience on light tackle. Along with winter sails, you’ll find tuna and another beautiful to behold and grill fish, the wahoo. From Key West north to Islamorada, the Keys offer a winter chance at tons of different offshore species for fun and table fare.

Winter in the Keys usually means wind. so be flexible, which means be safe and live to fish another day. If you can’t get offshore, there’s always the Florida back country for laid-up winter tarpon, snook, trout and tripletail.

Even closer to home, the Ten Thousand Islands offer great winter angling and the lowest amounts of bug bites of the year.

Going with a guide is recommended for the first time there as it’s easy to get lost or run aground.

Capt. George Tunison is a Cape Coral resident fishing guide. Contact him at 239-282-9434 or captgeorget3@aol.com.