If you’re selling a boat online through one of the sites, be aware of the various scams that people are using to get into your wallet.

In my case the potential “buyer” was very interested in my boat and decided to buy it. Great! He liked the boat so much he didn’t even want to negotiate on the price. He sent me a bank cashier’s check for the full amount plus a few thousand extra to ship it to him. The easiest sale I’ve ever made!

The deal was to deposit the check into my account and to send “the shippers” the extra $2,000 right away! I asked if I could just give it to the shippers when they arrived to pick up the boat. No, he replied, they have to be paid up front.

After checking on the cashier’s check with the issuing bank, it was found to be totally bogus even though it looked very real, even the paper it was printed on felt right. Bottom line, I would have been out two grand.

I would imagine this thief has several boat deals he’s working on daily hoping to find one that will pay off. Again, my cashier’s check looked very real. The fake was from a bank in Tennessee and its fraud department not only verified it wasn’t real but already had several fakes reported using the bank logo and information.

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With bait moving in, our local predators are looking to fatten up on these oily, but good for them, baitfish. Scaled sardines and threadfin herring are the sought-after species and cast netters will be filling live wells with these fish snacks before hitting their favorite hot spots for the day.

You’re new to collecting bait and have bought the proper cast net, even learned to throw it properly, so now just take a boat ride and start tossing it anywhere and pulling in netfulls?

No, it’s not that easy. First you have to bring the bait to you by chumming. Chum can be bought commercially or made. It can be as simply as punching holes in a cat food can and hanging it over the side to passed down secret recipes using oatmeal and menhaden oil and other combinations slowly fed into the current.

Where do I find the bait, you ask? If you are an early morning angler in this neck of the woods, you’ll see plenty of boats at dawn anchored up and chumming or throwing nets, which will give you a good idea where to start. At the top of Matlacha Pass you’ll usually see boats working for bait just off the markers on the east side.

Successful chumming requires you to create a chum slick using moving water or the tide to carry the scent you’ve created to draw in baitfish to the source of the smell which concentrates them just off your transom. When enough bait gathers, then throw the net and collect them.

Now you have the basics, but understand this. It takes time to anchor and create a long chum slick. If you pull up down tide and actually in another angler’s slick, you’ll be welcome as ants are at a picnic.

Give everyone plenty of room as there’s plenty of bait and plenty of real estate.

Healthy sea grass is where you’ll find bait and this time of year fishing turtle grass beds closer to the passes can pay off as the bait gathers there first. A good example is the grass beds at the top of Pine Island (Bokeelia) which can be highly productive.

Go offshore and find lane and mangrove snapper, red grouper, grunts, Spanish mackerel, kingfish and bonito.

Largemouth bass are on their beds, as well as many locally invasive cichlid species. Reports from Lake Okeechobee say the fishing is outstanding and just a short drive away.

Keep your distance and stay well!

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