Capt. George Tunison

The oppressive and for some dangerous heat, plus strong afternoon lightning storms, have smart anglers hitting the flats early. Offshore boats are doing the same, leaving port early to catch various deep-water grouper and snapper. Better yet, with water and air temperatures boiling, and fish and anglers looking for relief, try the night shift.

Coastal beach snook bite day and night and throwing plugs around the passes and nearby beaches on a cooler moonlit night can be quite rewarding. For sub-surface try minnow baits like Rapala X-Raps or Yozuri Minnows. Don’t be afraid to use the larger models at night. Also, work the surface around any pass structure with a large, noisy, top-water plug to pick a fight with a personal best snook.

Hit the docks at night but never the boats parked on or around them. If you aren’t a proficient caster, get in some practice before working docks so that you don’t damage others’ property, create hard feelings with homeowners and/or spend lots of time getting hung up. First, master casting techniques like skip casting that allow you to quietly place lures way back and under docks where the big boys live. Expect to find tarpon, snook, reds, even trout, under many lit docks at night.

Summers flying by so get in your local tarpon licks while you still can before the gang starts thinking about moving the party southbound. Nighttime is also the right time to be bridge fishing. Big structure hosts big fish like tarpon and huge snook, especially at night. A half dozen or so live ladyfish or mullet in the livewell or a tackle box full of various Hogy, DOA and ZMAN swimbaits will set you up for the thrill of a lifetime when fishing a local bridge at night. My 8-foot medium heavy spinning rod is set up with 80-pound test braided line which is doubled at the end using a Spider Hitch, and then I attach a 100 to 120-pound test fluorocarbon leader.

The number one rule of night boating is to slow down. Have good lighting aboard and use it without blinding others. It pays to become familiar with your route during day hours before going out after dark. Electronics are great to find your path but they don’t show floating debris that can take out your lower unit.

If night fishing isn’t your thing or schedules don’t allow it, then be on the water early in Charlotte Harbor looking for scattered bait schools, birds working and, hopefully, tarpon eating from below. Try intercepting pods of early-rising coastal tarpon with lures, flies or live baits like crabs and hand-sized baitfish.

Nearshore reefs are producing big snook, mangrove snapper, with some permit catches still being reported.

Spanish macs are in and around the passes to 30 or more miles offshore and also schools of one of the best light tackle sportfish on the planet — the bonito — are also working the same waters. If you’ve never caught a bonito on a light spinning or fly rod you’ve been missing out.

By all means find a way offshore, look for birds, and hopefully get close enough to make a cast before they’re gone. My go-to lure has always been a white bucktail with a little pearlescent or chrome flash tied in, then speed reeled for a solid strike and spool-emptying run that will actually heat up the reel. Quite often they can be found feeding right outside to just a few miles off one of the passes. Let the birds guide you.

Although snook remain closed to harvest through Nov. 30, starting Aug. 31 you can take home one redfish per day, with a two fish limit per vessel. Not less than 18 inches or more than 27 inches.

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Lots of really close guess emails but no prize winners yet for the “Guess My Lure” contest. Keep trying!

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