Fishing with Capt. George Tunison | Gradual warm-up will provide relief for fish — and anglers!
Too old to be cold! Yet another cold snap moving in Thursday and Friday with a gradual daytime warm-up beginning Saturday through next week will be giving the poor fish and marine creatures a well-deserved but small break since ongoing frigid nighttime temperatures will still cause continuing problems for many species.
I’ve received various reports of areas of dead fish but thankfully nothing approaching the big freeze of 2010 numbers. I did reach out to the FWC communications division for projected kill numbers so far and locations of the heaviest concentrations of dead fish, but no real numbers are yet available. The spokesperson did mention not only a wide variety of saltwater fish affected statewide but fairly large numbers of largemouth bass, crappie and bluegills down as well with nothing on exotics or invasive species like peacock bass or other South American cichlids like tilapia available.
Looking to make a nice wallet, new boots or have a good meal? Its easy pickings as pesky iguanas should continue to lose their grip and fall from trees during cold nights. Similar in taste and texture to alligator meat and called the “chicken of the trees” in many South American countries where it’s a popular food item.
You can report a fish kill, diseased fish, fish with other abnormalities or discolored water to the Fish Kill Hotline – 800-636-0511. Please provide the following information:
1. The location of the event you are reporting (nearest street address or GPS coordinates are ideal).
2. The number of fish involved, and what species they are – if you can identify them.
3. Your phone number or email so you can be reached if they have any more questions or if you would like an update on the status of your report.
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Make sure your sheepshead rig has enough weight to keep you in the strike zone. The idea is to fish vertically right next to the piling or structure you think holds fish. If the current is sweeping your offering out away from the structure, your chance of attracting a customer quickly diminishes.
Hold the line in your fingers while closely watching your line and rod tip for the slightest tug or movement. Cover your hook with tiny to small pieces of bait. Sheepies are real professional bait stealers and their habit of crushing baits then pecking away at the pieces confuses the touch-sensitive angler above trying to figure out when it’s time to set the hook. Twenty to 30-pound braid and a 20 to 25- pound fluorocarbon leader is a good tackle starting point. Take along a small square point shovel to scrape barnacles from dock and bridge structure creating a feeding frenzy below the boat. Obviously scraping away at private docks without permission is a definite no-no. Although my biggest sheepie, an 11-pounder, was caught using of all things, a gold redfish spoon on the flats of Matlacha. Most big sheepies are deep on big structure like the causeway or gathered on nearshore reef numbers competing with other bottom dwellers.
When fishing bridges, keep moving from piling to piling if you don’t find fish right away and don’t get discouraged. You may fish 10 different pilings before you find where everyone is hanging out.
Another tactic is to stay close to home and out of the wind by probing the Cape’s canals to find your mother-load of sheepies. Recently a friend took me to his downtown top secret Cape canal honey hole where we both caught our limits. This spot had no unusual or distinguishing features above the surface but years ago using his electronics he’d found a small pile of what looks like broken concrete rubble which holds fish year after year.
The weekend starts with morning high tides bottoming out before noon so fishing the sun-warmed afternoon incoming tide might get more interest from cold weary fish. No need to rush out early.
Capt. George Tunison is a Cape Coral resident fishing guide. You can contact him at (239) 579-0461 or via email at captgeorget3@aol.com.