Fishing with Capt. George Tunison | Grouper are out, still time for snapper
Gag grouper are resting easier today knowing they aren’t headed for local dinner tables for the remainder of the year. Thursdays FWC closure on this hard-fighting and tasty grouper will allow you to concentrate on red snapper before it closes on Oct. 4, again reopening on the 9th through the 22nd then finally switching to weekend-only harvest dates.
On the way out to or coming back from the grouper grounds, be sure to check out any structure looking for permit on the surface or hovering over a wreck. Small crabs are golden but at times artificial soft baits and flies will get attention.
When fishing for any of our popular reef species, make sure you know if you’re in federal or state waters as different harvest rules apply.
For example; lane snapper must be 10 inches to keep in state waters but only 8 inches in federal, while mangrove has to be 12 inches in federal but 10 inches in state waters. State waters extend from shore to 9 miles out in the Gulf.
There are strong reports of not only the various snapper species in closer to the coast, but good catches of red grouper from the 150-foot-mark and on deeper. Deeper fish get less pressure and often get bigger. Keep that in mind when buying your bigger off-shore boat next month, but for those of us less than 25 feet, keep in mind going deeper or further offshore can increase weather risks and if needed rescue times. Overestimating your personal stormy seas operating abilities and or your boats seaworthiness in heavy seas, wind and intense lighting can be a fatal mistake for everyone aboard.
Beach-walkers are reporting good catches of snook, mangrove snapper, whiting, delicious pompano and redfish. Longer leaders catch more fish in clear Gulf waters. Lots of surf snook sight fishing opportunities for the stealthy angler and quite often exciting action during the night on swimming plugs and top water lures.
While there are plenty of beach bound snook still enjoying the warm, Gulf waters, many are preparing to move in-shore. On the southern end, east bound beach snook will round the corner at Point Ybel and congregate and feed at the Sanibel Causeway (hot-spot for snook and tarpon right now) then keep moving, first past the docks at Punta Rassa (another snook hot-spot) then on up past Kitchel Key, Shell Creek to Shell Point and finally, Iona Cove.
This natural choke point in the Okeechobee Waterway between Big Shell Island and Shell Point is a natural highway for all species, not just snook moving inshore.
The biggest snook I’ve ever seen in Southwest Florida, including my top three biggest linesider’s in 25 years, have all come from probing structure between Shell Creek to Iona Cove. I’ve always fished this area during outgoing tides at night using top water plugs and old school MirrOlures.
Tarpon are stretched out from the Sanibel Causeway all the way up to the mouth of the Myakka River with some along the coast and others inside the barrier islands and the usual deep hole spots in Charlotte Harbor along with various sharks and about a billion sail cats.
I’m looking for concentrations of fish so again this week, I’m picking the Sanibel Causeway to do my tarpon shopping.
Looking for a big bull red not just an ordinary 10 pound Red October schoolie? Pack up and surf fish in the Carolina’s for a shot at a 100 pounder (current world record 94.2-ounce caught near Cape Hatteras) otherwise stay home and fish local passes for the area’s biggest red drum. Inshore, smaller or school fish up to 30 inches are schooling with some anglers reporting the largest flats schools they’ve seen in several years.
When approaching cast to the edges of the school never in the middle unless just one fish is your goal. Lots of reds not in school, but fighting ready around most mangrove shorelines.
Capt. George Tunison is a Cape Coral resident fishing guide. You can contact him at captgeorget4@yahoo.com or (239) 440-1621.