Big Dave Posted May 16, 2021 Report Share Posted May 16, 2021 Had two different guest anglers on board this weekend, both from Tampa. One came down Thursday night to fish on Friday; the other drove on Friday to fish on Saturday. We stayed at The Everglades City motel, which was clean and refurbished. If you stay there with a skiff, ask for a room with a "back door". We parked the 4Runner and Gordon in back, just outside our back door, while the guests parked in front by the front door. The hotel is right next door to the Island Cafe. The restaurant opens at 0600 for breakfast, or you can order an egg sandwich and coffee to go. They will also prepare a nice "box lunch" (in a gallon plastic bag) for you. Also had wonderful dinners at Camellia Street Grill, including fresh pompano on Saturday night. Fishing forecast was good with early morning high tides, a waxing crescent moon (5% visible) and decent weather (low overnight 71, clear to partly cloudy, winds NNE 10-15 with cloudy skies/some sun, high 87, 24% chance of rain, with winds NNE 5-10 on Friday). Of course, the winds were much stronger than forecast on Friday morning, but at least the weatherman had the direction right. Ran into Steve Huff at the Cafe--he told me I should never be surprised by that--but at least it was blowing in a different direction for a change! Friday we threw mostly top water plugs and suspending lures early in the day, switching to soft plastics on jig heads later in the day. We had really good success both days with snook, but could not find a red. That seems to be the pattern lately, and I'm not sure why the redfish have been hard to find. We had many shots at Tarpon on Friday in a small pond that fed by a creek that opens into a bigger bay and were able to find clean, clear water in many areas. The *** jewfish were everywhere again--I think we had 6 for the two days. Hope FWC decides to open them up for harvest under with certain size and # restrictions. Overall, a great trip. Here's a few pic's including one of the snook from Saturday: 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flatsdoctor Posted May 16, 2021 Report Share Posted May 16, 2021 That’s a nice snook. I went out scouting by boat and the wife with the paddle board in the Estero Bay Area, not fishing, and I also saw mostly snooks and only few reds 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Dave Posted May 16, 2021 Author Report Share Posted May 16, 2021 Another nice one from the trip. Can't figure out why the reds have been hard to find. Anybody got any ideas? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jh141 Posted May 16, 2021 Report Share Posted May 16, 2021 Oh Those Reds.... Don't they gather and school up when the water warms up?? Is this not the time when they are found in large schools on the flats out front?? I have not spent very much time on a skiff out front on the flats. Always had more of a bay style boat and am a WWB rat. I have never in all these years been able to put a real confident pattern together for the reds on the S.W. Gulf Coast. I have been blessed with some good knowledge from Capt. Lemay as to what he sees happening on the coast and I can usually find some good fish in Whitewater Bay. Dave I "have" consistently found what you are referring to, for weeks sometimes I just do not catch a single red on the west side. On a positive side, just in the last couple years I have personally confirmed that at least one good breeder school is living offshore down here again. All the studies I have found only showed breeder schools being studied as far south as Naples. Maybe that was a cost issue My brother wanted to tangle with one of the breeders and I was lucky enough to find them, lucky he hooked one of the smaller ones. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Dave Posted May 16, 2021 Author Report Share Posted May 16, 2021 1 hour ago, jh141 said: Oh Those Reds.... Don't they gather and school up when the water warms up?? Is this not the time when they are found in large schools on the flats out front?? I have not spent very much time on a skiff out front on the flats. Always had more of a bay style boat and am a WWB rat. I have never in all these years been able to put a real confident pattern together for the reds on the S.W. Gulf Coast. I have been blessed with some good knowledge from Capt. Lemay as to what he sees happening on the coast and I can usually find some good fish in Whitewater Bay. Dave I "have" consistently found what you are referring to, for weeks sometimes I just do not catch a single red on the west side. On a positive side, just in the last couple years I have personally confirmed that at least one good breeder school is living offshore down here again. All the studies I have found only showed breeder schools being studied as far south as Naples. Maybe that was a cost issue My brother wanted to tangle with one of the breeders and I was lucky enough to find them, lucky he hooked one of the smaller ones. Wow! Very nice. After the 2010 freeze that killed so many fish, the reds came back strong. The first year we caught them 18"-20" all day long; the next year 20"-24" or so; the next year 26"+. In 2017 or 2018, me and a buddy fished a school of 100's of 30"+ reds on Snake Bight, bringing 6-8 to the skiff before deciding we should leave them alone. I think the reds flourished after the big snook died--my theory is the large snook were eating all the smaller redfish. Since then, the snook have really done well, which is a good thing. I am just perplexed about the numbers over the past year or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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