This past week was my spring break…and what a much needed break it was. It was great not having to worry about classes, work, e-mail or anything that takes away from time on the water. The family and I planned a trip to Bokeelia (the northern tip of Pine Island). The fishing was steady most of the week and fishy areas were around every corner.
This was our second trip to the area, so we had some good ideas on where to fish and what we might find. On our last visit, we weren’t able to explore as many areas as we would have liked, so we opted to fish different spots each day and we rarely returned to the same spot twice. We concentrated on three main areas: 1) Turtle/Bull Bay, 2) North Captiva to Bokeelia, and 3) Matlacha.
We were greeted each morning with great sunrises. There’s nothing in this world quite like a sunrise while you’re out on the water.
Turtle Bay: This area was loaded with ladyfish. They got old quick, but provided a good start for the week. The dolphins were wise to the fish’s location and also learned quickly that a recently released ladyfish is much easier to catch than the others. When they started waiting right next to the boat we decided to move to a different area. As we moved outside the ladyfish we soon found a school of trout. Again, they got old quick, but they provided a tight line and steady action. There were some larger fish mixed in, and we invited two home for dinner that night.
North Captiva to Bokeelia also provided us with good action. We mostly fished mangrove shorelines as we were looking for snook, reds, and trout. We concentrated on mullet schools and threw finger mullet patterns - Skitter Walks during low light and Twitchin’ Raps during the day. The most productive lure was a Twitchin’ Rap in the Olive Flash color.
Matlacha produced fewer numbers than the other areas but the quality improved slightly. We again concentrated on mullet schools for the reds. The snook were keyed in on the outer cuts that had good water movement and that opened into larger backwater bays.
I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between this snook and the artwork in our rental.
As the sun set on our trip, I was able to look back on a great week of fishing with my mom and dad. It was at this point that I realized come Monday, the fun would be over.
Tight Lines.
