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October ended with a very strong bite. We have been having excellent catches of snook and redfish. There are good numbers of fish in the back country and still some very large fish on the outside. Bait remains plentiful near shore keeping the action hot. November is shaping up well with mild weather forecasted … at least for a while. Once the cool fronts change to cold, things will tighten up a bit …
In the last couple of weeks, the big snook have been hitting top water “walkers” consistently. It seems the faster the plug is walked the better they seemed to like it. The bite has almost always occurred early in the retrieve as; the fish have not been wanting to follow the bait at all. They have been slamming the plugs just as it begins to move. Unlike in the warmer months, when you can see the fish follow the bait seemingly trying to decide whether or not to eat it, these late October, early November fish make their decision very quickly and race to the bait. Make long casts to your hot spot, walk (or run) the bait about 20 feet and then pick it up for the next cast. On the days with good clarity, we have been covering a lot of water presenting the baits but just a few times in a single spot. The fish know that the bait is there and they have been coming after it. When the wind has turned west and south, making the water more turbid, spending a little more time in a spot has been the trick. With ample supply of bait, it has been hard to anglers focused on the artificial baits. Most want to pick up a scoop or two of “volunteers”. The live bait fishing is much more relaxed, but no more productive in recent weeks. Although on a recent fly fishing trip, a handful of little hunters release next to a little mangrove pocket, turned on a pile of fish that we could get to eat our flies until they were “stimulated” a bit. The tarpon bit has held strong. The llast three trips have put 18 fishing in the air. Most are smaller fish in the 15-40 pound range. Although, yesterday, Chris Carter of Akron, Ohio, put his first dinosaur aloft. Chris now "understands". Chris and his partner, Sue Beevine caught some very nice snook under one of the Chamber of Commerce blue skys. November is going to be great!!! If you would like to book a charter with Chokoloskee Charters, contact The Captain @ www.ChokoloskeeCharters.com; ([email protected]) or call him @ 239-682-9920. Tight Lines!
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Fishing has been excellent recently and should be that way for a good while. Lots of bait in the area is keeping the fish close and making them easy to pattern. We have had very good catches of snook, both large and small, typically averaging 10-12 releases per day. The redfish have been red hot ... as good as I have seen it in years. Trout are all over the flats. The tarpon bite has been steady, but the permit can be elusive.
Richard Masi and his friends from Connecticut landed cobia and goliath grouper. One fish about 25 pounds was released only to be immediately chased to the bottom by his 200 pound big brother. Luckly, he got away. Several other very large fish were never turned. Snook fishing was tough for the guys unfortunately. George Uding (Naples) and his son-in-law, Bill Garske (Bowling Green, Ky.) had a nice day. Bill landed his first ever tarpon in morning. It was a small one, but at least it was!!! George added another small fish. Waiting on the tide to turn, we slipped offshore to a small piece of structure and caught Spanish mackerel until we were tired. The guys also released approximately two dozen snook during the day. Bill even got a chance to toss his bait to a wild boar on the shoreline. I actual thought he was going to eat his bait, but white plastic did not make the cut! April though October, around the new moon, I usually only book 1/2 day or split day trips. The evening fishing for BIG tarpon (1/2 day) is just too good to pass up. George is a blast and has turned into a great client. He is coming back for some fly fishing, but I am going to make sure that he gets on one of these evening tarpon trips next year. Putting one of these dinosaurs into the air against the setting sun is something that you will not forget! Joe Grande (Cleveland) and Joe Young (Phoenix) had an Everglades Grand Slam on eight pound spinning gear with white Bass Assassins. Tony had a nice snook release of a fish weighing 13 lbs. He also, released a very nice 40" redfish tipping the scales at 23 lbs. (35 lbs by Phoenix scales!). The tarpon were small, but they are a blast and do they love those little white lures!! Scott Harris and his son Andrew had a very tough day snook fishing. Some bad choices on my part, kept us in areas snook fishing, instead of chasing the redfish that were biting well that day. We caught only a few small fish throughout the day. The best that I can figure is we were to close to the full moon with an evening rise and the linesiders were feeding at night. The day started out with tarpon short-striking the lures so, we never actually hooked a fish. That seemed to be the theme for the rest of the day ... as least for snook. We had some opportunities, but we did not capitalize. We did catch a nice mess of speckled trout, however, along with about a hundred jacks ... and oh, yes, one flounder. Sorry guys. A last minute cancellation allowed me to take my wife Vickie out for some quick tarpon action early on morning. She jumped off two fish and I, two others before 9:00. We were fishing but an hour before the call for breakfast had to be answered. Fishing should remain very good a while. The cobia have not yet showed up in numbers, but they will anytime now. I would suggest that if you can, get a trip now before the cold fronts start hamming down. The fishing should be very strong well into November. If you would like to book a charter with Chokoloskee Charters, contact The Captain @www.ChokoloskeeCharters.com; ([email protected]) or call him @ 239-682-9920. Tight Lines! September has ended and so has Hurricane Season!!!! However, October means snook season is wide open and so is the fishing. The big snook are beginning to fatten up for the winter and are they exceedingly aggressive. Tarpon are still plentiful as are the redfish and permit. However, October brings in the first of the cold fronts and the first of the Brown Marlin!!!
As the water cools off a bit, we see our run of Brown Marlin (cobia, ling, gummers, lemon fish) the fish hold near just about any structure and bait source. Live baiting is a sure thing, but my anglers catch just as many on artificial. A 40 pound class cobia on 8 pound spinning gear ranks with any fishing that you will find. It is not uncommon to hook five to six fish per trip. While we catch permit all year in this area, October is perhaps the last real month of the permit season. The big schools move to wherever is that they go with the arrival of the fast moving cold fronts and the waves of snowbirds coming in from up north. I think the permit leave this area for a big thanksgiving feast somewhere else! Get to them now, or wait until March!!! Large white bait will be easy to find and the threadfins will be fairly close to shore. In recent weeks we have found dense schools of Spanish sardines and cigars minnows. These frisky baits really light up the snook.. However, mullet are plentiful and growing fast. A tank full of volunteers usually assures a good tide of snook fishing!! Big mullet - Big Snook!! I fished a couple fine anglers, David Daniels and Mike Ostow from the Dragon Club (Tampa, Fl.). The Dragon Club is a men’s social club established in 1925. This is the second year that they held an event here and from the sound of things it won’t be their last. David released a tarpon ~50 lbs on eight pound spinning gear taking top honors out of 18 boats in the tarpon division. Mike balanced the points out with a good tally of small snook. Last year, I fished with event coordinator, Kevin Cureton who shared top honors in the snook division. They all are an excellent group of guys and a lot of fun to boot! Bobby Garris, fishing with his brothers down from North Carolina, boated seven snook and three redfish, along with an assortment of other fish over the weekend. All had a great time together. My wife, Vickie and I, took a little afternoon jaunt this last week. We saw only two boats between Choko Pass and the Houston River (one of which was aground waiting for the water to rise!) I love mid week in September and October. Vickie released two nice snook, but harvested one other along with a nice grouper. The grouper, baked with her parmesan cheese and chive sauce was something special. (You will have to talk to here for the recipe). |
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October 2005
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