Happy New Year everyone and welcome to 2021. I don’t know about you but i was ready to put 2020 behind us!
Winter time fishing in the Boca Grande and Cape Coral area is usually very good and so far 2021 has not disappointed. I have been mostly using shrimp for bait, which is normal for this time of year. Most of these fish have been caught using a shrimp on a jighead. Ifyou like bass fishing you will love this style of fishing!! Everything eats a shrimp. Redfish, trout, sheepshead, pompano and snook have all been coming aboard.
The real surprise is the fact that I have been able to get whitebait when the weather is a little warmer and the snook have been loving it. I have had some 40-50 snook days recently with some nice fish over 30″. It is definitely weather dependent but if your lucky enough to get the right day they sure are biting.
There have been some really nice trout around this winter which is really showing how much the closure is helping them come back! I have been getting 10-30 trout a day with most of the fish around the 16″-17″ range. I’m getting most of them as bycatch while targeting redfish and snook. I figure since they are closed I might well target something that pulls a little harder!
Redfish are also biting very well. I have had a lot of 10-30 fish days recently with most of the fish averaging around 5 pounds and 25″. Shrimp on a jig has definitely been the bait of choice.
Sheepshead have made their annual winter migration inshore this year and have been pretty plentiful, Snook, redfish and trout are all still closed at this time so these fish have been on the dinner menu.