Cold water doesn't hurt fishing
As cold as the weather has been, it wouldn't seem to matter that snook season opens this week, but surprisingly, there have been some outstanding snook catches reported. Even with water temperatures in the lower 60's, several guides landed good numbers of fish with several in the slot or larger. With no fronts predicted and water and air temperatures rising, this winter's snook season could be a very good one.
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Fish Tales: Trout plentiful in area waters
Balmy weather made for ideal fishing conditions last week, with anglers enjoying success with trout, grouper and snapper. Fishbuster Charters' Capt. Dave Hanson fished over live bottom in 40 feet off Bonita Beach last Monday with Dave Carr and Chester Yanik, using live shrimp. They caught a keeper gag grouper at 25 inches, a 15-inch hogfish and 10 mangrove snapper to 15 inches. They released short gag and red grouper, a Spanish mackerel and one of the largest grunts Hanson has ever seen.
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Fly Fishing School - Bait Your Hook!
Spend 2 half days fishing the 10,000 islands area of Southwest Florida's Gulf Coast with private instruction from a professional fly fisherman. Packages from $650-$680.
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Angler's Outlook: Warmer weather gives anglers late Christmas present
Last week I wrote about the cool, windy weather that was slowing offshore fishing. I said what we needed was an extended warming trend. Well, the ink was hardly dry when we got just what we needed: warmer weather, clear skies and slightly warmer water. Offshore anglers were able to put some red, gag and a few black grouper in their boxes, along with some lane and mangrove snapper.
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