Things to do

Dining Nightlife

South Florida

Beaches

Sleep

Support

Shrimp Gumbo, dip into your pocket, invest in a few dozen shrimp then enjoy your day on the water

Florida Fishing	Naples Pier	Sanibel-Captiva	Naples	Live Shrimp	10,000 Islands	Summer Fishing
Bait/Lures	Fishing Holes	Techniques	Artificals	Fish On	When to Fish	Where to Fish

XXXXX Shrimp is the bait of choice in February. Fishing is about bottom fishing. This is certainly true offshore, but it also holds true for Ten Thousand Islands backwaters.

You can walk-the-dog with your trusty Zara Spook or Top Dog all day long, but the best rig this month is still a shrimp on the bottom.

Drum are known shrimp lovers. Shrimp, however, are not as cheap as they once were. If there is any doubt about inflation, just check the price of shrimp. Many marinas now charge $3.85+ per dozen and you can expect that price to go up this year.

I just hope that the fish appreciate how much we fishermen are spending on them. They are eating in style! It probably costs me more to feed the local trout population than it does my family.

|Naples Bait Shop|

|Local Catch|

February are the holes and troughs

Below are fish found in our local Southwest Florida waters. They abound in the backwaters, tidal pools, tidal creeks and offshore. They are schoolies or smaller in the backwaters and as they grow the larger older fish live most of there life's offshore.

They are respectful from left to right Sheephead (wait to you see there teeth-are those dentures), catch a lot of these Mango (grey) snapper minimum 10"-good eating), Redfish (red Drum), Everyone's favorite Snook, best tasting of all the Florida fish Pompano and always a great fight and little brother to the King Machrel and cousin to Wahoo, Spanish Mackrel. The last two are not pictured here. Just to big and smelly. Also, the preferred food of Pompano are Sand Fleas not shrimp.

Whatever your choice of baits, the top places to fish in February are the holes and troughs, especially where there is hard bottom or oysters. A host of predators typically fill these holes, and they all will take a shrimp or slow-moving jig tipped with shrimp.

Sheepshead, snapper and black drum are the most common catches, but more prestigious fish such as redfish, grouper and snook also winter in these deeper areas. Of course, jacks and ladyfish are everywhere in the Ten Thousand Islands. At times, there are so many jacks and ladies that no other fish have a chance to sniff your bait.

To hook anything else, you simply have to move.If you fish south of Goodland, there are so many holes and deep areas that it is difficult to choose where to fish. Trial and error is always the best teacher, but certain characteristics will help you identify productive waters.

Narrow cuts between bays are often good. Always fish an eddy, where the current doubles back upon itself. Dropoffs next to an oyster bar almost always hold sheepshead, and downed trees are good habitat for grouper and snook.

Often, the best fishing holes are not so obvious. Take, for example, a simple undercut bank or oyster bar protruding out into a channel. These can be extremely fishy. You’ll just need to fish them to know them.

Common Snook-Central Florida South-Usually inshore on coastal and brackish watersalong mangroves, shorelines,seawalls, bridges-Feeds on fish and larrge crustaceans-Most 5-8 lbs

Fish rocky outcrops and ledges

The entrance to Lostmans River is a maze of oysters and holes, and once inside, there are deep, rocky holes. The banks in this area are also fishy, and if the weather is good, the outside points all along the coast usually hold fish at the top of the incoming tide.

Farther north around Naples, anglers often move just offshore to fish rocky outcrops and ledges that hold sheepshead, snapper, grouper and the occasional cobia. If you venture just a little farther out to the artificial reefs, you’ll tug on more sheepshead and grouper, plus triggerfish, lane snapper and Spanish mackerel.

All in all, this is a fairly good, action-packed fishery, all based around soaking shrimp on the bottom—if you can afford them.

For purists who cannot stand the idea of drowning shrimp

For purists who cannot stand the idea of drowning shrimp, or are too poor to afford them, there is good lure action over the grassflats when the water is clear.

Trout are the most popular target, but Spanish mackerel and bluefish are more plentiful and fight much harder. Silver trout and whiting can be found along the beaches, and there are pompano near the passes, in the cuts between grassbeds and in some backwaters where channels wash into the bays.

Spanish Mackerel-Inshore/nearshore/offshore- especially over gras beds & reefs-Average weight less than 2 lbs (20inches)-spawns offshore spring-summer-Feeds on small fish/squid/shrimp

All of these fish will take a jig. Spanish macks and bluefish like a very fast retrieve. Trout prefer a slow-moving target and pompano often hit the jig when it is still on bottom. A tip of shrimp certainly helps the pompano fishing.

I did not mention live baits, simply because they are very difficult to find in February. And if you do find them, they are often not that effective. Snook and tarpon just are not that hungry in the cool water, and the other species seem to prefer shrimp.

So dip into your bank account, invest in a few dozen shrimp and enjoy your day on the water. So what if bait costs more than fuel.

Fishing Guide	Fishing Techniques	When to fish	Fish I.D’s.	Fish on	Fishing Knots

Fishing Stories
Please note that all fields followed by an asterisk must be filled in.
First Name* First Name*
E-mail Address* E-mail Address*
City
State/Prov* State/Prov*
Zip/Postal Code
Country* Country*
As a fellow angler, I would love to hear about your Fishing Story

Please enter the word that you see below.

Sheepshead junkies prefer fiddler crabs

Sheepshead do not possess the snob appeal of snook, tarpon or permit, but for the meat-and-potatoes fisherman, sheepies comprise the heart of our winter fishery.

Each winter, sheepshead move into local waters to spawn. The biggest fish are caught just offshore on artificial reefs or natural rocks. Many are in the 5- to 8-pound range and make excellent table fare.

Sheepshead also head for the backcountry. These fish tend to be smaller, but they’re still large for sheepshead. They gather wherever there is structure.

Oyster bars and coral attract fish, but so do man-made structures such as docks, jetties and seawalls. The jetties in front of Doctors, Gordons and Caxambas passes should all hold plenty of sheepshead this winter. Most of our man-reefs are 2 - 6 miles offshore. Flats boat in flat water ok, but a safer bet is a bayboat maybe, hurricane boat maybe, preferred a offshore "v" bow boat( in case of sea 3 feet or more).

Sheepshead tend to school, so once you find one, you’ll probably find more. Shrimp or pieces of shrimp are the most popular baits, but real sheepshead junkies prefer fiddler crabs. Search for fiddler crabs along the shorelines on low tide and enjoy the added attraction of shelling out nothing but time for bait.Supposedly, fiddlers attract bigger sheepshead, but the fish do have an easy time stealing the bait.

If you are a real sheepshead fanatic—past the junkie stage—then you will use tube worms for bait. You will spend about four hours digging tube worms for every hour that you fish. Of course, chasing tube worms is really fishing in its own right, so you might enjoy it.

You can collect tube worms on sandbars (best of luck-bring a clamming rake, if you can't find one this far south, a pitch fork will do the job) at low tide where you see their breathing holes, (more likely breathing holes for Pomoano's favorite meal, Sand Fleas) and dig them up. I was told that a tube worm lowered in the water will attract a sheepshead from a mile away, and if there is an island between, the sheepshead will actually come out of the water and walk across it. From what I can tell, this might be true.