SCFD rtrd. Posted August 5, 2017 Report Share Posted August 5, 2017 Been fishing Englewood area for about 35 years. As you can imagine, I have multiple Redfish holes. Well, I haven't caught a Redfish in months. I've motor-trolled for miles, through all my holes and can't even see a Redfish. We did have a persistent, but mild Red-Tide for months in this area. Do you think the R-T had anything to do with the Redfish leaving this area? I still see lots of Snook and catch Trout and Mangro Snappers. I know the entire S/W coast had Red-Tide lingering around for months. Anyone else experience the same issues with Redfish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Collin_Kennedy98 Posted August 5, 2017 Report Share Posted August 5, 2017 Fished Englewood for about 16 years and never really caught that many regardless of red tide. I just don't think there are many in that area, I could be wrong of course though. I fish Boca Grande now and even there we don't catch but a few reds each year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polliwog Posted August 5, 2017 Report Share Posted August 5, 2017 My experience this past winter in SWfL was a real lack of Reds. I usually catch them regularly,but not this yr. Snook fishing has been fine as well as trout. We had no real red tide in the Goodland and south area this yr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt. Troy Posted August 6, 2017 Report Share Posted August 6, 2017 Getting harder and harder to find around my area. Seems it has been getting worse and worse every year. Can you say pressure and a lot more boat traffic. Lots of skinny water tower boats, jet skis and even Kayaks putting pressure on them even in very skinny water. Seems that they can't catch a break to get schooled up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCFD rtrd. Posted August 6, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 6, 2017 Well, if pressure and boat traffic is the answer, I can understand that. The Englewood area is growing like crazy and the boat traffic has doubled in the last few years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonV Posted August 6, 2017 Report Share Posted August 6, 2017 Ditto It's the same all over the west coast of FL. It's not only the "weekend warriors", add in the guides who chase these fish regularly during the week. I'm thinking Capt. Troy might have a more correct answer how many more guides are registered in this area versus 10 -15 years ago! There are no more secret spots where only a few anglers know about, everyone hammers them all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polliwog Posted August 7, 2017 Report Share Posted August 7, 2017 I don't think pressure is the problem in my area of 10K, I usually don't see another boat in a 2 or 3hrs of fishing spots in the back country. I have actually had spots that usually produced and very little last several yrs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ififish Posted August 7, 2017 Report Share Posted August 7, 2017 Tampa Bay turned on with Reds this weekend. The one I caught yesterday was very pink, not dark colored llke the tanic water it was caught in. Makes me suspect and incoming fish from deeper offshore waters perhaps. Fished hard for a week in June in Englewood and nada for reds. A friend that lives there and is on the water daily has experienced the same thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt. Troy Posted August 7, 2017 Report Share Posted August 7, 2017 On 8/6/2017 at 9:31 AM, DonV said: Ditto It's the same all over the west coast of FL. It's not only the "weekend warriors", add in the guides who chase these fish regularly during the week. I'm thinking Capt. Troy might have a more correct answer how many more guides are registered in this area versus 10 -15 years ago! There are no more secret spots where only a few anglers know about, everyone hammers them all the time. The PCF tournament I have fished in for the past 20 years out of St Pete started off with 20 guides the first year. All the guides came from within 50 miles of St Pete. This past year we had a record 67 guided boats. All the guides came from within 50 miles of St Pete. 20 years ago we had to dig deep to get 20 boats. Now we don't even get deep into the pool of guides. That is a telling story in itself. Social media hasn't helped either. These guides that are face booking every move they make while sitting on a big school forget that other passing boats and other guides know their boats. You may as well give them your Lat Lon while your at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linesider 159 Posted August 7, 2017 Report Share Posted August 7, 2017 Its been feast or famine at certain times this year. At the same time ive had a week straight of tailing redfish at certain times this year. Pressure is up tenfold so that doesn't help. A boat in every mangrove cut slinging chum bats doesn't help us artificial guys much either. Probably just a year thing. The year after the freeze was the best redfish and trout fishing ive ever seen, wish it were still like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indy21 Posted August 7, 2017 Report Share Posted August 7, 2017 It has been so hard to catch redfish around Lemon Bay that I quit targeting them. That being said I happen to catch one solitary redfish on each of my last two trips there. I was catch and release snook fishing each trip. Both trips were the last week in July. Both were caught midday at a relatively high tide when the water temperature was 87-88 degrees. one was 24 in. and one was 25 in. I gladly deposited them in the live well. And here is the information everyone wants to know.... there were caught on Rapala x-raps. One a gold #10 and the other a olive #8. Both caught dock fishing near grove city. I have seen anglers catch them on occasion at the broken down dock inside Stump Pass. They were bouncing live shrimp on an outgoing tide. I would rather catch one redfish instead of ten snook because they are tasty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sallow Minded Posted August 8, 2017 Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 I agree on south west best redfish bite was back in 2009 or was that the spring of 2010 I believe right? I was work on cheeca lodge in islamorada for 7 months ( had the boat at there dock the whole time) and came home after the freeze. In that spring we had tailing red full with Crustaceans turning their tails blue. Fish multiple spring migration schools with number of 50 and up. And it hasn't been that go since! Linesider159 what type of casting platform do you have? It looks like a tall one and that what I'm looking for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FunFlatsFishing Posted August 8, 2017 Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 It's been tough all summer here in Tampa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flatwater Posted August 8, 2017 Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 The last decent redfish I caught was fishing docks for snook in the intercostal.. so clearly I have absolutely no clue where they have been. Lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linesider 159 Posted August 8, 2017 Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 2 hours ago, Sallow Minded said: I agree on south west best redfish bite was back in 2009 or was that the spring of 2010 I believe right? I was work on cheeca lodge in islamorada for 7 months ( had the boat at there dock the whole time) and came home after the freeze. In that spring we had tailing red full with Crustaceans turning their tails blue. Fish multiple spring migration schools with number of 50 and up. And it hasn't been that go since! Linesider159 what type of casting platform do you have? It looks like a tall one and that what I'm looking for. It was custom done by sterling. 24 inches tall. I'm 6 foot and it was as high as possible without having to jump up or down, just one big step which was perfect. As far as redfish go, I've found the areas tough to get into producing more fish. Even more so for you guys in boca Grande area. Running all the way back into pockets in bull bay and such, and way back in pine island sound trying to get less pressured fish. Last tournament we decided to take a ranger banshee so we could run in mere inches to get to fish no one else could. Sure enough we pulled up to fish tailing away happy. Try something different, may surprise you. I've spent more time exploring different things this year and it's helped me learn some things, and occasionally catch some fish. I will say, the boats burning shorelines aren't helping a thing, especially in Charlotte harbor. The fish never get to settle down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HewesYourDaddy Posted August 8, 2017 Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 Redfish have been scarce for me too here in S. GA. It used to be I could count on several spots to produce. Not anymore. There have been several times this year that it was impossible to find even a undersized red. This past weekend was an exception. We caught many under sized reds and hooked up this 30" red on a topwater plug. He was working a school of finger mullet and my fishing partner tossed at him and hooked up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conocean Posted August 8, 2017 Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 I don't know what to say fellas, I thought yall caught a lot of reds up there.... We dont have a problem sight fishing reds regularly in the ENP. Clean flowing water almost always yields fish although sometimes we have to go all the way to the middle grounds of the park to find them. Even when snook are thick we always seem to manage a few reds. My Choko neighbors with bay boats were catching many reds on the offshore wrecks up until about June. Saw pics of a few fish pushing 40" which is pretty huge for our area. They settled down last month but moved thru last weekend. They should be really thick on the coast nearer the Autumnal equinox as usual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jersey Joe Posted August 8, 2017 Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 Same thing up here in NE Florida. Water temps have been all over the place 78 degrees to 84 degrees. All tides, all moon phases yet still no slots. Worst summer I've seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HewesYourDaddy Posted August 8, 2017 Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 78 degrees? We've been 87-89 degrees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt. Troy Posted August 8, 2017 Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 Funny how everyone talks about the freeze and the years 2008 to 2010. The economy was in the toilet. Many guides were starving and a lot of folks didn't have disposable income to go fishing. The reduced pressure allowed the fish a chance to school up and not as many were being harvested. The last really nice school I was on back in the spring of this year I probably killed 10 fish out of it over a 2 week period. Probably 100 fish in the school. The first day I found them we probably caught 15 or so top of the slot fish before they moved on. Kept 2. Then, the 3rd day several other guide boats had run past me sitting in this little bay and decided it was time to see what was going on. Day 4 there were 4 boats in this bay and day 5 there was 6. This was then the norm for the following week. If the other boats only killed 10 a piece that's 60 to maybe 80 fish out of a school of a 100. This is just like around Weedon Island, Tarpon Key or any of the other known hot spots and this is happening every day of the week and X 10 on weekends. 40 years of fishing the same areas and I agree there are cycles that occur for what ever reason. The one cycle I am sure of there is getting to be a lot of pressure put on the resource and it's getting worse every day. Not to mention the equipment, and tackle improvements that are allowing people access to more and more areas that were historically to hard or too dangerous to get to. Rant over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redrum Posted August 8, 2017 Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 I also think that if the price of gas would go back up to $3.50 per gallon.....it would reduce the pressure on the fishing. I noticed back in 2008 thru about 2012 there was only one or 2 boat trailers parked at the ramp, and now you can barely find a spot.....just my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt. Troy Posted August 8, 2017 Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 5 minutes ago, Redrum said: I also think that if the price of gas would go back up to $3.50 per gallon.....it would reduce the pressure on the fishing. I noticed back in 2008 thru about 2012 there was only one or 2 boat trailers parked at the ramp, and now you can barely find a spot.....just my opinion. Has a lot to do with it I'm sure. Just returned from 5 weeks In the Keys. Fished offshore a good bit. Was on a weed line 28 miles out and counted over 37 boats within site. Same at the humps. Saw more boats offshore down there this year than I have in the last 20. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mulligan Posted August 8, 2017 Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 Good points Capt.Troy! I never thought about the economy per boat traffic. It is a simple fact that there is just too much pressure from the pleasure fisherman and the guys trying to make a living on the water. I am sure there are those with a better count than I have but not long ago there were just a few full time guides in the area I fish now you see ads for guides around every corner and multiply that for the fun fisherman. It is getting to the point were we have to not only out smart the fish but also the other fisherman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicecast Posted August 8, 2017 Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 On 8/6/2017 at 6:59 AM, Capt. Troy said: Getting harder and harder to find around my area. Seems it has been getting worse and worse every year. Can you say pressure and a lot more boat traffic. Lots of skinny water tower boats, jet skis and even Kayaks putting pressure on them even in very skinny water. Seems that they can't catch a break to get schooled up. I am in no position to disagree with Capt. Troy, but I fear by tagging "pressure" as the culprit we may be missing some other issue. The fishing down south in the Goodland area has also been increasingly terrible year over year for several years. There certainly is "pressure" around Marco, but you don't have to go far south to be the only boat around - and the fishing is terrible there, too! What is the issue? I have absolutely no idea. I do know there used to be a lot of grass in the area and now there is virtually none. Maybe the food chain has been interrupted or corrupted somehow? I'm no scientist or biologist, but clearly there is a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonV Posted August 8, 2017 Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 Good points on the price of gas having an effect. I remember back in 2008 trailering my SeaCraft down from the condo to Caloosa Cove in Lower Matecumbe, pulling up to the gas pumps and trying to justify buying gas at $4.59 for Rec90 knowing it was 50 gallons for an average day of dolphin fishing. If you bought the same gas around back on the water it was $1.25 more and even worse math to justify fishing for just the wife and me. Capt. Troy's right, now you need a traffic cop to keep things under control offshore. Back then when the economy was in the tank you had very little competition out in the open water, on weekdays maybe three boats on the 409 humps. Now days God forbid you jump a really big bull or nice schoolies, you will have four or more boats within 200 feet before you gaff the fish. It's crazy!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.