Red Fish

January 3, 2016 By Blake Matherly

Fly Fishing Sanibel and Fort Myers Florida

Out with the old (2015) and in with the new (2016). It’s hard to believe that the new year is upon us fishermen. What a end to the 2015 year of Fly Fishing and Back Country fishing around the islands of Sanibel and Captiva! Tarpon fishing was tremendous all the way to the end of December. Maybe the Tarpon decided to retire in Southwest Florida. Hopefully they will soon outnumber the Minnesotans that decided the humidity is better than below 0 temps.

Along with the Tarpon fishing, Snook fishing was great during December. As was the Mackerel, both Spanish and Kings, Bonita, Redfish, Spotted Sea Trout and many other species. Sanibel and Captiva is loading up with wintertime fishermen ready to head out on the flats to get them some of this action.

Multiple fishing trips also provided the unique opportunity for photographs. Not only fish, but birds, dolphins and manatees all wanted to be famous.

FlatsFish’r Charters also does photography tours along with instructions on lighting, gear and how to get the perfect shot.

2015 was a great year, and I’m very thankful for all my models (human, fish and animal) for being so supportive!

Get out on the water, take a kid fishing and always remember that “it’s great being us”!

Capt Blake
<*(((><

December 6, 2015 By Blake Matherly

Fly Fishing the Islands of Sanibel and Captiva

Fly Fishing has been some of the best of the year. Multiple hookups of Snook, Redfish, Trout and Tarpon. Yes, I said Tarpon.

Unbelievable huh? The weather has been great so the water temperature has been unseasonably warm. That makes the Tarpon happy so that makes my clients happy. I was even able to take the bow and cast a little lately and yes I was lucky in getting a pretty nice fish that liked jumping so good times had by all.

We’ve also had multiple hookups with Tripletail, Bonita, Mackerel, Jacks and a few Kings. Not sure how long this will stay as our northern friends are sending us some Northern fronts to calm down our bragging.

Get out on the water, take a kid fishing and always remember that “it’s great being us”!
Capt Blake
<*(((><

September 22, 2014 By Blake Matherly

Fort Myers and Sanibel Fishing Charter Report

Flats fishing report for the Sanibel and Fort Myers area continues to get better and better. Large schools of bait are everywhere. Off the beaches and also in the backcountry of Pine Island Sound. We all know what happens when bait comes in, yes it’s like the all you can eat seafood buffet at Red Lobster, except its CATCHING!

Bird / Fish Crashing Bait — Birds / Fish Crashing Bait

Easy fishing off the beaches. Just find the birds diving and start casting. I like using lures, DOA Baitbusters, DOA Shrimp or DOA Terror Eyz. Sebile plugs or spoons work also. We’ve been getting Mackerel, Ladyfish, Jacks and Bonita in these bait pods.

In the backcountry we fish the diving birds and get pretty much the same species as off the beach except for the Bonita. Still some Tarpon around and I love casting DOA Baitbusters to them.

Redfish fishing continues to be good and gets better every day. We’ve fished and have seen some very large schools but they’re not as consistent as I’d like them to be. We’ve had some days with double digit catches out of the schools only to get 0’d out the next day. Go figure!

Anyway, I love the summer fishing, get out early, have lunch, nice nap, and get back out for the late afternoon evening bite. It doesn’t get any better than that!

Get out on the water, take a kid fishing and always remember that “it’s great being us”!

Capt Blake
<*(((><

August 2, 2014 By Blake Matherly

Sanibel Captiva Fort Myers Charter Guide Fishing Report

Flats Fishing around the islands of Sanibel and Pine Island Sound was pretty good this week. The weather was great as long as you got out early or fished the late afternoon. Tides were flowing nicely and the Snook were spawning in the passes so hopefully the stock will continue to improve.

Keep an eye out for diving birds. Off the beaches it would mean ladyfish, bonita, spanish mackerel or tarpon. We did have multiple hook ups this pass week while tarpon fishing so they’re here and hungry. We also had some nice snook catches along the beaches of the islands.

When in the back country, fishing the birds diving on bait, produces ladyfish, jacks, trout and tarpon. Even though we didn’t hook any tarpon in the back country this week we did see plenty.

Deep jigging the passes got some nice bites of mangrove snapper and small grouper which are fun to catch and we did get broken off with some nicer one.

All in all this week had some nice days of weather and also strong bites.

Get out on the water, take a kid fishing and always remember that “it’s great being us”!

Capt Blake Matherly,

www.flatsfishr.com

239-671-5646

<*(((><

April 8, 2014 By Blake Matherly

Fishing charter in Sanibel and Fort Myers Florida

Snook fishing around the Fort Myers and the islands of Sanibel and Captiva is picking up. Yesterday the water temps were in the uppers 70’s. That’s what they like. Unfortunately it was blowing 20 MPH +, so everyone that was brave enough were looking for places to hide. It was apparent that the Snook were also looking for places to hide.

Luckily, I had friend/author Ben Shelfer with me. He’s easy going and whatever works for him. We struggled in the beginning, bait was scarce, protective cover was even scarcer. Thanks to my trusty Egret, best flats boat in the world, we were able to move where and when we wanted.

Bens love to catch snook, especially nice ones. The bite was on for a while, until a 6-7 foot bull shark decided to join in the fun.

Great day Ben!

Get out on the water, take a kid fishing and always remember that “it’s great being us”!

Capt Blake

<*(((><