sanibel island

November 24, 2013 By Blake Matherly

Sanibel and Fort Myers Fishing Guide Report

Fishing the waters surrounding Fort Myers, Sanibel and Captiva can produce fantastic results. Snook, Redfish, Speckled Sea Trout are just a few species that are living in these waters. You can target one, but are likely to catch 6, 8, 10 or more different species fishing the same type of bait, using the same techniques and even the same area.

My great friends from Omaha, came for a visit and enjoyed the bountiful waters. Carl and Marilyn Mammel enjoyed a couple of charter days out with Captain Blake on the Blue Egret and had a great fresh fish dinner that night. Carl caught a nice Tripletail but Marilyn’s got away. Notice this one did escape a threat early on in his life but Carl wasn’t about to let that happen again. Tripletail are a worthy opponent as they jump and pull drag trying to escape the dinner table.

Moving to the backcountry produces a number of different species such as the beautiful Redfish. Marilyn did get her revenge by outsmarting a number of Snook and this nice Redfish. This one was lucky as the Mammel’s do mostly practice “catch and release”.

We had a great couple of days on the water. The weather was beautiful but the company was special! See you guys soon.

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

Capt Blake <*(((><

September 1, 2013 By Blake Matherly

Snook Season Opens September 1, 2013

It doesn’t matter if you’re on a charter fishing boat with a local guide or if you’re out on your own, when you hook into a Snook you know it. Snook fishing around the Sanibel Islands is my favorite thing to do.

So, here comes September 1, 2013 and the Snook season opens back up. Some are for it, some say the population hasn’t had enough time to rebound from the freeze of 2010. Reports from that freeze say we lost as much as a third of our population of the Snook species. If you were out on the water after the freeze you’d guess that at least a third was lost and probably more. It was a huge loss.

So now it’s up to us to help manage the fish that’s loved so much and does so much for our waters on the West Coast of Florida. I know it tastes good but I think we love to kill a Snook because we’re men. That’s what we do. We like showing who’s boss.

We’ve had three years of catch and release Snook fishing. We’ve all survived our manhood and we have pictures to prove it. Guess what, the pictures remain much longer than the fullness in our bellies so why not just keep doing what we’ve been doing and enjoy the fight, take the trophy pictures and help that wonderful species really make a rebound.

Being a charter fishing captain I’ve listened to a lot of people talk about the population and it’s all across the board. I speak from 200 plus days of fishing on the water. It’s much harder to find and catch Snook today than it was before the freeze. I’m a common sense major and believe studies and surveys are used to justify a decision and not always what is actually happening. All I can base my studies on is being on the water and seeing what we’re catching. That’s the reason I’ve come to the conclusion that we need to understand how much more fun it is to catch a Snook than it is to eat one.

Enjoy some of my trophy pictures that my clients have enjoyed even without the harvesting of this great warrior.

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

Capt Blake
<*(((><

August 18, 2013 By Blake Matherly

Fishing Guides in Sanibel and Fort Myers Weekly Report

Fishing in Sanibel and Fort Myers with a charter guide for Snook, Redfish and Tarpon has been pretty good lately but other species are also a recipe for a great day on the water.

So is the case lately when Mick (Dad) and Katie (Daughter) decided to take a day off the beach and spend it on the water.

The day started out by being welcomed by some Dolphin leading us to the fishing grounds. After some hit and misses we ended up at a spot where we can usually catch a few but this day the bite was on.

Katie was reeling them in as fast as I could unhook them and Dad took the back seat watching her and forgetting that this is a competitive girl and she’s keeping record of the score. There were Mangrove Snapper, Jack Crevalle, Ladyfish, Speckled Sea Trout and her favorite the Topsail Catfish (it was the biggest and pulled the best). We ended up spending the whole charter fishing this one spot and had a great time.

Everyone that knows me and reads my blog understands my favorite day of fishing is when a parent takes their kid out for a day of fishing. It brings back memories of my dad taking time out to get me and my sister hooked on fishing.

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

Capt Blake
<*(((><

Below is a part of an email sent by Katie after our great day on the water. Tight lines Katie and hope to see you next year!

“My dad and I had a lot of fun fishing with you last week!
I can’t believe all of the different kinds of fish we caught: mangrove snapper, jack crevalle, topsail catfish, ladyfish, & sea trout.
My favorite ones were the jacks and the catfish!
We look forward to fishing with you again in the future”.

July 17, 2013 By Blake Matherly

Sanibel and Fort Myers Florida Fishing Charter Report

Fishing the Sanibel and Fort Myers area is a great way to relax on your vacation. The waters of Pine Island Sound are teaming with different species waiting for your fishing line to hit the waters.

Lately the fishing has been like the roller coaster rides we remember as a kid. The weather has been anything but predictable. Non typical rain patterns and lots of wind but fishing this coast is in my opinion the best place to get out even on bad weather day. We have lots of Island to find the Lee side of, and lots of creeks to tuck into to be able to turn a “would be cancellation” into a day to remember.

So be the case with my old friend and author of “Drawing Dead” Ben Shelfer. Ben called to have a day out with his girls, Angel and Karen. We’ve fished before, but Ben heard about some hard fighting Jack Crevalle that I’ve been on, and wanted a piece of the action with his daughters. So let the fight begin.

We chummed them up and presto, magic we were in them. Jacks are pound for pound, one of the toughest and most aggressive fished I’ve ever seen. They hit bait, flys, topwater lures and sometimes the kitchen sink (if you can get it out there)! We had multiple triple hookups, and some funny episodes to remember for a lifetime.

Thanks Ben, Karen and Angel for a day to remember! Hope to see you soon.

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

April 12, 2013 By Blake Matherly

Sanibel Fort Myers Fishing Charter Report

“TGIF”! When you love to fish the back country or fishing the flats around Sanibel Island or Ft. Myers Florida that acronym takes on a lot of different versions. Thank God I’m Fishing, Thank God I’m in Florida, or in the life of Snook fishing, Thank God It’s Feeding”!

Today the Snook bite finally turned on! We’ve had a lot of very unusual weather and the Snook population has had a terrible case of the shivers (water temp has been below 70 degrees) but today marked the first great day of Snook fishing for Team FlatsFish’r.

Long time customer, Dan McConlogue brought his good buddy Dan Buckley, both from the Forest Country Club for a great day of fishing/catching. The day started with making sure that “Mama Rose” packed a generous supply of her famous sandwiches for the guys. With the cooler securely stored we set out for our journey.

Our first stop proved to be a great one with both Dan’s hooking and landing multiple Snook. It was great seeing the Snook enjoying the “snicker bars” tossed out and having multiple busts on the baits soon after landing in the water.

Next we headed up to big Jack country. With some hunting and chumming, we finally got Mr. Jack going. After a while Mr. Jack got both guys to cry uncle and waive the white surrender flags.

What a great day with a couple of great guys and feeding the Captain with some famous Mama Rose’s sandwiches will always get you to the best and most secret spots!

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

Capt Blake <*(((><