Saturday’s charter was scheduled at the last minute when I got a call from a dad visiting from Jacksonville with his family that included 3 boys. I was able to accommodate them and we met at the Carl Johnson Boat Ramp at Lover’s Key just before 8 am for our 4 hour fishing excursion on Estero Bay. We started off running to a nearby beach where a couple throws of the 8’ castnet loaded the livewell with nice bait. On our way to the first fishing spot we came across one of my favorite pairs of dolphins that included a mother and baby born last summer. They played with us in the wake of the boat, almost at arm’s length until we finally throttled up and headed to the next spot.



The bite started pretty quick, with a few small trout, ladyfish, jacks, and 1 catfish before we moved to the next spot. The bite was a little better there and dad and his youngest son teamed up to land a nice snook , along with everyone catching a few snappers.



We tried the trout flats again next and had a couple of manatees venture over and say hello to us. We caught a few more fish before the heat of the day was on us, and it was time to end another awesome day in Estero Bay.