Posted by Captain Bill Curtis on Wednesday, September 4, 2013 Under: Fort Myers
You know your kid is hooked on fishing when not only do they know when opening day of snook season is, but they also have the spot he wants to fish for them. So we joined the throngs heading out for the opening day of snook season and license free day, where you didn’t need a fishing license to fish. The day started awesome with a big pod of dolphins playing and splashing in the channel as we left the marina. The entire pod of 6-8 surfed into the wake of the boat and played, with the biggest jumping and splashing us repeatedly to the point that Dawn and Kolton were soaked. Next it was off to the beach where we loaded up the livewell with smallish whitebait. The snook bite was on at the first spot with Dawn catching 3 small ones before we could hardly blink. We proceeded to catch a bunch, losing as many as we caught, with no big ones to the boat. We saw a few big swirls and wakes on our baits and I got broke off strangely once, before the bite slowed and it was time to move on. The heat came on quick as we worked the next area, but we still managed a few more fish. We saved Kolton’s spot for last, and the action started pretty slow.
Just as we were about to leave my bait got hammered and I boated a nice mid slot redfish that spent some time in the livewell before we decided to grant it a reprieve and release it.
Then Kolton got his chance as I saw a nice big redfish grab his bait and head for the mangrove roots. Unfortunately the battle ended to quick with a hook pull. After that it was back to the beach, this time for a swim and cool down before we ended another great day in Estero Bay.