Salt water shore fishing advice needed.

[2thepointsetters]

I will be in the Fort Meyers Beach area for the next five days and will have plenty of time for fishing from shore. The wife and I drove down from Minnesota and I was able to bring a few fishing rods with. I have not fished from shore in the salt water so I don't any idea of what I should use for tackle or bait. Any tips or ideas would be great. I have found a lot of places that look to good to fish from but I even know what I should be targeting.

[popriveter]

I've done a decent amount of shorefishing in Florida. The most surefire bet is a bait rig with shrimp, squid or a small crab on the bottom. Live shrimp will catch more seatrout than deads or any of those other options.

During daylight hours, sheephead bite well around the pilings of piers. They bite almost exclusively crabs in my experience. Everything they live near is covered with oysters and they use them to great effect to cut line. If you fish off a pier, spool up with a heavy braid.

After dark, all kinds of fun stuff feeds on the bottom. Dead bait seems to work as well as live. Use smallish hooks. (Think crappie, not flathead.) Look for areas where a light shines in the water, or look a spot that is a little deeper than its surroundings-like a channel for boat traffic.

Now that I've shared "surest bet," I had a lot of fun with artificials on my last few FL trips. Seek out rocky places like jetties and current breaks. Fish spoons and jerkbaits fast and aggressively. Chrome is magic. Mackerel and jacks are way more powerful than MN-lakefish of the same size, but don't require very heavy line. Leaders are important as there are a lot of big teeth around. Long casts and fast, jerky retrieves seem to produe the best results.

On sandy beaches, I've only found success at night and at sunrise.

Have fun and report how you do!

Reed

[2thepointsetters]

Thanks for the help I really appreciate it. I will let you know how I do.

[FishingPops]

This isn't the same part of Florida but here is a fishing forum for Pensacola, FL

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They have a couple of sections on shore fishing.

I use a pyramid sinker with 2 or 3 hooks on the line above it. It is a pretty common setup sold at any bait shop there. A bait shop is a great place to get beginner advice. I agree with using smaller hooks. A small piece of fresh dead shrimp will catch a large variety of fish. You can get an inexpensive plastic sand spike to put your rods in. I usually have 3 rods set up at different distances from shore. Sometimes the best bite it only 20 feet of shore.

It is a lot of fun and I try to get down there once or twice a year for a combo family vacation/fishing trip.

Good luck!

[2thepointsetters]

I fished the Barefoot beach area from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm. I bought some rigs for shrimp at the local bait store and a few spoons. I caught a cat fish, croaker, and a ladyfish. I used the whole 12" ladyfish as bait on the shrimp rig and after 5 minutes in the water the rod got hit hard but I only had a hook through the tail and the fish ripped the head off the ladyfish. Right at dark I had another good run on a shrimp rig but that one got away also. I had a lot of fun and cant wait to try again tomorrow. The guys at the bait shop recommended I go to Naples and go out on a head boat.

[2thepointsetters]

Not much action today. I caught 1 more catfish, a seagull that flew off with the hook and shrimp but did get hooked, and 2 guys jogging that ran into my set rod on the beach. Other than that not much action I tried fishing the mangroves and the ocean today. I am booked on a head boat out of Naples tomorrow.

[mainbutter]

Small hooks? Pshaw.

6ft of wire leader, a 9/0 hook, and a quarter of a frozen ladyfish, and you're in business to catch a few sharks, mostly small ones. Sometimes the hardhead catfish (2-3lbs at times?) will take a 9/0 circle hook.

[Mr.Seaguar]

Theres a lot of youtube videos that could really help you out. Wish I had seen this earlier. Good Luck

[2thepointsetters]

We went out on the head boat this morning. We were the only two booked and they ran trip with just us. We caught mainly grouper and snapper, however my wife was lucky and hooked into a large shark. The hook pulled out after a 30 minute fight, with just us onboard they were able to back the boat down on the shark.

I fished the beach this afternoon it was windy and I needed a lot of weight the keep my lines off the beach. I caught a croaker and a small pompano. Once again I was messing with one rod when the other one made a good run.

[popriveter]

Awesome updates! Thanks for sharing the reports. Looks like a great trip. You've figured it out quickly

[2thepointsetters]

Everything is starting to come together now. I fished some of the inlets on the beach with pretty good action all day. I landed a small shark that hit on a mackerel that I had just caught and chunked up. I also caught a few more mackerel, sheephead, and hardhead catfish. I have been using mostly live shrimp for bait. It is a taking awhile getting used to the circle hooks everybody uses down here.

I took a break around lunch and brought my setter Buddy to the beach. We are on this vacation because of him. He tore is CCL right before our NODAK trip. We had to cancel NODAK and ended up with an extra week of vacation. You can see in the pic where is still shaved form the surgery. Even though he is not supposed to be out except for bathroom breaks, I had to show him the beach.

[popriveter]

That's so cool. Consistent fishing, nice shark, loyal dog, cute wife, beautiful beach. North Dakota can wait 'til next year.

Count your blessings. We'll be lucky to break 10 degrees in the next 7 days. You're selling me on another Florida trip.

Have you been fishing after dark at all?

[2thepointsetters]

I never made it out at night.

This morning the action was great. I started off with a silver spoon at the inlet I fished yesterday. My first cast I was hooked up with a decent sized mackerel that I lost half way though the battle. For the next hour I just used the spoon and had a hit almost every other cast. I didn't land many but the action was constant. I only had one spoon with and I lost that to the sharp teeth of a mackerel when he bit through the leader. I also caught some ladyfish with the spoon.

With the spoon gone I used shrimp on a very small hook with 3 little split shot sinkers. I caught a few pompano and lost a bunch after the hook set. I had one crazy run that took off 3/4 of the line from my spool. It pulled harder than the shark I caught yesterday but once again I managed to lose the fish 3 or 4 minutes into the battle.

I would love to fish again tomorrow morning but at 4:00 am we are headed back to Minnesota.

We took Buddy out to watch the sunset. He was more interested in the birds though. The next pic is bird that stayed by me all morning as I fished. I fed him shrimp that were too big for the hook. Last pic was taken right before it got completely dark tonight. It was a great trip!