Sanibel is a wonderful area for vacationing and one of the best parts is it's fishing. There are lots of species to target and world class size to boot. The fish that I target the most while there are redfish, speckled trout, snook, and jacks. Bass tackle are useable for these fish and so it's easy to take my Chick. fishing gear and fish down there too. Snook are very much like bass in that they tend to be cover oriented on specific structure. The snook that came out after my bait and broke me off on 12 lb test were under mangrove tree overhangs, mostly on "corners" very close to where two canals met. There were tons of baitfish still back in the canals on Sanibel and bait that I cast up was much more effective than was the use of artificials. There were two or three species of bait that could be cast up with a net, one was what they locally call "glass minnows" and the other is pilchards or what they call "white bait". Pilchards look very much like our threadfin shad and the glass minnows are much more slender but about the same length. The Mangrove snapper and the jacks were along mangrove stretches that were found in the canals. Most of the canals were lined with concrete sea walls but 100 yard stretches of mangroves were still to be found and held fish, much more so than the boats and docks. I did see a guide catch some snook off a moored boat in the channel near an inlet but there didn't seem to be any back in the canals near to where I was staying. I used my kayak and it was most effective standing up in it rather than sitting. Casting was much easier and it was a blast to watch those big fish come out after baits and even if I didn't get a bite, to be able to know that they were there and try to manipulate the bait for a strike. Many times they would grab the tail of a soft jerkbait but not be hooked. They were really spooky and I think well schooled as I would expect that they have been pressured a lot. The mangrove snapper and the jacks would follow the minnows that I threw, with only a hook and no weight, in packs and once the bait got just barely out of sight( about 3ft deep) they would rush out and grab it. It was great to watch and to find a workable pattern. The factor that really positions fish there usually was a non-factor in that the tides were very small and very slow up and down. Just like the Chick, when the flow stops or is slow, the fishing suffers and so it was fishing in the flow areas outside the canals. The other factor that you have to contend with down there is wind. Rsimms had his guide change their plans because the tide was to be slack most of the days we were down there and the wind was 15-20 knots so the usual spots that I fish there didn't concentrate fish. Those areas are on the causeway out to Sanibel. Usually you can catch trout and snook and other fishes right off the causeway but there just wasn't any action there so I had to go to plan B and C. Still, it was a very cheap fishing trip, I never baught bait, never baught a lure or special tackle and I caught legal sized, eatable fish. We didn't eat any of the fish we caught, strictly catch and release but we could have. I decided that I really needed to bring a pic back so I took the pic of the little jack that is above. Dehooking, watching for razor teeth biting, and taking pics all in the kayak can be a little much, so, the jack was caught on my last cast of the trip, great way to finish wouldn't you say? I would reccomend Sanibel/Captiva and the Ft Myers area to anyone who really loves to fish. Take or rent a boat and it's even better. Sorry so long, but my posts have been so short lately.
