Pine Island Sound, FL
July 20th, 2023
We are having a lot of fun out there in the big schools of redfish, these fish are hungry and are most likely beefing up for the upcoming spawn. Redfish begin their spawning season in the fall and right now they are beginning to clump together in their schools they will likely ride out the spawn with. It has been a fisherman’s dream on the flats, the particular school we have fished are the same ones I have come back to for the last two weeks giving us a bit of an unfair advantage. The fish vary in size from lower slot (20 inch) to some of the bulls with our biggest one tipping the scale at 34 inches, a true beast. The fish are so plentiful we have been able to camp out on the school and fish them for two hours or longer catching one after another. Their bait of choice lately has been pinfish or cut ladyfish chunks. Aside from the redfish we have been catching a good number of mangrove snapper, bottom fishing, pitching mangrove lines, docks, you name it they are there. These fish have made their grand return to the inshore waters, and they are hungry. To catch these wise fish we lower our leader size to around 20 lbs, smaller hook and they have been happily eating the greenbacks we have been netting. It’s the most fun you’ll have on the water right now and should only get better leading into fall given we have good conditions and clean water.
1 Snook
1 Sea Trout
1 Grey Snapper
1 Redfish
