Fishing Report July 23th
This has been a windy week with warm temperatures and a bit of rain. Despite the weather the fishing reports were pretty good.
Capt. Rob Modys of SoulMate Charters reported a nice mix of fish in both the backcountry and the near shore waters. The passes are loaded up with lots of mangrove snapper and most are over the 10 inch minimum size. Small circle hooks tipped with shrimp and weighted with a split shot works best. You’ll also find flounder, pompano, trout and spanish mackerel in the same area. Large schools of jacks are starting to chase bait on the backcountry grass flats of Estero Bay. Just look for “foaming” water where they are busting the surface and then throw just about anything in the middle of them. Popping corks with Gulf Shrimp on jig heads worked well. The redfish are around and near the mangroves and will feed on any bait offerings you can cast to them as well as cut ladyfish or cut thread herrings.
Capt. Sean Davis of Fish Warrior Charters said chumming the grass flats for bait is the way to go for good results on bait. The pinfish and whitebait are getting bigger by the week, and are 
producing good catches as well. Some very nice snook were caught this week using medium pins under a popping cork in deeper cuts around the mangrove islands. The snook are slowly starting to gravitate away from the beach and passes and are moving a little deeper into the backcountry. The trout bite is still out of control around the passes on the incoming tide. Look for small bait dimpling on the surface over patches of grass in 2 to 4 feet of water, put a pinfish hooked in the back under a popping cork and get your fry daddy heated up. Lots of spanish mackeral are mixed in with the trout as well.
Capt. Brad Brown of Moonlite Charters reported that targeting snook in Estero Bay has been the best bet for steady action, with fish up to 20 lbs. Fishing the higher tides around oyster bars and mangrove islands has provided the best results. Large threadfins or pinfish are the bait of choice. Fresh cut bait will work well, if live bait isn't available. Redfish are starting to show up in those same areas as well, as part of their summer pattern. Medium sized pin fish under a popping cork, or utilizing cut bait has produced some keeper sized reds this past week. Mangrove snapper continues to be prevalent. Small shrimp on a jig, drifted in the passes, or small live bait around docks and deeper structure is the quickest way to get to 
limit with these fish. Trout fishing in the early morning has yielded a couple of limits this week. Gulp shrimp under a cork is the easiest way to go. Highlight for this week were two monster snook at over 20 lbs. each.
Capt. Jon Fetter of Catching The Cure Charters said the fishing this past week in and around Estero Bay continues to be really good. There is still plenty of bait around the nearshore reefs as well as small white bait on the beaches. The snook fishing in the backbay around the mangroves and docks has been producing some very large fish. Free-lined threads seem to work best. There have also been some good catches of redfish around the oyster bars and mangrove points. Chum the area with the smaller baits then throw some free lined larger baits in and hold on. The nearshore bite continues to produce large spanish mackerel, gag grouper, goliath grouper, and seatrout. There have also been some big sharks in the area. Free line your baits for the spanish mackerel and sharks, but put cut baits on the bottom structure for the grouper and seatrout.