Heading to Cape Coral in a couple weeks. We will be staying in a rental on a saltwater canal somewhat near the yacht club.
Any thoughts on fishing around the area. There seems like so many possibilities from fishing off the dock or kayak in the canal, shore fishing the river, fishing the piers in that area or heading to a beach in the gulf and shore fishing.
Thoughts on what I should try?
I don’t have any spots specific to that area. But I’ve done a fair amount of shore fishing in Florida.
I’d definitely bring a travel rod. Yellowtail Candy (jig) and a shrimp catches a wide variety of fish.
I’ve gathered that shrimp is key for almost everything. I bought some gulp shrimp and plan to buy frozen or live when I get there.
We do have a couple kayaks at our rental which I plan to use in the canal. I’m bringing a few travel rods with. I’ve got a heavy action one that I’d use for larger fish if there’s anything large to catch.
Canals will have hardheads and mangrove snapper. Shrimp under a bobber or split shot/shrimp trolled behind your kayak or cast and let the tide carry it. I had a boat and had to fish the Sanibel bridge or Captiva cut to catch sheepshead. Any grass flat can hold trout depending on the tide. Same bobber and shrimp cast to edge of grass. Good luck
I’ve gathered that shrimp is key for almost everything. I bought some gulp shrimp and plan to buy frozen or live when I get there.
We do have a couple kayaks at our rental which I plan to use in the canal. I’m bringing a few travel rods with. I’ve got a heavy action one that I’d use for larger fish if there’s anything large to catch.
This and also if you have cast net you can catch pin fish and some other bait fish. They sell fish bites down there also similar to gulp, cut strips and put on a pompano rig. Pretty straightforward fishing down this time of year.
I’m jealous – I love that area. Cape Coral has always fascinated me with their canal network. A somewhat affordable way to have ocean access. Will be interesting to see how the area is doing after Hurricane Ida. If you want a guide recommendation, First Light Guiding service out of Ft Myers is great. But if you’re fishing from shore and limited to one spot and the Dolphins find you, your day is over :). Still a sight to behold for some eyes from Minnesota, though. Amazing creatures. Good Luck!
Jason “Muskiebreath” Hammernick is a MN guy that lives and guides down there full time, and has been catching some Tarpon lately. That would be my primary target.
Jason “Muskiebreath” Hammernick is a MN guy that lives and guides down there full time, and has been catching some Tarpon lately. That would be my primary target.
That would be my top target but I don’t want to waste time targeting them if it isn’t feasible to catch one.
Any idea where I would start?
A would be my top target but I don’t want to waste time targeting them if it ain’t feasible to catch one.
Any idea where I would start?
I’d maybe reach out to Jason for some tackle and area recommendations, but tarpon are usually in shallow so I’d think you should be able to reach a spot that holds them with the kayak. The only times I’ve fished them were in Puerto Rico and we used live bait that looked like spottail shiners on a big circle hook. I think Florida has specific tarpon rules you’ll need to check out, and I believe they catch them more casting with swimbaits there. In PR we fished the mangroves, and the best spot for the big ones was the channel with a decent amount of current.
Last April, towards the end, daughters and I went out with a guide in the coco beach area, so Atlantic side. We fished the mangroves in the channels and caught a fair amount of trout and reds using plain circle hooks and those shiner looking things, which we caught with nets in the same channels we were fishing. You will see the big schools boiling on top of water. We had one tarpon hooked up and one bite from a snook during our trip as well. My understanding from the guide was that it was still a little early for the main tarpon bite, not that you couldn’t get them and I think the same goes for the Gulf side for this time of year but I am by no means an expert. When fishing the mangroves, cast your baits up in them, you will have much better success, maybe some tangles too but that’s where you need to be. Otherwise you will just catch catfish if you keep your baits away from the mangroves and in deeper water. Everything from Reds, trout, snook and the Tarpon will be in the mangroves. As BW said, wouldn’t hurt to reach out to a guide in the area for some info or even get one for a few hrs. Good luck, it’s a lot of fun and the fish fight much harder then we are used too!
Big Werm and Weedis is right as far as Tarpon and using a circle hook with live bait. You’d need some pin fish or mullet. You can either use a bullet style weight to get the bait lowered in the water column or let it remain near the surface. If you have an abundance of bait you can pitch it out and get the tarpon fired up which may make them more likely to bite.
Personally I wouldn’t bother targeting them from a kayak. You’d either get spooled or towed out to sea if you catch one of any size.
When fishing the mangroves, cast your baits up in them, you will have much better success, maybe some tangles too but that’s where you need to be.
This is a great point!
You’d either get spooled or towed out to sea if you catch one of any size.
Valid point, but aren’t we all looking for our Old Man and the Sea Hemingway moment? What better place than just up the coast from his old haunts. 
Thanks for the tips thus far. I’m eyeing up a few places to fish from shore that appear to have a lot of current so that tip is very helpful. Hopefully I can find a spot where I can rent a kayak from a beach or somewhere near mangroves.
I’m seeing that a lot of fishing piers are closed. I assume from the hurricane.
Heading to Cape Coral in a couple weeks. We will be staying in a rental on a saltwater canal somewhat near the yacht club.
Any thoughts on fishing around the area. There seems like so many possibilities from fishing off the dock or kayak in the canal, shore fishing the river, fishing the piers in that area or heading to a beach in the gulf and shore fishing.
Thoughts on what I should try?
. Fish Bites is a great bait and easy for travelers. Fresh shrimp as well. A 2500 or 3000 series reel with 15# braid is pretty universal with a medium weight rod. You’ll get broken off by some fish. But that’s salt life. I run a lot of 4000 and 5000 series reels or bigger with minimum pf 30# braid whenever I’m around the rocks and pilings. It’s all about not letting the fish dive into cover. Crank your drag down and pull and reel. If they get in the rocks. All you can do is flip the bail and hope they come out in a few minutes.
Wade fishing is a blast. As is surf fishing. Lots of options without a boat.
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If you going surf fishing. Buy a few pompano rigs. Knocker rigs and fish finder rigs are easy to make. 20# and 30# floro leaders. Everything is sharp and abrasive down there. Do not use wire leaders for shark. If it gets bit off, it could get hung up. Use mono. I use 1200# mono leaders for shark. 800# is kind of a minimum for shark leaders.
Get a couple Sabiki Rigs for catching live bait from the dock or pier.
I like these plastics. Nice thing about FL. You don’t need 27 colors. A minnow color, maybe a dark color and a white. You got it.
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Plastic/rubber swimbaits(paddle tails) in white or other light, natural colors are always good.
Shrimp down there is like using a piece of nightcrawler here in a way. Everything that swims will happily eat it. Just be prepared to catch more of a mix, including stingrays, bonnet heads, needlefish and catfish…
The “undesirables” love shrimp just like carp and drum love some worm here.
Oh, and X-Raps.
Download the Fish Rules app as well as the tide apps.
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Even bait fish taste awesome. Piggy Perch make excellent tacos or ceviche. They are a great bait and if the bite is no bueno, you still have piggy perch to eat. About the only thing you don’t want to eat is a hard head catfish. Gaff top catfish are not bad, but hard head are a hard no. And don’t believe all the BS. You can touch and handle the catfish. Just like our bullheads, don’t get poked by the spikes.
Really awesome stuff guys. I need to take a few minutes to look some of this stuff up.
Oh. If you are are surf fishing or pier fishing with a dead stick. Leave the drag loose. If it’s too tight, that’s a lost rod. You think loosing a rod down an ice hole is bad…… this is that on steroids. Drag should be just tight enough the surf doesn’t take the bait away and keeps the line taught. No tighter.
Surf fishing. Big surf needs big equipment (long rods to get above surf and heavy weights). Otherwise it’s just frustrating.
When fishing the surf, is it productive to cast swimbaits and crankbaits or is that more of a bottom fishing thing? Or both?
I bought a Daiwa Saltiga for big fish. I’ve also got a 4000 reel matched with it.
That’s a good setup. Swim baits work in the surf. If your casting swim baits. It is fun and productive to walk the beach casting to the troughs and cuts. Or if you see fish breaking the water or tailing
Walking the beach working the surf is an early morning thing. Simply because of swimmers and beach goers. You’ll get some people interested. And you definitely get some dipshits who are stupid and don’t know or care or pay attention and get in your gear or way. Personally I love it and laugh when some dumbass is swimming adjacent to where I’m shark fishing. I mean, I’m actively calling the sharks in and they are swimming there. One dummy didn’t listen or believe me until I brought in a blacktip. Then he freaked out.
We returned last Thursday and here are the results. Ultimately the weather made things tough. It was quite windy for 3 of the 5 days we spent there and mostly blowing onshore from the gulf. I didn’t try too hard fishing the surf.
I watched dozens of recent videos from the area and had a pretty good idea what would produce but never got much of a chance to try where I wanted. I’m happy to add a few new species to my list though.
In order, I think I have a ladyfish, a very small red grouper, a mangrove snapper and a hard head catfish.
The best fishing spot by far was the Ding Darling wildlife refuge. One day we were there we saw dozens of what I thought were redfish and a ton of ladyfish.
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Good work thanks for reporting back. It’s really fun to catch new species and try new things.
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