Good Day,
Sorry for the late nature of the report - you know - life… hehe.
Anyway - My now wife and I flew down to Captiva from good ol’ Grand Rapids, Michigan on the 1st of November. We got married on the 6th and stayed until the 16th. I fished everyday - yes - even on my wedding day! Haha… At least she is understanding! As usual the weather was fantastic and the fishing was not too bad either. We stayed at the Beachside rooms in South Seas. So the beach , and fishing, was only steps away!
On the way in from the airport we stopped by the Bait Box on Sanibel for a few supplies and get the low down on the fishing scene. Great guys there! Extremely helpful and friendly. Props also go out to the guys at Jensen’s Marina on Captiva. (Where I bought most of my shrimp…) Also professional and friendly!
Well - I brought a few rods with me. A 6' ugly stick, a 15' surf rod, a "sabiki" rod (really a telescoping bream pole) and three fly rods in 7, 8 and 9 wts. Due to my shoulders being messed up, I did not do as much fly fishing as I really would have liked. Just not physically possible with the lack of flexibility and pain... but I did have the other two rods! So... pretty much every day I would be up around sunrise and stayed ont he beach until sunset! All day everyday - with of course the exception of the wedding day!
So I would set up the Ugly Stick and the surf rod and set them in their holders (pvc pipe). I would then bait up the Ugly Stick with either two shrimp or mole crab/sand fleas. It usually did not take long for something to hit! Lady fish and whiting, when caught, would end up on the surf rod.
Well, many of the usual suspects came to hand. Lost count of ladyfish, whiting, jacks, pomps, and so on. Caught a few small sharks which freaked other people on the beach. Hehe… But I did pull my surf rod if someone was swiming nearby… safety. But most of the sharks actually came on the smaller rod with shrimp or sand fleas.
Saw all kinds of cool things too. On several occasions I saw tarpon come clear out of the water about 100 yards out. Even saw a few 5’-6’ sharks do the same! Of course dolphins and my blue heron fishing buddy. (Yes - I gave a it a fish or two…)
But the “surprise” fish was a little more interesting. while keeping an eye on the water I noticed the area around where my bait on the surf rod (at that time a whiting and a ladyfish) was getting nervous. So I put the Ugly Stick in the holder and grabbed the surf rod. Now I had a two hook “shark” rig on it. 270# wire a 16/0 hook and a 6/0 hook weighted to the bottom with I think 8 ounces. So I begin to reel in any slack line and get ready for the strike. Wham! It felt like a nice fish - but no monster. A few pounds maybe. Well what do you know - I caught a snook! From the beach in November! Well the water was still warm enough afterall! Haha! And oddly - it was hooked on the 16/0 hook! Square in the top jaw! The lady fish it took was over a foot long too! Well I unhooked the snook, got a pic or two and let it go - with the ladyfish!
Oh yeah - the other thin guy in the pics with the little mac and flounder is my youngest brother. Mac came on the fly and flounder on live shrimp. He cam all the way from Seatle for the wedding - and the beach!
Enough of that - time for some pictures! Warning - some are not fishing related! Haha!
Christopher
