Fishing Reports — Fall 2025
Bonita Springs to Marco Island
By Captain Barry Cuda
The temperatures are heating up! Water is at 90+ degrees, and getting hotter. There is a real danger of heat exhaustion and dehydration.
What does this mean for us looking for fish?
They will be deeper, and a bit slower. The trout will be a bit deeper now; edges of channels will be good. A popping cork with a live shrimp, alongside a deeper channel will get results. Keep moving along until you hit a school, then the action will begin. Also, using an egg sinker above about 2 feet of leader (fluoro is very good), with a circle hook is good. Bounce it slowly along the bottom.
Artificials, especially jigs tipped with a small piece of shrimp, fingernail size, will give good results. Just fish it slow enough to get down in the deeper water. The snook have mostly moved to the outside where they are cruising the beaches. Early morning will be best. Don’t cast over them to the trough and the sand bar. They will be close, very close. In the first foot from shore mostly! So you need to cast parallel to the shore.
For fishing the beach, farther out, bait on the bottom can be very effective for drum, whiting, and pompano. Look for the tidal rips, where the water goes back offshore from the beach. Small crabs (like fiddlers), sand fleas, and shrimp, even frozen, work well.
When you’re fishing by the mangroves, when the sun is bright, remember that the fish move deeper or into the shadows. Our most popular fish, snook and reds, like the shadows because they are ambush predators and use it for concealment. I’m often asked what kind of line and leader to use.
For the backwater, 10-pound braid is my preference. Lots of room on the reel for line, so you’re unlikely to get spooled. Just set your drag right. Casts like a dream with good, long casts. A 20- or 30-pound fluoro leader is great. Different story if you’re fishing by structure. Then you may need 20- to 30-pound braid, and heavier leader. Tough call, because the fish are more responsive to lighter tackle.
To book with Capt. Barry, 239-860-7227 Captbarrycudacharters@gmail.com
Tampa to St Petersburg
By Captain Dylan Hubbard
INSHORE
Schools of redfish abound, especially near oyster bars and mangrove shorelines. These fish are commonly found within the upper as well as back bay areas. Find them when tides are mid to low, which is when feeding is active.
Snook are elusive fish, however they have started moving back into the bay and upper areas from the beaches and passes because, seeking warmer waters. They feed in an active way on large cut baits and white bait, but as waters continue to cool shrimp become great options too.
Fishing for trout does remain superb and luckily they are spread throughout all of the mangroves, all flats, back bay waters, oyster bars, and even docks and bridges. Fishing during the nighttime has been particularly productive, successful under dock and bridge lights at night, especially around new moons.
Sheepshead—these bottom dwellers are more often active near docks, piers, bridges, jetties, and rock piles. Shrimp, oysters, clams, or fiddler crabs are all great bait options.
NEAR SHORE
Good-eating lane snapper are abundant in numbers right now around 60 to 100 feet of water. They are biting at squid plus threadfin, even biting at live shrimp.
Mangrove Snapper are more common, and also larger offshore. Good catches are still being produced in nearshore areas with cut threadfin, along with double snell rigs.
Hogfish bites are picking up as waters cool. They get more and more active as cold fronts start rolling through. They will concentrate around 30 to 60 feet around smaller structures, attracted to live shrimp and light tackle.
When water temps get right around 72 through 78 degrees, kingfish and mackerel will show up in force around the beaches. Trolling using planers and king spoons is effective, and exciting catches from flat-line fishing can come about.
OFFSHORE
Gag grouper season opens on September 1 and runs on through end of day September 14. Your chances for landing these prized fish increases when fishing deeper waters, due to warm temperatures during early September. I would suggest going120 feet of water or more, out of our central west Florida area for more concentrations of keeper-sized gags. Fish with big live baits or dead baits and heavier tackle.
Red grouper and scamp grouper are active within deeper zones. Big dead baits like mackerel, bonito, and squid do work especially well for you.
Mangrove snapper are also biting quite well offshore. The use of cut threadfin on double snell rigs is particularly effective. Yellowtail snapper, mutton snapper and vermilion snapper, with porgies, almaco jacks, and other pelagic species, are being caught. Wahoo and blackfin tuna are also now becoming more common.
Sarasota to Englewood Fishing Report
Photos courtesy of Matt Davie.
By Captain Matt Davie
It's been a pretty solid summer for our region. We have had smaller schools of redfish, snook on the beach, and trout just about everywhere. Bait was really good, just a small change. The bait is on the beach and the flats, and some days the size might not be what you want.
Now getting to the hottest point where to fish in the later months. Water temps are way up, low 90s to upper 80s. Keyword here will be deep. The snook will still be in the shallows, but you're limited to timing when they're active. Once the sun is up, they're pretty much done. Find yourself a deeper dock or mangrove—don't rule out any deep pass. Reds you might have to work for. Cut bait will be your key to finding them. Cut mullet, sardines, and I'm going to add one I'd never thought I'd say for bay fishing... Squid chunks. Yeah I said it.
Trout for me have been anywhere from 8 to 10 feet. Pretty much whatever you have they're eating. Biggest this month was 26 inches, but multiple in that low to mid 20-inch range. Cobia are still running around in the bays, so keep an eye out.
Let's revisit something that I may have missed last report. Now that most of the big fish have moved on, there are plenty of juvenile tarpon still eating. Mainly I'll find them in deeper bayous, meaning places like a marina, canal system, or basin. By no means am I saying go into a marina and fish there. There are marinas that have outside-the-boats access where you can fish. Smaller pilchards have been my best bet. Don't be afraid of chumming them up as well.
Last but not least, the mangrove snapper are really fired up. Grab some scissors and start chumming. Flats, reefs, rocks, and deep grass all have the nice mangs on it. Hopefully everyone stays safe over the next couple months.
To book with Capt. Matt, 941-232-9351, www.inshoreaddict.com
Charlotte Harbor to Fort Myers
By Robert Lugiewicz
The rains are starting to calm down, but we still have a lot of freshwater sheet flow coming down the rivers. We don't expect to see most fish moving back up into the upper Harbor until around the end of October, so most inshore action will be concentrated along the Intracoastal and the Gulf beaches.
Redfish should be schooling up in good numbers at Turtle Bay, the Burnt Store bar, Pine Island Sound, and Lemon Bay near Stump Pass. If you're looking for a slot red, don't bother with the schools because most fish will be over 30 inches. There should be plenty of keepers scattered around the mangrove shorelines. Blue crabs and chunks of ladyfish or mullet are top baits, or try a 1/4-ounce or even 1/8-ounce flats spoon.
Snook will be moving in from the nearshore wrecks. Expect them along the beaches and in the passes as they slowly migrate up into the Harbor. Summertime is all about whitebait and winter is all about shrimp, but right now they're eating anything to build up fat reserves for the up-and-coming winter. Don't be afraid to experiment with multiple things, including random artificials and cut bait.
Tarpon are from the U.S. 41 bridges to Boca Grande Pass, but a lot of the action is focused on the 20-foot holes in the middle of the Harbor. It's time for them to feed before leaving, and they're chowing down on ladyfish and glass minnows. DOA Bait Busters are by far the top lure, but any larger swimbait may work. Cast it or hang it under a bobber and drift. It's not unusual to put half a dozen fish in the air in a day.
You will find some trout out there, but you're going to work at them. Most are scattered along the surf, and you'll even find some schools in 10 to 30 feet of water off the beaches. Half-ounce bucktail jigs or soft plastics will catch them, and so will shrimp or small pinfish.
Spanish mackerel should start to move back in toward the end of October. Start to look for the king mackerel heading south for the winter around the same time. These fish will come right into the passes or hang around nearshore reefs. Trolled spoons or tandem bucktails are tried and true for both mackerel species.
Land-based nutrients flushed out by rainfall are pouring out of the passes. This creates a feeding bonanza that sometimes brings pelagics in fairly close to shore. Bonita (aka little tunny or false albacore), the occasional sailfish, and even some small peanut mahi are sometimes found in as close in as 10 or 15 miles. They're not really targetable, but keep an eye out as you head offshore.
September marks red snapper season opening again, but check the actual open days carefully! They'll be deep, mostly in 120 to 160 feet of water, same as the red grouper. Mangrove, yellowtail and lane snapper have done their big spawn, so now they start to spread out more on the reefs rather than being schooled up. Barracuda and big sharks will always be a problem or fun time, depending on how you want to look at it.
It may be fall in other places, but it's still summer here. We have plenty of fish to catch, but remember to stay hydrated and dress for the heat—and keep an eye out for any stray hurricanes while planning your day on the water.
Fort Myers Photo by Taryn Manning on Unsplash. St Petersburg Photo by Aarit Rao on Unsplash.
