Structure-loving fish like this sheepshead are drawn to the barnacle-encrusted timbers of storm-damaged docks.
October 02, 2024
By Capt. Greg Stamper
Hidden Gems : Roads less traveled & waters less fished in Florida. Florida Sportsman magazine’s 'Hidden Gems’ project in the August-September 2024 issue featured 14 hotspots for Florida’s hunters and anglers, from the Keys to the Panhandle. This installment highlights post-storm tactics around damaged docks.Slow Recovery Brings Fast Fishing Southwest Florida is rebuilding and will eventually be back to its old self. But great fishing is already there.
More Hidden Gems Florida Sportsman's 'Hidden Gems.' It has now been two years since Hurricane Ian ravaged Southwest Florida. Depending on where one resided, had a lot to do with the damage one incurred. Obviously, Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel took the biggest hit, followed up with anything near our rivers, or sharing a border of one of our estuaries. We are rebuilding and it will be years even now before things will feel somewhat normal. Ian affected so many of us differently and that also translates to our fishery. Mother Nature is resilient, and some of the blessings are now being passed down to those of us that can once again enjoy our beautiful waters.
The piers and docks along our beaches and intracoastal waterways took a thrashing. The Fort Myers Beach pier that once sprawled out hundreds of yards into the Gulf of Mexico is now just a row of concrete pilings. Many other docks and piers shared this fate and are still years from being repaired. However, some good has come of this. These random pilings and broken up docks have become freestanding mini reefs. Without anglers having the ability to walk on top of them and drop lines down below as before, the same fish are still there but with practically no fishing pressure. Another part of having docks that have been destroyed is no boat traffic in and out of them, or lifts moving in and out of the water randomly. These areas have now become little gems for the fisherman, if he is fishing by boat.
As an example, this last winter was epic for large sheepshead while fishing inshore. We fished docks that belonged to condo associations that were crushed, smashed, even halfway fallen in many cases. With no access from the shore and most of the dock decking missing, we had a massive number of fish on them. Once the water temperature began to warm up little by little, the sheepshead began to be replaced by black drum, snappers, groupers, and then redfish and snook. The entire time, up to and including today, many of these docks are untouched and will remain that way until the condos become livable. Once people can live in their residences again, then eventually the docks will be replaced.
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Black drum are also a common catch around the docks. With the lack of private and locally owned docks comes fewer boats. Less areas for boaters to store boats in turn gives Southwest Florida less pressured waters. On an average day when guiding clients pre-Ian, we had a bunch of jet skis and rental pontoons blowing around places aimlessly. Today there is a fraction of this, making fishing in some of the most exposed areas good.
Near our passes, many of the sand bars and holes around them were practically unfishable in the past, especially during the weekends. It was not that the fish were not always there, it was more about being worried some “dumb-dumb” would not be paying attention and run into you. The number of mackerel, pompano, ladyfish, as well as tarpon and sharks being caught in these areas now is outstanding. Yes, we still have boaters moving in and out of these sections, but for the most part it is those that are respectful of giving others space while they move from place to place.
So, in the past anglers who fished inshore and in our back bays were always trying to get off the beaten path. Southwest Florida is rebuilding and will eventually be back to its old self. This process will take many more years so if you are going to wet a line around here for a while, take note of these opportunities while we have them. Finding a good spot to fish is not a needle in the haystack right now. Try fishing in these areas while you have the chance to, you may be blown away by how productive your fishing trip can be.
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After-storm fishing can be hot around docks. With all these temporary hot spots available, let us now talk about options on how to fish them. Depending on the water clarity, anglers will either be able to see what is going on below the surface, or they will not. Many of these spots will have debris both under and around them. If you do not have clean water to get an idea of what you will be dealing with, then using side scan imaging is important. With today’s technology, anglers can get a good picture of what is under and around these mini reefs. Once you know what you are dealing with either visually or on your side scan, you can now fish them properly.
Around structures that have relatively no snag issues, anglers can fish these rather normally. Using jigs or lines with a weight on them to place your around the potential spot will work just fine. However, the best spots will probably have pilings that are underwater, boat lifts that have fallen to the bottom, or an array of hodgepodge like furniture, tree parts, and appliances of sorts. When fishing these types of areas, a different approach will be necessary.
Since the goal is catching fish and not losing a bunch of tackle, fishing the surface down to about the depth at which the snags start is best. You can certainly freeline baits into these areas, and if it is bait like a pilchard or mullet you probably can, as they tend to stay on the surface. However, if you are using baits such as mojarra, shrimp, or pinfish as an example, these baits tend to swim down. Using a cork is the way to go here. Be sure that the length of the leader from your cork to your hook does not exceed the depth of the snags. This technique will allow you to put baits into the kill zone without getting hung up constantly. Lastly, you will need to up your rod weight and leader size appropriately. You will win or lose quickly around the structure, and your ability to pull a fish out of the structure quickly is very important.