May 22, 2012
By Florida Sportsman Newswire
May is always a great month to fly fish for seatrout, and where better to do it than that part of Florida writer Norm Zeigler once referred to as "The Trout Factory"?
Pine Island Sound, on the lee side of Sanibel Island, has surely one of the densest populations of trout in Florida. According to Capt. Daniel Andrews, who works part-time at Zeigler's Fly Shop: "Seatrout fishing has been excellent in the Sanibel area. I have switched to intermediate tipped fly lines and weighted flies such as Clouser Minnows or Crystal Schminnows tied with a few wraps of lead. As the water continues to warm up, the bigger trout will move to deeper, cooler water. Fishing grassflats located on the outer edges of bars throughout Pine Island Sound has produced a lot of quality seatrout, with an occasional pompano in the mix."
"If you are not having luck with a certain color fly, switch it up," Andrews added. "In general, stick with dark colors such as black and purple or rootbeer in the mornings, evenings, and during overcast conditions. Bright colors such as chartreuse, white, and yellow tend to produce more strikes in clear water and sunny conditions."
Making things even more tantalizing, Andrews says the catch-and-release snook fishing has been superb, after dark: "We smashed the snook last night in the lights. We caught at least 20, maybe more in 4 hours. Lots of nice 25- to 30-inch fish."
