Lee County, Florida

The city has made a comeback and so has the fishing!

On The Fly Saltwater

December 2023

Article and featured photo by Jimmy Jacobs

The crew from On The Fly South was motoring away from the docks at the Tarpon Lodge in Pineland on Pine Island to the west of Fort Myers. At the controls was Capt. Hunter Tinsley, as we set out in search of redfish and snook on the sound.

It was a trip that was long in reaching fruition. Originally planned for early November of 2022, our dates coincided with the arrival of Category 5 Hurricane Ian, which devastated the region around Fort Myers.

It was now November of 2023, almost exactly a year later. We were not sure what to expect. How was the physical recovery of the area’s amenities progressing? And how had the natural environment and fisheries fared?

Although the village of Matlacha at the entrance to Pine Island was still visibly scarred, there was a lot of work in progress. Still, the shops of the artist colony and the eateries that had not been totally destroyed were open for business. Farther south, the causeway and bridges to Sanibel and Captive Islands also had been repaired. Across the region, hotels and inns were welcoming guests.

The only area lagging this progress was Fort Myers Beach, which was virtually wiped away by Ian. Even though they have a lot of work still to be done, many hotels, restaurants and other businesses are back up and welcoming visitors to the area.

That left the question of how the fishing had been impacted. Capt. Tinsley, who is a native of Fort Myers and has been guiding professionally for Endless Summer Charters for two years, was eager to show us that it was doing fine.

He first steered us out into the open sound in his 18-foot Hells Bay Waterman skiff in search of some fall redfish action. He noted that there were a lot of small reds in the sound, which he referred to as “Richards.” The reason for the nickname is best left for him to tell you in person.

Capt. Tinsley’s plan was to target reds for an hour or two on either side of the low tide, using crab and shrimp pattern flies. Then as the tide flooded in, we would move north on the sound to probe the mangrove edges of islands for snook.

Unfortunately, the day was beginning drearily with wind and partial cloud cover. Those are not the conditions needed for sight casting to the reds. Soon the occasional break in the clouds allowed us to spot some tails breaking the surface on a shallow grass flat. The multiple reds feeding there, however, stayed mostly out of casting range. When we did see closer fish, it was when the clouds moved in and we only spotted them as they darted away leaving a mud trail in their wake. In the end we had just one missed strike to show for the effort.

Soon we made the move to the mangroves, where the captain said the snook lie up in the drowned roots facing outward, ready to ambush passing prey. One way of locating those fish is to listen for the “pop” that ensues when a fish strikes a passing minnow or shrimp.

Here we encountered a few smaller snook, which Capt. Tinsley called “Franks.” Never did get an explanation of where that name came from? These edges also hold baby tarpon in the spring and summer, but those fish will be farther back up creeks or in mangrove fringed ponds. For these situations the captain favors casting white Puglise-style flies.

With the weather conditions we were facing, it looked as though Mother Nature was going to deal us a losing hand for the day. Fortunately, like any experienced guide, Hunter had another trick up his sleeve to save the day.

Heading back out on to the open sound, he maneuvered the skiff around the shallow sandbars before finally staking out on what appeared to be just open water. That was because we did not have the local knowledge gained from many days of fishing area.

Casting Kwan flies and Clouser Minnows in the direction the captain indicated quickly produce success. The strikes were surprisingly vicious from what turned out to be spotted seatrout. These fish were mostly in the 12- to 15-inch size range and apparently had a head of steam driving them when they took the offering. They also proved to be rather abundant.

For the last hour of the trip, Associate Editor Polly Dean and I were constantly hooking up, boating trout, snapping some photos and releasing the fish. After a challenging day on the water, the feel of the fly line being stretched compensated for the earlier finicky disposition of the redfish and snook.

The bottom line was we discovered that Fort Myers, along with Captiva, Pine and Sanibel Islands are all well on their way to healing the wounds Ian left behind, the fishing is as good as ever and the doors are open for business all across Lee County. A tropical paradise awaits you right now!