Fish Tales: Weather, again, snags plans

Yet another cold, blustery week hampered fishing in Southwest Florida. Before wind and rain moved in Friday and Saturday, however, anglers had some luck with snapper, jacks and sheepshead in the backwaters.

Fishbuster Charters' Capt. Dave Hanson fished last Monday with Lou Citterman, Jack Adler, and Dennis Ruber in 32 feet out of New Pass. Fishing was a little slow at first. They caught and released some snapper, grunts, and sheepshead. The action picked up when Adler landed a 35 pound black drum, which bit a live shrimp, and was quite a battle on 12 pound test. They photographed and released that one, then headed in ahead of the increasing winds.

Gig Kendzior had hoped to fish offshore Tuesday, but with another cold front approaching, bringing high winds and rough seas, Hanson changed plans and fished in the backwater. Fishing was slow there, but they caught some keeper snapper, and released small sheepshead, and a 3½ pound crevalle jack.

Wednesday, fishing with brothers Bob and Tom Graham, Tom Batcheller and John Hughes, Hanson returned to the area where they caught the big black drum on Monday.

"At 47 degrees that morning, the air was chilly, and there were some rough seas first thing in the morning, left over from the front that passed through the day before," said Hanson. "The bite was pretty slow, with water temperature cold, and with loads of bait fish on the bottom that ate our live shrimp. We caught keeper mangrove snapper, lane snapper and grunts."

Friday, just ahead of the next cold front, Hanson fished the artificial reefs with Jim Key, son Darin, and friend Alan Gert. Even close-in, in 18 feet, they had some 4-foot seas, with a stiff 20-25 knot wind all morning. Darin caught a nice sheepshead 19 inches long, and his dad got a 14-inch triggerfish. They also got one keeper pompano and released two smaller ones, along with two baby goliath grouper and some small snapper, all on shrimp.

Saturday's forecast was dismal for boaters, so they stayed in port.

Capt. Ron Kowalyk saw some action last week in Estero Bay, Hendry Creek and the Imperial River. Reds, snook, sheepies, ladyfish, jacks and even a few small tarpon were reported. The offerings were as diverse as the catch with whitebait and shrimp leading the list.

He chose to use shrimp, jerkbaits, DOA Shrimp and Gulp Shrimp and came out with good numbers of mixed-size snook, reds and a mixed bag of other critters. The areas with deeper dark bottoms held active fish. The central bays and open water areas were again, at least from our experience, vacant of feeding fish with water temps in those areas in the low 60s, 61-63 most of the day. The feeder creeks and deeper canals and channels however did hold fish. Up north he found similar conditions and equally good bites in the warmer, deeper, protected areas of San Carlos Bay, the Ding Darling and Matlacha. There were reports of giant black drum up in the Caloosahatchee and some mobs roaming around the mouth of the river, we didn't encounter any.

Visit Kowalyk's Web site at www.fishswfla.com.

• From Kowalyk's Captain's Corner: Finding a comfortable winter fish habitat requires considering several rather obvious factors. The first consideration is identifying areas where fish have access to deeper water (i.e., rivers, creeks, canals, major cuts and channels). These same areas, in order to be prime habitat, should also have shallows that permit faster warming in the narrow water column. Deep holes and channels that allow a fair surface water exchange will hold more forage and higher oxygen levels, yet allow the main body of warmed water to remain somewhat stable temperature wise. Along with drops in barometric pressure, sudden temperature change, especially lower temperatures, will negatively affect the bite. Warming trends will, conversely, stimulate the bite. Constant moderate temperatures within fishes comfort zone will in turn help to maintain a constant predictable feeding cycle. There are a number of modern devises available to today's anglers that make finding deeper water and determining water temperature a matter of just reading your LCD fish finder scene. The scope of these signals tends to be rather narrow. There are other natural indicators that can be considered when seeking warmer deeper water. The outside turn of a bend in a creek, canal, river or channel will generally be the deepest area. This stretch will also amplify the effects of any current and therefore carry whatever forage is available. Observing birds on their feeding stations along a deep bank is also an indicator of currents that will hold forage. Color changes in channels often indicate change in depth. Seams and scum lines describe an interface of waters of varying temperatures speeds and depths. Bearing in mind these simple observations can improve your search for productive cold water habitat.