Odd ball catch of the week — Lehr’s Economy Tackle reports that Ron Hagewood and son R.J. hooked and fought a dolphin (fish) between Chino Island and St. James City.

What’s next, sailfish in Matlacha Pass?

Lehr’s passes along that tarpon, as well as kingfish, Spanish mackerel, and bonito, all are enjoying a smorgasbord of bait just off the beaches. Run just outside Redfish Pass or Captiva Pass, and look for birds or bait activity.

Last year at this time, just outside of Captiva Pass, bonito where crashing bait as far as the eye could see in any direction. What an amazing sight as thousands of these super strong battlers gorged themselves on helpless bait. I found that motoring up close to a school and casting a small white bucktail or white streamer fly brought instant results and a burning drag.

Try not to run over the school, but try to quietly get in casting range and everyone aboard can hook up for string stretching fun with these incredibly strong fish.

Also reporting snook in, near, and off the passes enjoying this same baitfish. Mr. Dave says these are reef snook that spend most of the cold months offshore rather than in the canals and upriver.

Divers report more of these growing reef snook populations every year.

Redfish are schooling up along the Burnt Store Bar area and hitting cut baits, live pins and white baits.

n Capt. Miles of CT&T Charters weighs in with reports of snook in, around and near the passes. Catch these pass and beach fish on live pinfish and whitebaits and near the bushes and potholes on cut bait.

Miles is catching trout in North Matlacha Pass on small live baits, and an assortment of standard fare trout lures. Hard to go wrong with almost any small jig or fly for these fish.

He is catching redfish under the bushes in North Pine Island Sound on cut baits on the higher tidal phases (cut pinfish, ladyfish, whitebaits, live and dead shrimp, are all great choices) and searching out reds in and around the abundant potholes on small live or dead baits on low tides

n Chiquita Bait & Tackle says to head to the mouth of the river and catch reds on live shrimp and jigs. They like to fish two hours before high tide around canal mouths and oyster bars.

Chiquita Bait also says to go to the yacht club pier for snook action on incoming tides and try shrimp for these river fish. Also reporting snook near the passes on the outside edges of the bushes or near potholes. They report three- to four-foot tarpon being caught on live shiners in the southwest Cape canals. Try this tarpon action very early in the morning, late evening and into the night.

n Capt. Rob of SoulMate Charters tells of migrating tarpon along the beaches and in the sound. He is fishing in the power lines area, near Picnic Island, and especially around the entire Sanibel Bridge complex. The magic depth number is seven feet it seems.

Capt. Rob has not been targeting snook as much this week, but passes on to us that they can be found in and around the bushes with the redfish. His redfish action has been really strong this past week with 10 to 15 fish days typical. Most of his fish have been in the 22-26-inch range and is catching them near the Rat, Panther, Mckeever, Keys area. He is also finding fish in the shade, under the brush.

n Bass Pro Shops will be hosting Capt. Rob’s saltwater fishing classes starting Oct. 29 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. These classes go for six weeks at a very reasonable price and feature a year’s worth of information by one of the area’s top guides.

n Keep an eye on your fuel filters for water contamination caused by ethanol.



Capt. George Tunison is a Cape Coral resident fishing guide. Contact him at captgeorget3@aol.com, or (239) 282-9434.