# Chokoloskee FL advice



## thegrump1 (Jan 20, 2011)

Heading to Chokoloskee FL end of Feb and looking for some advice. Will be targeting mostly reds, trout, and hopefully snook. Looking for advice on bait choices, both artificial and live as well as techniques that have worked for you. Will be using medium and medium heavy spinning gear with 20 lb braid and fluoro leader.
Thanks in advance for the help.


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## Doboy (Oct 13, 2008)

Hi grump,,,,, I'm waiting to see what others say!


You'll be fishing on/ off shore? Boat? Yak?
I was down there, near that area, a long long time ago,,,,, someday, hopefully, I'll get to go back.
I fished off of the Naples pier & caught a bunch of small stuff using powerbaits, Fishbites, & chunks of squid. We also Night fished Inside a bunch of inlets,,, but only caught catfish!. 
We did get a slew of blue crabs though,,, by slowly dragging in pieces of chicken, then using a long handled net to catch 'em when they start to fall off.

Almost all of my 'salt' fishing NOW, is up NC OBX.
Anyway,,,, My $.02
I wouldn't go anywhere near the salt without my 1/4" hole cast net for catching baitfish! (wallyworld 'cheap-o' will do)
AND,,,, I won't ever go to the salt without my night gigging lights & stuff, & crab & shrimp netting stuff. (only on windy NO bug nights!)
We would always TRY to time our trips with the LOBSTER seasons,,,,, or 'Spring Break'. 
*(FISHING SALT, & or Spring Break GIRLS!!! We never knew what we'd 'CATCH'! lmbo,,,, ;>) (Ahhh, the Good-ol-Days!)
*
Fishing all along Alligator Alley was a ball,,,,, humongous gar, AND GATORS chasing our plugs & spinners!

Here's a Youtube 'YAK' video that was made AFTER THE STORM,,,,,,,,,, it shows some of the damage, & some of the fishing to be had,,,,, near shore.





Good Luck
Report back!


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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

the best live bait i've found over the yrs is live pin fish. we use sabiki rigs in size 6 to catch our own. we just bait the hooks with a small piece of shrimp then cast out using a 1 oz sinker. reel up all the slack and keep a tight line. then set the hook when we get bit. pins in any size is great bait for grouper, reds, and snook. they are hard to keep alive. we use a 10 gal bait saver bucket with aerator to keep them alive. here is a red I caught with a live pin.








had more hooked but they would get into the pilings and get loose or break the line. but as you can see were not fishing the ideal location to get the big ones in. but we were fishing more for grouper. and I was fishing with live shrimp for black drum. if you use shrimp use live shrimp as frozen wont stay on your hook for crap. good fishing.
sherman


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## FishThis (Sep 2, 2005)

Like Sherman said, pinfish is the best all around bait and we’ll catch all larger species from Snook, reds, big sea trout, sharks, etc. I normally catch the pins on a drop shot rig w/ small pieces of shrimp and then use a 2-4/o circle hook and hang on!!


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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

FishThis said:


> Like Sherman said, pinfish is the best all around bait and we’ll catch all larger species from Snook, reds, big sea trout, sharks, etc. I normally catch the pins on a drop shot rig w/ small pieces of shrimp and then use a 2-4/o circle hook and hang on!!


i've used just a sinker and hook but a sabiki rig gets 6 hooks in the water. i've caught as many as 4 pins at one time when we would find them. if you don't get hit right away don't get discouraged. if I get a fish every 15 to 30 minutes on slow days im happy. I have fished up to 2 hrs and not caught any. but I was fishing one spot from the bank. in a boat you can move around if needed to find pins. I catch mine in bays in the intracoastal in water under 10'. I have never tried any deeper. when we fish around the bridge I use 4/0 to 6/0 live bait hooks. my bil uses 6/0 circle hooks. we use 100# mono and still lose most of the fish to snags and pilings. we set the drag as tight as possible. I use a penn 330 gti reel where he uses a 5/0 penn reel. he uses a broom stick rod where i like about a 40# to 60# class rod. but we get some big grouper at times that has broken 4/0 hooks for us. if you want lots of fish use pins if you want a few big fish use pins around bridges with heavy tackle. good luck to you for sure. and keep us posted.

you can get sabiki rigs at most wall marts close to the coast. I order mine off ebay and make sure they are shipped in the us. if you order from china it takes 4 to 6 weeks to get them. most of them come with a little attractor. using shrimp for bait I usually just cut the attractor off next to the hook. I bought 20 rigs for 28.00 but you can get 10 rigs for 16.99 and thats from the us.

in current in the intracoastal we use 2 8oz no roll sinkers to keep us on the bottom. with shrimp and 40# braid I can usually get by with a 3oz no roll sinker (but barrel sinkers will work) to keep me on the bottom. open water on flats or in channels in open water you shouldn't need as much weight. where we fish the current gets to ripping. and around the full moon it really rips. if you want no roll sinkers you can get them off ebay. I get 3 4 and 5 oz for where we fish. 

sorry about the long winded post. sure wish I was fishing with you.
sherman


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