# Fort Myers Beach



## fishmonster11 (Jul 5, 2009)

Hey guys I'm heading down to Fort Myers Beach in two weeks and looking to do a lot of fishing. Ive never been there before and was wondering if anyone has any info. I'm not going to have access to a boat unfortunately and probably not any charters. I know there's a pier down there, anyone fish that? Also, could I catch anything surf fishing this time of the year. 
Thanks, any posts help.


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## acklac7 (May 31, 2004)

http://www.ohiogamefishing.com/community/search.php?searchid=2388247

Hmmm let me think. The snook should be moving out of the backwaters and making there way towards the beaches, although it is still a little early for them. The Sea Trout should still be in the channels/grass flats, and the Sharks should be on fire. While I personally don't like pier fishing I know it can be productive...But that's usually later in the spring. If you have access to a car I would fish New Pass on lovers key (10min south of FMB..just take San Carlos and head south..cant miss it) or fish the northern point of the Island for Snook. Also dont pass up "dog beach" @ New Pass...Downright phenomenal fishing there if you hit it right (lots of Sharks too ). Actually caught this one right about the same time your going to be down there. Use 1/2 or 1/3 of a FRESH cut ladyfish, wade out to your waist and then cast as far as you can....Then set your watch and wait about 20min...Usually doesn't take long


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## Jerk Bait (Aug 22, 2007)

First of all you will need a fishing license to fish from shore. The charters are on the right side of the highway before the big pass bridge their are half and full days, if you take a charter you don't need a fishing license.


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

Jerk Bait said:


> First of all you will need a fishing license to fish from shore. The charters are on the right side of the highway before the big pass bridge their are half and full days, if you take a charter you don't need a fishing license.


Check the regulations. There are a number of license exemptions, not just going with a charter. Take your jacket. It's cold down there now. Fishing piers may be your best bet, being your first time, unless you have someone down there to show you around. Using shrimp or fiddler craps will produce sheephead this time of year if you fish right up against the pilings. I wouldn't bother looking for snook on the beach right now. It's just been too cold.


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## roger23 (Mar 7, 2007)

my neighbor is down there and has been since Christmas, he says fishing has been very poor,,a lot of dead fish from the cold weather,,,,also said it is starting to warm up,


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## acklac7 (May 31, 2004)

roger23 said:


> my neighbor is down there and has been since Christmas, he says fishing has been very poor,,a lot of dead fish from the cold weather,,,,also said it is starting to warm up,


WOW...Still that cold down there eh?...If thats the case forget the snook and concentrate your efforts on Seatrout on lovers key..They really don't seem to mind cold weather.


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## daddycraw (May 25, 2009)

Just returned saturday from tampa area. The sheephead were just starting to hit. I did luck out and got a few. I was using #2/0 circle hooks with a 20 lb. momo leader with a 1/4" split shot and live shrimp. If you are new to sheephead fishing read up on it. Those bugers have teeth and can steal your bait by chewing it off without you knowing they are fooling with it I also caught some black drum. I did all of my fishing from shore at seawalls and dock piers. Incoming high tide was best fishing. Fishing was very slow and it was cold/chilly the whole week that I was there. It was going to warm up this week but I don't know for how long. From what I heard from everyone was the whole state was affected by the weather related fish kills. Good luck


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## fishmonster11 (Jul 5, 2009)

Thanks for all the help fellas. Hopefully It'll warm up and I'll come back with a good report...


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## Smallmouth Crazy (Apr 4, 2006)

You dont need a license if you fish from the pier at FMB, my Son and I have fished it a few times, for the most part we use live shrimp and have caught sea cats, ladyfish, couple different small sharks, puffers(and some fish we are not even sure of) we rented our rods and bought bait at a shop up on San Carlos called saltwater pro, descent guy to deal with and the rods we got were alot better than what you can rent at the pier, pelicans are a pain at the pier..they know when you have a fish and even run towards you if you jerk and miss, crabs can be pesky bait stealers, we are headed down later this year.


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## FISHIN216 (Mar 18, 2009)

fishing gets really good there in may. when I was there you could almost catch a mackerel on every cast or if you left it out you would catch speckled trout. and no reason to buy bait just a sabiki rig and whatever baitfish is around that pier. put the bait on the hook and thats IT no weight. no swivel. I have been going there since I was 7 and the fishing was never really good in march/april. also YES the pelicans suck and one day they were so aggressive my wife hooked them on consecutive casts both were reeled in and unhooked and boy did that piss them off


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## hammer40 (Mar 13, 2009)

FISHIN216 said:


> fishing gets really good there in may. when I was there you could almost catch a mackerel on every cast or if you left it out you would catch speckled trout. and no reason to buy bait just a sabiki rig and whatever baitfish is around that pier. put the bait on the hook and thats IT no weight. no swivel. I have been going there since I was 7 and the fishing was never really good in march/april. also YES the pelicans suck and one day they were so aggressive my wife hooked them on consecutive casts both were reeled in and unhooked and boy did that piss them off


hahha that was funny


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## joetrimbo (Jan 27, 2010)

I got the perfect charter for you.Its over the bridge around the bend,near Diamond head resort.Look in the phone book.caught 2 5gallon buckets of grupper,bass,other stuff.60.00 for 8 hrs


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## Bucket Mouth (Aug 13, 2007)

Was there at the end of Feb. 2009. I fished the bridge that takes you to Lover's key at the south end of FMB. I was jigging and had good success with spanish mackeral, rays, whiting, sea robins (lame sumbeaches). Spanish macks were caught on lures that I can't recall the name of. The were forward weighted with a chartreuse or red or orange head. the body was just a chrome or gold metal tube and the lures had (2) treble hooks on them. I got em at wal mart for $3 a piece. Sabiki rigs also worked for the spanish macks. I left mine unbaited and used a 1+ oz pyramid weight at the very end of my line. Worked like a charm. I caught rays using the chartreuse/silver bullet baits I described above. Those things arent going to be lifted out of the water onto a bridge. Be prepared to lose some tackle. I had one almost spool me before I tightened the drag all the way. I snapped her off when I got it under my feet at the bridge about 20" below me and tried to lift it up. Those things fight like mad. 

I made some generic hook configuration on my line and used shrimp for the whiting and caught the sea robins like this too. Although I did catch some whiting, the locals I talked to said that the season was pretty bad for them. They loved to catch em because apparently they are great eating fish. I gave mine away so I can't verify if they are good. The macks are not very good eaters. Really Really oily.

I would park in the lot at lover's key and walk up the bridge until i was over 10-20 ft. of water. From that parking lot, you can also walk down the sandy-ish beach on the north end of lovers key. Lots of guys were fishing for sea trout there.

I checked out the pier. There was an unbelievable amount of sea moss or algae that bloomed while I was down there and it was all over the place once you got about 20 feet from shore. I asked some guys there how they were doing and they told me that it was super slow.

Good luck and provide a report when you get back.


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## spitfire14t (Jul 2, 2004)

The "bullet baits" you described are called gotcha-plugs. They work wonders for spanish. Just throw them out and reel back as fast and erraticly as you can. Have your drag set loose cause they hit like a frieght train. Also try looking into yo-zuri crystal minnows. They work well too on seatrout and spanish macs.


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## fishmonster11 (Jul 5, 2009)

I just got back from Fort Myers Beach late last night and while I had a great trip the fishing was mediocre at best. The weather for the week was in the mid 70's but at the beach with the wind it was more in the 60's. I fished both the pier at Fort Myers Beach and the one in Naples. The two days at Fort Myers no one i saw managed to catch anything. However in Naples I did manage to pull in a decent Spanish mackerel on those gotcha-plugs that everyone down there seemed to be using. There were a couple other guys who caught some but nothing spectacular. Everyone I talked to said the fishing has been extremely slow this season because of the unusually cold weather... However, there was a lake behind the house I was staying at and the Largemouth fishing there was excellent. I caught around 15 of them with all of them being over 14 inches and the biggest around 20 inches. I was using a variety of spoons and plastic minnows. They seemed to hit anything I threw though. Hopefully the weather warms up down there and good luck to anyone else heading down!


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