Southwest Florida Kayak Angler's Association

Big snook seem to be all over the place on the north and west sides of Pine Island.

One guy told me he landed a "50 inch snook" from the pier a couple of days ago. He's kind of notorious for exaggerating just a weeee bit, but I don't doubt it was a big fish because there are plenty of them around the pier lately. Another guy showed me photos of the snook (nothing huge, but nice fish) and a big red (bigger than 27 inches) he caught. Pompano and sheepshead are being caught there as well. One of my neighbors caught three snook while wading behind his house on Charlotte Harbor the other day, but no big ones.

Another neighbor has two friends in from out of state this week. They hired a guide yesterday and fished Jug Creek and Pine Island Sound and they got into the snook big time. They had two that were 32 and 40 inches. They were using live shrimp, no artificials. He said the only thing they caught other than snook was catfish. They went out again this morning. If I see them this evening I'll ask how they did.

Water clarity in Charlotte Harbor, Jug Creek, and Pine Island Sound has been outstanding this week. No idea if the wind is going to screw it up a bit, though. The last cold front and hard wind didn't affect the water at all. Water temperature has dropped a lot. It almost feels chilly when you launch a kayak in the harbor.

I was hoping to find some snook that are searching for warmer water in the Pine Island canals. It looks like early January will be pretty warm so the snook may not stack up for awhile.

Any reports will be helpful.