fishing charters

January 18, 2016 By Blake Matherly

Bamboo Fly Rods, Sanibel Island Fishing

When fishermen get fishing opportunities, they usually take them. Birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, doesn’t matter, they usually take the back seat to a fisherman’s wants or dreams.

Such is the case on Sunday, December 20, 2015, on Sanibel at Norm Zieglars Fly Shop.

That day presented itself with an opportunity to cast a bit of history. Ernie “Woody” Wood, son-in-law of the late John Voelker a.k.a. Robert Travers (author of “Trout Magic,” “Trout Madness” and “Anatomy of a Fisherman”, Anatomy of A Murder”), broke out some of his vast collection of bamboo fly rods for us to cast. Many of the rods belonged to Voelker himself, all crafted from legendary rod makers.

A small but dedicated group of casting geeks got together to cast the rods and learn of their history from Woody. We even got some casting lessons from Joe Mahler, the person responsible for making this afternoon possible.

Thanks Joe and a special thanks to Woody for sharing some interesting history!

Get out on the water, take a kid fishing and always remember that “it’s great being us”!

Capt Blake
<*(((><

December 19, 2015 By Blake Matherly

Sanibel and Fort Myers Fishing Report

What a year it’s been for Snook, Tarpon, Redfish and other species in the Southwest Florida region. I have been blessed with one of the best years I can remember. Lots of days on the water, lots of wonderful clients and mostly cooperative fish. Lately, our fishing has been off the charts. Warmer fall water temps, have kept the fish active and abundant.

We’ve been catching Tarpon as lately as a few days ago. Snook numbers are high. Just two days ago we had as many as 30 snook caught on one charter with at least 10 over 30″. Nice Redfish and we’re seeing more and larger Trout making their way into the back country.

Get ready for things to change though as the colder fronts are coming in and the water temps are going to move the fish into different areas. This will prompt different ways of fishing and using different bait.

Get out on the water, take a kid fishing and always remember that “it’s great being us”!
Capt Blake
<*(((><

December 6, 2015 By Blake Matherly

Fly Fishing the Islands of Sanibel and Captiva

Fly Fishing has been some of the best of the year. Multiple hookups of Snook, Redfish, Trout and Tarpon. Yes, I said Tarpon.

Unbelievable huh? The weather has been great so the water temperature has been unseasonably warm. That makes the Tarpon happy so that makes my clients happy. I was even able to take the bow and cast a little lately and yes I was lucky in getting a pretty nice fish that liked jumping so good times had by all.

We’ve also had multiple hookups with Tripletail, Bonita, Mackerel, Jacks and a few Kings. Not sure how long this will stay as our northern friends are sending us some Northern fronts to calm down our bragging.

Get out on the water, take a kid fishing and always remember that “it’s great being us”!
Capt Blake
<*(((><

April 8, 2014 By Blake Matherly

Fishing charter in Sanibel and Fort Myers Florida

Snook fishing around the Fort Myers and the islands of Sanibel and Captiva is picking up. Yesterday the water temps were in the uppers 70’s. That’s what they like. Unfortunately it was blowing 20 MPH +, so everyone that was brave enough were looking for places to hide. It was apparent that the Snook were also looking for places to hide.

Luckily, I had friend/author Ben Shelfer with me. He’s easy going and whatever works for him. We struggled in the beginning, bait was scarce, protective cover was even scarcer. Thanks to my trusty Egret, best flats boat in the world, we were able to move where and when we wanted.

Bens love to catch snook, especially nice ones. The bite was on for a while, until a 6-7 foot bull shark decided to join in the fun.

Great day Ben!

Get out on the water, take a kid fishing and always remember that “it’s great being us”!

Capt Blake

<*(((><

March 31, 2014 By Blake Matherly

Fishing Sanibel and Fort Myers Florida Report

Fishing with Charter Guides in the Sanibel and Fort Myers area of Florida has been pretty good lately. Weekly catches of Snook, Redfish, Spotted Sea Trout and other local species have been abundant. We’ve also started seeing some Tarpon and even hooked up. The water temperatures are continuing to warm so as it goes up, the fishing does also, especially for Tarpon and Snook.

We’ve seen and hooked some nice Snook and I can thank all my charters for not killing any and letting them move on to the spawning season just around the corner. Even though the season is open, they are still not back to the levels before the kill of 2010.

My friend from Canada, Shane Thompson, brought his dad back to try to hook him up with some nice fish and to get out of the extremely cold Canada winter. This year we hit the jackpot as we managed multiple Snook to the boat and even a very nice Cobia. Naturally, Shane’s dad had the lucky hand and his son was glad for it.

Beautiful day with some great guys (I’ll try to get them back for the muggy summer).

Get out on the water, take a kid fishing and always remember that “it’s great being us”!

Capt Blake

<*(((><