Speckled Trout Limit in Cape Coral, FL by Ed Valitutto

I went out for a day of back bay fishing down in FL on Dragon Fly Charters. I had a blast! We started off cast netting for Pilchards and my guide made throwing a 20′ diameter net look like child’s play. We had tons of pilchards in two casts.
We started out casting for snook and I boated the snook in the photo. Snook are catch and release only so it was quickly released and sent on its way. I had two more on – one was a beast – but they both got off. 
I then caught the bonnet head shark shown and after a sporty battle on light tackle, released it for another day.
We then went after speckled trout. What a great fishery! Trout have a three fish limit over 15″ with only one of the three being over 18″. We caught them on both pilchards and shrimp under a popping cork. One was 15″, one 17″ and one 19+” We also looked to no avail for sting rays with cobia swimming over them. We saw a few rays but all without cobia. There’s always next year!

Posted in Member Reports
Membership Form

Fishing Facts

Of the fifty United States, thirty-eight have a striped-bass record. New Jersey has the largest striped-bass record—a 78-pound 8·ounce whopper that was caught in 1982. The state with the smallest striped-bass record is Iowa. That landlocked striper weighed only 9 pounds 4 ounces and was caught in 1983.
There’s something fishy about beer these days. Fish Tail Ale is popular as ever, and New Jersey’s Flying Fish Brewery is one of the state’s largest specialty breweries. There’s also Washington’s Wild Salmon Organic Pale Ale, Florida’s Land Shark beer, Delaware’s Dogfish Head beer, and two versions of Stingray beer—a lighter version from the Cayman Islands and a dark beer from Canada.
The triangle fly is probably the most unusual of saltwater flies. It’s one of the few, if not only, flies tied to a treble hook. It’s also barely a fly at all, because hardly any material is used. It is complete after tying the two straw pearl twinkle flashes and the tiny tuft of natural squirrel, leaving an entire hook fully exposed. Incredibly this barebacked treble fly is a knockout when it comes to sea trout.

Read More