Chokoloskee Island Fishing

Many visitors who come to the island are anglers. The year-round excellence of the fishing in the sheltered waters of the Ten Thousand Islands is shown by the fine resident fleet of guide boats whose captains are reputed to know even the hiding spots of individual fish. Outboard motor boats are available for trolling, bottom fishing, plug casting, fly fishing and spinning in these sheltered waters.

Well the wind continues to blow down here in paradise. With the weather prediction for last weekend, we did not have many visitors to our island.

In spite of the weather, this week I’ve seen a few snook caught, lots of redfish and some good catches of snappers. The anglers I spoke with are finding these fish on the outside islands. Anglers fishing in the backcountry are catching a lot of small snook and keeper redfish. This month the larger snook should start to make their migration into the backcountry.

Not much to report from offshore, although I did talk to angler yesterday that caught several smoker kingfish, one 33 inch snook, and a couple of grouper offshore. Not a bad day.

Fishing charters and guide services available out of Chokoloskee and surrounding areas:

	Backcountry	Islands	Off-shore
Snook	Spring * Summer Fall *	Spring Summer * Fall	Spring * Summer * Fall
Red Drum	Winter Summer Fall *	Summer Fall *	Fall
Trout	N/A	Spring Summer Winter Fall	Summer Fall
Tarpon	Summer * Fall	Spring * Summer Fall *	Spring Fall
Permit	N/A	N/A	Spring Summer * Fall
Cobia	N/A	Spring Fall	Spring * Summer Fall *

Current Legal Minimum Lengths

Amberjack . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28" Fork
Cobia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33" Fork
Blue Fish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12" Fork
Bone Fish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18" O.A.
Flounder/Sheephead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12" Fork
Grouper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24" O.A.
Mackerel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Check Current Law
Pompano . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10" O.A.
Red Fish . . . . . . . . . . . 18" Min & 27" Max O.A.
Snook . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26" Min & 34" Max O.A.
Sea Trout . . . . . . . . . .15" Min/Check Local Law
Snapper (all). . . . . . . . . . . . . .Check Current Law
Black Drum . . . .. . . . .14" Min & 24" Max O.A.

(Contact your local agency for updates)