Author Topic: Sanibel FL  (Read 1481 times)

Offline Slow Burn

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Sanibel FL
« on: 06/16/15 13:34 UTC »
Went to Sanibel FL for a week with the wife and a couple friends for some fun in the sun as well as fishing.  We had 2 guided trips set up and on the 1st day is was just Robbie, my wife Jennifer and myself going after Snook.  And the snook bite was on, we probably caught 45ish snook in that 4 hour trip averaging 30-37". Although we have caught Snook before, they were not this size and these things fight like a freight train. The wife hooked with a nice gag grouper that she was unable to reel in by herself as she is still hasn't recovered all of her strength back from chemo but we still managed to land the fish.  After she decided she wanted to sit on the top drive and just video us with one of my go pros.  We had 3 different go pros with us from head mounts to extending poles getting underwater shots of the fish hooked up.  Ended up with some great footage.  On this trip I also caught my 1st tarpon, a little guy about 30#, but still a tarpon. We landed 5 total gag groupers and Robbie caught and landed a 50 lb Goliath grouper.  It was an epic fishing trip and still had one more to go. On Friday we went back out with the same guide, to the same spot and it was like we never left.  By this time my buddy Wes was down and he landed his 1st Snook.  That day we caught around 25 snook, 2 gag grouper, a solid red and a few trout.  But what made this day awesome was that Robbie caught and landed his first Tarpon, which came in at an estimated weight of 110 lbs. He fought that thing for 47 min. Now mind you we were inshore fish, targeting snook and fishing with the same rods I would use for speckled trout. We were maybe a half mile down the shore from the marina, and maybe 20 yards off a beach drifting in a pass between the gulf and the bay. Florida is just an awesome place to fish, because even though you are going after one thing you can pretty much catch anything.  Now between the two days of fishing we hit up the beaches, pool bars and night life as well as other activities like paddle boarding and skyboarding.  All fish but the red and trout were released as the Snook and Gags were out of season, and cannot keep nor take Tarpon or Goliaths out of the water.  Hope you enjoy

Robbie on a paddle board the first day


Me skyboarding the second day


1st day fishing- 3rd overall day
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1st Tarpon

Goliath Grouper


2nd Day Fishing






Offline 2XL

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Re: Sanibel FL
« Reply #1 on: 06/16/15 16:40 UTC »
That's freakin awesome ! How far is Sanibel from Tampa/Clearwater roughly ? My dad winters near Clearwater and I would love to try some inshore fishing for any of those species you mentioned. I may PM you for some more details if you are good with that.

Offline Slow Burn

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Re: Sanibel FL
« Reply #2 on: 06/16/15 18:34 UTC »
Sanibel is an island off Ft Myers. I believe it's about 2 hrs south of Tampa

Offline WALLEYE WACKER

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Re: Sanibel FL
« Reply #3 on: 06/20/15 10:52 UTC »
Looks like you had a awesome trip.  It's great to get away from the everyday grind.  8)
May your days be filled with sun shine and you always have a tight line. AMEN