Fishing for redfish and trout has been very good this past week with plenty of fish to catch. lots of keeper trout up to 5lbs with a pompano or two mixed in. Redfish in the slot have cooperated nicely. I am still fishing with artificial even though most other guides have found plenty of white bait. Mackerel have started to show with some nice size schools on the outside of the bars.

The video is of a school of black drum I encountered while looking for tarpon with my good client Cam from BC on Thursday. I went back today with Tel and his son in law Butch, we left them biting. Its the single largest school of Black Drum I have ever seen. Hope its a sign of good things to come this spring and summer.

Capt Andy Boyette
1-888-880-0006
Gofishcharters.com
Tarponcharters.com
FortMyersFloridaFishing.com

The best tactic for shallow water red fishing is to stage your boat in an area near a exposed flat. Watch for any movement in the water pattern. It is especially helpful when other boats run near an area you are working since it exposes the location of the school. Waiting for the school to come to you is an all important factor to learn. A slow approach and a working the area over thoroughly will bend plenty of rods on the boat. Any crab or shrimp imitation will prove to be effective, long distance casting is a must. I will usually spend a good 20 -30 minutes covering 1/4 to 1/2 mile of flat. Setting the boat up to use the wind to your advantage is a must, with the least amount of trolling motor as possible. Light spinning gear with 8lb braided line with 1/8 and 1/4 ounce jig heads should be all that is required for success.

I went with another guide recently and seen targetable numbers of tarpon in a migration route. With the warm weather pattern that has dominated Fort Myers and the rest of the country An early spring pattern will give way to an early tarpon season. I expect to put up some numbers well ahead of schedule this tarpon season. I have a few dates left in June and fewer in May that are available. I have ample room in April to book and April has typically been a good month for me since I have targeted tarpon early for many years. This April should be phenomenal and allow for those who are here an opportunity to catch a BIG TARPON.

Capt Andy Boyette
1-888-880-0006
Gofishcharters.com
Tarponcharters.com
FortMyersFloridaFishing.com

Fort Myers Fishing Forecast:
Redfish will continue to be good as the bait schools arrive, keeper Speckled Trout with catches over the 20 inch mark, and an early arrival of BIG TARPON

Redfish starting schooling a few weeks ago and this is the best time of the year to catch good numbers of “bull” redfish. These over sized reds are moving though the passes and schooling on the nearby grass flats. Any outside grass flat near the passes can hold a school of redfish this time of year. I’ve been mostly fishing the bars in Charlotte Harbor but Pine Island Sound and Lemon Bay are also holding good schools of redfish.

Even though the fishing charters are pretty slow right now I have been doing quite a bit of fishing to stay with the fall tarpon migration. The tarpon are following the bait schools and feed heavily to fuel their migration for the winter. Most of these tarpon are very large averaging over 100 pounds. I have been doing well with a variety of artificial lure and live baits. Live ladyfish and sardines hooking the most tarpon; with spoons, jigs and soft plastic swim baits producing as well. There are a number a locations that have been holding tarpon. Look for bait schools on the beaches outside of Boca Grande Pass, Captiva Island and Fort Myers Beach. You can also run into groups of migrating tarpon in the bays.

Fort Myers Fishing Forcast: The tarpon fishing is just about over. We may have no more than 2-3 weeks of good tarpon fishing before its over for the winter. Fishing for bull redfish should remain strong for the rest of the fall. The large schools of redfish should be around into early November. After that its mostly singles and small groups.

Flats Fishing And Back County Charters

During the winter I my run 22 foot Texas Shallow Sport fishing machine. This dry stable fishing platform allow me to access the shallowest of flats. As the winter months progress in to negative tides and extremely shallow flats where trout and reds are trapped in pot holes I have the right boat to access these areas, and score days where triple digit fish numbers are the norm. I am ah expert in the use of artificial lures. The majority of fishing from November to March is done with artificial lures. I have found that artificial lures out produce live bait during these months. This insures you are not dealing with long waits at the dock or cancellations due to the lack of or limited bait.

I also own a high end 24 foot bay bay boat for dry and comfortable Tarpon Fishing and near shore charters. Equipped with 4 stoke out board and state of the art electronics, including hi def and side and down scan imaging. I keep up to date tackle From Penn, G Loomis, Accurate Reels and American Rod Smith. I have both earned a reputation in the industry as proven veteran fishing guide with results. An extensive amount of information can be easily searched online or references provided on request, assuring you are hiring top full time fishing guide

Ginat Tarpon Fishing

Go Fish Charters Certainly Isn’t The Cheapest Tarpon Fishing Charter Service You Can Hire.

It’s true. There are many websites and guides on the internet where people you’ve never met (and never will) compete to be the cheapest. It’s an obsession actually, with one guide outdoing the other to offer his service cheaper or for even a dollar less than anyone else. I don’t do that, and here’s why.

To be the cheapest, you have to offer the cheapest service. This might seem obvious, but think about it for a second. We all need to make some profit on every charter. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be doing this. Instead, I focus on offering a higher quality charter, to the my anglers for a fair price.

I am real company. I pay rent, commercial insurance, taxes, and a million other things that come along with being legitimate. I have a number of specialized pieces of equipment that can be used do any kind of fishing in our area whether its offshore, near shore, flats, tarpon, snook, redfish, permit, shark, etc. I fish all of Southwest Florida from Englewood Beach to Marco Island; If I need to adjust your charter for success, not only can I, I will. Without these expenses, other guides can be cheaper..

Take a look through the photos section of my website, there is also a more extensive collection located at this link Photos you will see countless photos of large giant tarpon. The first thing you will notice is the same guy in every photo, that would be me holding tarpon for my clients. What you won’t find is stock photos of tarpon from a professional photographer, or photos of tarpon on a another boat. I have made my living as a guide for over 10 years, I work had to ensure my clients success. And I am backing up with A No Tarpon No Pay Guarantee. The Original No Fish-No Pay Guaranteed !!!

Capt Andy Boyette And Go Fish Charters have been a guiding clients for over 10 years, I make my living full time as a fishing guide 100%. I want to make sure you do not get fooled and hire some one who is making extra money to pay for their hobby. So before you make a mistake and hire a part time fishing guide call me and I will guarantee you a trip catching fish. No Tarpon-No Pay Tarpon Guarantee !!! Book My 10 hour tarpon charter and if you don’t jump a tarpon the trip is free! Guaranteed! No questions asked!

My web site GoFishCharters.com

TARPON FISHING DAILY APRIL-JULY Planning a trip for a Boca Grande tarpon fishing charter! I do two tarpon fishing trips daily May-July. These months are highly sought after, and tarpon trips book up early. Tarpon fishing has gained in popularity over the past several years, as anglers see tarpon fishing shows on TV like the Professional Tarpon Tournament Series, PTTS, and Tarpon Of Boca Grande. With such national coverage of the Boca Grande tarpon fishing phenomenon more anglers are planning their entire Florida fishing trips around Boca Grande tarpon season. I offer two 6-hour Tarpon fishing charters per day, one in the morning and one in the early afternoon. I fish the entire tarpon season every day, every year, along side some of the best guides in the business, guides like my self that can produce consistently and put their clients on tarpon day in and day out. So before you make a decision on a tarpon guide do some homework. I want to make sure you catch the tarpon of a lifetime whether or not its with me.

 Capt Andy Boyette
 1-888-880-0006
www.gofishcharters.com
www.tarponcharters.com

I will be adjusting the spring season slightly to target some less talked about species of fish including tripletail, pompano, kingfish and a few others.  All of which are excellent eating and attainable targets, with sportfish qualities. I have fished for these species throughout my life as a lifelong resident of the area, so snook fishing closure should only serve to bring more variety and enjoyment to my charters. I look forward to sharing the experience and excitement of fishing for a wider variety of Florida fish species with you this spring.

Tarpon Fishing Information
Everyone by now, knows that I am offering a 10 hour tarpon trip. I wanted to clarify a few things about the 6 hour trip, and the 10 hour trip since a lot of my clients have asked me numerous questions.

Most Importantly I will still be offering a 6 hour trip for those who only wish to fish for 6 hours.

The 6 hour tarpon trip will remain unchanged and it is your choice, a 6 hour morning session and/or a 6 hour early afternoon session.

The 10 hour trips is just as it sounds 10 hours. Below I will summarize as best I can, keep in mind if you book me for the 10 hour trip the day is devoted solely to you, not like when I have either a morning or afternoon trip to worry about. On a 10 hour split day trip, we fish part of the trip in the morning, take a break and come back out to fish the remainder of the trip. Typically split 6 hours and 4 hours. If we tarpon fish only I let the fish and/or the client decide if or when there is a break (we fish the best time). Also a client who has a 10 hour trip booked can request to fish for other species, which is not possible on a 6 hour tarpon trip since economics forces me to fish an afternoon trip. So basically on the 10 hour trip the day is yours and we can break it up however as the day and fishing dictates. We also don’t have to split the day up at all if there is a hot bite we will in all likelihood fish through.

Also if my schedule permits you can request to fish additional hours at $100.00 per hour. This will specifically come into play on a 10 hour trip as well as the afternoon 6 hour session. Last season (2009)saw some really good late fishing into the early evening, and I will be prepared with lighting and all necessary equipment to stay in to the early evening.

Spring Flats Fishing Information
I also want to touch on the effects of the cold winter weather we had in here Florida. You may be aware that the
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission issued an executive order on the harvest of snook, tarpon, and bonefish thru April. This was due to the potential damage that may have been done, due to the cold temperatures, and any affects it has had statewide on these subtropical fish.

*Anglers may still catch and release any and all of these fish during the closure.*
What this means is that you may still fish for any of these species but no one can harvest which means keep any of these species.

As a side note in recent history very few, mostly to use tarpon for bait, have been keeping tarpon , and in my 11 year career, thousands of tarpon have been caught and released on my charters, and I have never allowed or would allow one to be kept,  so the tarpon fishing will never be affected on my trips.

To touch on the snook fishing in the early spring, I have kept very limited numbers of snook in the past. Most of my clients that where looking to take home something to eat, understood the importance of the snook, and always focused on other species like trout and redfish for the table. So I would like to add that this will have limited affect on my charters, we will continue to fish as normal for snook, redfish, and trout with the only change being all snook caught go back to ensure a healthy stock for next season.

Capt Andy Boyette
www.gofishcharters.com
www.tarponcharters.com

With unprecedented continuous cold weather well below normal, and 2 nights of hard freeze, I have had to cancel all the trips I had scheduled over the past 10 days. Hope fully this weather event will clear out the middle of this week.

Today myself and a friend went on the water today. Our intent was to count any dead snook that we saw neither of us where prepared for what we saw. We targeted the north end of Pine Island and encountered thousands upon thousands of dead mullet most where 12 inches and under, they literally carpeted the bottom. We made are way into the 3 canals and counted over 1000 dead snook in less than a 1/4 mile of waterway, with 90% in the slot to overslot size (10-well over 25lbs). If there was any bright side to the snook kill we did not see any juvenile snook that were dead, unfortunately we only looked at a very small area. I have already gotten reports from numerous other guides with similar reports. This is no doubt a big set back to the snook fishery. You can see a video of the damage in the video section of my website http://gofishcharters.com/fishing_videos.htm

The trout fishing should remain unchanged since trout can tolerate the cold weather, same with the hardy redfish both of which have a range that extends well north of Southwest Florida. As of last night the Gulf water temperature was 50 and I would not doubt that it dropped a bit more with the coldest air last being last night. Tonight’s weather, while still cold for Florida, will hopefully stay out of the 30s and give a slight reprieve.

Tarpon fishing is around the corner (April-July) and I have been booking clients for sometime now. This year, I am in addition to the 6 hour tide charter, offering a 10 hour split day charter. On the 10 hour charter, the day is devoted solely to you, we fish part of the trip in the morning, take a break and come back out to fish the remainder of the trip. Typically split 6 hours and 4 hours. If we tarpon fish only I let the fish and/or the client decide if or when there is a break (we fish the best time). Also a client who has a 10 hour trip booked can request to fish for other species, which is not possible on a 6 hour trip since economics forces me to fish an afternoon trip. So basically the day is yours and we can break it up however as the day and fishing dictates. The response to the 10 hour tarpon charter has made me very excited about it. I would interject that this means less openings on my schedule so booking early will become more critical if you are planning to fish with me.

Capt Andy Boyette
1-888-880-0006
www.gofishcharters.com
www.tarponcharters.com