Cortez Fishing » fishing

Cortez Festival This Weekend

admin — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 02:29:38 +0000

Here are the details... Photo by Steve B.

Cortez Commercial Fishing Festival Next Month

admin — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 02:39:26 +0000

The Cortez Commercial Fishing Festival is on the way next month February 20-21, 2010. The festival turns our little quiet community into a bustling place for two days as people from all around come for the food and atmosphere. For the folks who live here we welcome the crowds as it brings in much needed money to help preserve our little place on the water. You see all kinds of people from young to old mingling about the booths offering food and artwork while live music fills the air.

For more information check out the F.I.S.H. website at: http://fishnews.org/festival/

Fishing Trips this Week

admin — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 02:50:01 +0000

I went out this week in the late afternoon to some flats that are real close to my house. I don’t even get up on a plane because it is a “no-wake” zone all the way there… thanks to the Manatees Anyhow the fishing was great. On Tuesday I caught 6 Trout in an hour with the biggest being 23″. Thursday I caught another 5-6 fish the biggest 20″… Last night I caught 3 fish over 20″ and culled them to end up with a 22″+ fish. Tonight was a little different it was a little lower tide and the water wasn’t quite moving yet. I managed to get 2 fish in the boat with the biggest being around 17″.

The tide was just starting to come in most of the week while I was out there an hour before dark so I had some water moving making the fish hungry. Most of the week the winds were light to dead. Tonight the winds were a little stronger up to about 5 knots.

Tuesday’s Fish…

Thursday’s Fish…

Our dog Poppy getting into the action…

That’s all for now tight lines…

What a Week Fishing

admin — Mon, 18 May 2009 00:19:21 +0000

This last week has to be by far the most bizarre week I have had. I was fishing for Trout and Redfish this week and couldn’t even get a redfish bite. I caught 3 keeper trout all week with the biggest one coming at the very last minute tonight. Luckily it was big enough to get me back on the leaderboard at Bounty Fishing in third place.

This week I lost both of my Okuma spinning reels to defects, one on Thursday and one on Friday. I dusted off some old Shimanos and put them on my St. Croix rods and respooled them. Today I had to respool one of them again when a wind knot from Hell ruined my PowerPro line. I also lost an eye insert on one of my rods this week.

I probably spent close to 40 hours fishing this week for multiple species… Trout, Redfish, Tarpon, Grouper, Snapper… and landed 3 trout and one Mangrove Snapper. I have had a terrible time finding the trout and redfish this week. I fished from 8 inches of water to 16 feet of water offshore, where one of my keepers came from. I waded, drifted, trolled, you name it, I did it with little luck. I’ll post a picture of my trout once the tournament close tonight.

Tight lines…

Catfish Blues

admin — Sat, 16 May 2009 12:58:20 +0000

This week has been brutal for me on the flats as I can’t catch anything that I’m after. The following song sums it all up…

Catfish Blues

Fishing Picked up This Afternoon

admin — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 02:05:22 +0000

I went back out this afternoon and what a difference from this morning or yesterday. Fish were chasing and blasting lures almost as soon as they hit the water. I had 10 fish in the first 20 minutes or so and they kept getting bigger as I went. This was a far cry from earlier today where I fished for hours for a couple of fish.

I fished the incoming tide this morning and had no luck. This afternoon I waited until the tide started to come back in about 6:00 PM so there would be enough water on the flat I wanted to fish. The later day seemed to make a big difference. I may wait tomorrow and go out in the afternoon once the tide switches to incoming, although that will be a little later in the evening, and see what happens.

Tight Lines…

A Very Slow Day Fishing

admin — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:31:31 +0000

I’m not sure if it was the front that went through or the murky water but yesterday was dead. I spent the first couple of hours on some of my favorite flats from shallow to deep, sandy to grassy, with only one hit. I did happen to land that fish, a 15″ trout, but that was it in 2 hours!

I then moved closer to shore in the skinny water looking for Redfish. I had a livewell full of nice pinfish and proceeded to launch one on the flats. After about 30 minutes I had a fish on! It ran like a red and stayed down for most of the fight. I got him up to the side of the boat and saw he he was a nice red on the upper-side of the 18″ to 27″ slot limit. Just as I was about to get him in the net boom he was gone. It turns out that he slightly straightened my hook out… piece of crap!

I put a new hook on and casted back out. I fished for another 2 hours with killer live bait with just one hardhead to show for all that work. Oh well I will be back out today to give it another try.

Finally the Wind is Letting Up

admin — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:50:53 +0000

Last week was hell on the water due to 20-30 mph winds that blew just about all week. Today is the first day since Tuesday of last week that the wind is not gusting over 20mph. We had a fantastic month of March on the inshore flats with much of the action coming from north Sarasota Bay. Any type of jig or artificial shrimp fished around the south end of Long Bar in the morning produced good size Trout. Two weeks ago I was able to upgrade every day with a bigger fish. I finished the week with a 23″ Gator Trout taking 3rd place in a tournament. I also caught Pompano, Flounder, and small reds.

23" Gator

The deeper flats in the middle of the bay were also producing good numbers of nice Trout. Look for grass patches in the sandy areas for fish. As the bait pods moved close the Ladyfish got out of control and forced me to move on many occasions. I had one Pompano chase a bait to the boat only to spook and jump out of the water right over the bow of my boat. Those guys will scare the crap out of you when you don’t expect it.

Until next time… catch fish and have fun…

A Very Windy Week

admin — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 15:08:41 +0000

This week has been no good for fishing due to the sustained winds of 20+ mph. The bays and Gulf are very rough and churned up now. I went out Thursday morning and tried to find some shelter from the winds. Unfortunately every place I looked was occupied by a guide doing the same thing with his clients. I did manage a few small trout with the biggest being 16″. Again today on Saturday the winds are howling and not looking to settle down anytime soon.

So I have taken this time to focus on my websites and make some much needed improvements. You will start to see a big difference soon.