Fishing around Palm Island and Manasota Key Florida has been fantastic this April. Unseasonal cold fronts has held our water temperature in the "goldilocks zone" for a few weeks now. Snook, Spotted Sea Trout, and Redfish are being caught on almost every half day trip, and we are starting to see some Tarpon move into our area as well. As we creep closer to the coveted 80 degree mark for water temperature, we will continue to see our fishing improve. It's a fantastic time to go fishing in South West Florida!!!

Capt. Mike Slattery
941-626-6946

We have had a good week of fishing around Palm Island and Manasota Key Florida. Warming water temperatures and clean water  has opened up the fishery. We are catching lots of pompano throughout the bays, deep channels and bedded grass with tide flow helps.  Warming water has led to Redfish and snook to start moving out of the creeks, and staging for a spring feed on nearby grass flats. Nearshore, with prevailing East winds, we have had calm seas that has allowed for good triple tail fishing.  It's your choice what flavor you want to try and catch, and as always....  It's a FANTASTIC time to go fishing in Southwest Florida!!!

Capt. Mike Slattery
941-626-6946

With cold temps in the air now, winter is really here... No fooling this time, it's for real!  So we are locked into our bay pompano fishing.  We are finding these great tasting fish, throughout the region. Tide, and sandy bottom with broken grass is important, clean water helps too. We are also finding nice trout and redfish on the flats, warming on the grass with rising temperature and water.  It really is a fantastic time to go fishing in Southwest Florida!!!

Capt. Mike Slattery
941-626-6946

Winter time in South West Florida?  We ask this question, because our weather has been anything but cold!  Palm Island and Manasota Key have had a beautiful Christmas run of fair winds and mild temperatures.  With that the fishing has been fantastic.  The afternoon when it gets warmer, has produced phenomenal numbers.  We had a family from Atlanta, on an afternoon charter today.  "We probably caught 50 snook" is what the client said.... It's a fantastic time to go fishing in Southwest Florida!!!

Capt. Mike Slattery
941-626-6946

Early November cold fronts have started to decrease the water temperature fairly rapidly around Palm Island and Manasota Key.  This has moved some of the local guides to start fishing their winter trends.  For me, that takes my attention off of the usual suspects (reds, snook, and trout) and turns my attention to some "food" fishing.  Triple tail and pompano are on my menus for winter time.  Both are delicious, and fun to catch.  Both have a fairly abundant population locally, and both can be caught on either live bait or artificial.  As it gets cold up north, it becomes a fantastic time to go fishing in Southwest Florida!!!

Capt. Mike Slattery
941-626-6946

Finished up a busy week of charters, with the Redbone Celebrity Fishing Tournament. Which I, after 10 years of fishing the tournament, have the opportunity to chair. And, benefits cystic fibrosis research, a disease that affects children.

We had 38 inshore fishing guides, fishing clients from around the US.  Each client is his/her individual team with their assigned guide, 2 clients per boat. All boats were tasked with going out and capturing the inshore Grand Slam (Snook, Redfish,Trout, and Tarpon).  With the fall season offering great weather and fantastic fishing, the guides and clients alike enjoyed the experience and tournament format.  The catch numbers are impressive even without all boats recording their catch.  The big winner are they clients and guide teams that can complete the grand slam!  With most teams only fishing 10-12 he's over a 2 day period, catch 4 particular inshore game fish species is not an easy task. 

Congratulations to all the clients and guide teams that won a category.  And thanks to all that donated time and money for a great cause.  As always, it's a fantastic time to go fishing in SW Florida!!!

Capt. Mike Slattery
941-626-6946

After almost 70 days off the water due to an engine failure, I was able to fish a group out of the resort yesterday. We headed south into the harbor system, and fished inside Gasparilla sound. After a long intermission and due to having some redtide in the area, we caught bait around our first stop to fish, so we didn't chance running through "dirty" water with it.  We bounced around, prospecting on the rising tide.  Started by fishing bar edges and holes, and as the tide increased and the water level rose, we transitioned to shorelines. We caught lots of jack, snook, and a few trout. We ended the day finding a nice school of overslept redfish, that we worked for about the last hour of our trip.  It's a fun time to be fishing in South West Florida!

Capt. Mike Slattery
Palm Island Fishing Charters
941-626-6946

The wind has been brutal since memorial day weekend. So, the Tarpon bite has been lackluster to say the least.  Because of that, I tend to turn my focus on another "big game" species we have available in summer time. Big snook hunting can be some of the most fun and rewarding fishing we offer. Multiple bite days, often in the double digits, with the opportunity for the anglers to land a trophy sized fish. June is the month for catching big critters, and we have them in fantastic order. It's a great time to be fishing in South West Florida.

Capt. Mike Slattery
941-626-6946
Palm Island Fishing Charters

Our Tarpon fishing is in full swing!  The entire fishery is "open" for bites.  The beaches, harbor, and passes all afford their own opportunity for catching the silver king.  This past week on the super moon, we concentrated our efforts on the beach and harbor fishery.  Our clients were awarded with shots at big schools of fish, and bites in the right conditions.  It's a fun and exciting time to go fishing in south west Florida!!!

Capt. Mike Slattery
941-626-6946
www.palmislandoutfitters.com
www.charlotteharborchronicles.com

Tarpon fishing is starting off with a bang!!! The new moon tides proved to be very good on the slower portions.  Most guides fished heavily around the passes this week.  We started to see some migrating fish showing up on our beach front, and these fish are opportunistic, and not relegated to feed on tide flow.  Great opportunity to sneak in some quick bites!!!  It's a fantastic time to fish in south west Florida!!!

Capt. Mike Slattery
941-626-6946
www.palmislandoutfitters.com
www.charlotteharborchronicles.com