Captiva Island Fishing Reports (May 2026)

Brandon Douberly
Bartow, Florida
Reported: 1 year ago

The winter feels are here in Southwest Florida. We may not be in full blown cold season but it feels like it some days. Early cold fronts that have not been common the past several years, extreme low winter type tides and of course our northern visitors have made their...

See Full Report & Photos >

Brandon Douberly Bartow, Florida Reported: 1 year ago

The winter feels are here in Southwest Florida. We may not be in full blown cold season but it feels like it some days. Early cold fronts that have not been common the past several years, extreme low winter type tides and of course our northern visitors have made their appearance. The other, more notable signs of winter fishing is the invasion of big sheepshead in to our inshore waters. When the temps drop these delicious fish make their way inshore to engage their annual spawning. Sheepshead are big, hardy, tasty and strong fighting fish that feed exclusively on crustaceans like barnacles, shrimp, crabs and even sand fleas. Our sheepshead are a structure oriented species, meaning they like cover such as docks, rock piles, mangrove branches and you can sometimes find them along oyster beds where a lot of their food can be found. They have big strong jaws, lined with rows of rounded teeth resembling human teeth. They are quite the sight to see, but despite their strange appearance they taste much like the food they consume. Some people would compare their meat to crab. I typically target these fish using a sharp 1/4 ounce jig head tipped with a small shrimp or if need be a piece of a larger shrimp. The key is to cover the hook without giving them enough hanging off the hook where they can pull it off. Covering the hook makes them have no choice but to eat the whole bait. Their mouth is so full of teeth sometimes it is difficult to get a hook in them, needless to say it is not uncommon to miss them.

Scroll for more Close

Jack Swedberg
Fort Myers, Florida
Reported: 1 year ago

Cobia and triple tails nearshore

See Full Report & Photos >

Jack Swedberg Fort Myers, Florida Reported: 1 year ago

Cobia and triple tails nearshore

Scroll for more Close

Logan Hawthorne
Cape Coral, Florida
Reported: 1 year ago

Nearshore bite is heating up.

See Full Report & Photos >

Logan Hawthorne Cape Coral, Florida Reported: 1 year ago

Nearshore bite is heating up.

Scroll for more Close

Jack Swedberg
Fort Myers, Florida
Reported: 1 year ago

42 inch redfish on a nearshore trip

See Full Report & Photos >

Jack Swedberg Fort Myers, Florida Reported: 1 year ago

42 inch redfish on a nearshore trip

Scroll for more Close

Alex Kirby
Bradenton, Florida
Reported: 1 year ago

Happy thanksgiving

See Full Report & Photos >

Alex Kirby Bradenton, Florida Reported: 1 year ago

Happy thanksgiving

Scroll for more Close

James Goodman
Fort Myers, Florida
Reported: 1 year ago

Lots of Cobia and reds on the near shore wrecks eating small pilchards off the bottom.

See Full Report & Photos >

James Goodman Fort Myers, Florida Reported: 1 year ago

Lots of Cobia and reds on the near shore wrecks eating small pilchards off the bottom.

Scroll for more Close

Brandon Douberly
Bartow, Florida
Reported: 1 year ago

Fishing ahead of a cold front is one of my absolute favorites. The barometric pressure gets to a perfect point before fronts come through and these fish feel it and get extremely active. Cold fronts can cause fish to go into a lethargic state where they have no energy or...

See Full Report & Photos >

Brandon Douberly Bartow, Florida Reported: 1 year ago

Fishing ahead of a cold front is one of my absolute favorites. The barometric pressure gets to a perfect point before fronts come through and these fish feel it and get extremely active. Cold fronts can cause fish to go into a lethargic state where they have no energy or motivation to chase or eat baits. Imagine for a second you wake up and you feel bloated, nauseous even, your initial reaction is not to get out of bed and eat a big breakfast, instead you lay around for as long as it takes to feel well again. This feeling in that scenario is very similar to what fish feel after a low pressure system blows through, they have to work to keep a balance and have no problem sitting around until the pressure builds back and they feel comfortable again. They tend to eat like they’re going into hibernation for a few days because essentially that is the case. As for the day we had before our most recent front, the fish had no quit in them, it seemed like every bait for 3-5 hours was getting bit. We caught tons of redfish, snook and trout in just a matter of a few hours. The trout were huge, most over 20 inches, redfish ranged in size but many between 19 and 25 inches. We caught a lot of snook too, most in the mid 20’s and a couple over 30. I had my brother out and we were on a mission to get meat for a family fish fry. We did our job, we limited out on all three species and the family will have a fine fish fry in the coming days.

Scroll for more Close

Brandon Douberly
Bartow, Florida
Reported: 1 year ago

Late fall is an epic time to fish our waters, the snook are fully back in the inshore waters and hungry after all the work they put in during their spawning season. You will frequently find long, skinny female snook looking to get their figure back after giving birth to...

See Full Report & Photos >

Brandon Douberly Bartow, Florida Reported: 1 year ago

Late fall is an epic time to fish our waters, the snook are fully back in the inshore waters and hungry after all the work they put in during their spawning season. You will frequently find long, skinny female snook looking to get their figure back after giving birth to the next generation of snook. We have been catching our bigger snook on large greenbacks we refer to as turbos, these bigger baits are irresistible to those bigger slot and overslot snook. Beef up your leader because you will need it with some of these monsters, I typically step it up to 40 lb Fluorocarbon which is less susceptible to abrasion when those fish shoot under structure. Redfish are still schooling up towards the tail end of their spawn, mostly the mid to upper slot fish are what we have found around the mangrove islands, oyster beds and docks. Pinfish are hard to pass up but they will certainly eat greenbacks as well. Trout over grass flats and edges of bars and channels have been pretty good, just lacking in size at times. We have been targeting those trout with gulp shrimp under a popping cork. They absolutely love those baits but just about anything will work. At times when the wind is blowing it is best to use a bait you can slow retrieve like a shrimp immitation bait. We are starting to head into a change in season, cold fronts are pushing through and soon we will see a change in bait, tide heights and target species. As we begin seeing lower winter tides we will switch to shrimp and focus more on sheepshead as they make their way into our inshore waters to spawn.

Scroll for more Close