Fort Myers / Pine Island KOA Holiday Fishing Reports (December 2025)

Brandon Douberly
Bartow, Florida
Reported: 1 year ago

The summer fishing is heating up and you don’t want to miss a second of the action. Big beautiful redfish, powerful snook and an abundance of seatrout have been giving us some fun days on the water lately. Bait is all over the sound and it’s the perfect size to...

Brandon Douberly Bartow, Florida Reported: 1 year ago

The summer fishing is heating up and you don’t want to miss a second of the action. Big beautiful redfish, powerful snook and an abundance of seatrout have been giving us some fun days on the water lately. Bait is all over the sound and it’s the perfect size to sit off groups of fish and access the bite with long casts. This time of year we really try to use a long light leader so as to not give ourselves away. These lighter leaders sometimes means tougher times getting those big fish to the boat and requiring a lot more maneuvering when these fish get us in a tight situation, but that’s what makes this sport so fun, the thrill of the fight. The water is heating up quickly which means we are required to keep less bait so they have plenty of oxygen in our well. We are starting to see some mangrove snapper moving into the inshore waters and it’s about to get even more exciting when we can fill limits of delicious snapper. Tarpon are all around and we’ve managed a few short hookups but with the windy conditions we’ve been facing some days just aren’t great days to fish for them so the time spent fishing tarpon has been limited unfortunately but that is sure to change with nicer weather on the horizon.

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Brandon Douberly
Bartow, Florida
Reported: 1 year ago

Sheepshead fishing is in full swing and they’re giving us some fun days on the water. These tasty, hard fighting fish are highly sought after during our winter months. They can be a tricky fish to hook, with a mouth full of human like teeth the areas to set a...

Brandon Douberly Bartow, Florida Reported: 1 year ago

Sheepshead fishing is in full swing and they’re giving us some fun days on the water. These tasty, hard fighting fish are highly sought after during our winter months. They can be a tricky fish to hook, with a mouth full of human like teeth the areas to set a hook are few which can make them an even tougher target. Alongside the sheepshead we are catching reds, snapper and black drum, plenty of variety and good eating fish to catch when the weather is cold. For the next couple months we will stick to shrimp for our bait of choice. Catching white bait these times of the year can be difficult and the fish switch their food choices to bait easier to catch like shrimp, crabs and sand fleas. Fish get slower with dropping water temps so their energy levels drop as well, they still fight like crazy and show us a great time on the water.

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Brandon Douberly
Bartow, Florida
Reported: 1 year ago

The weather is cooling down but the fishing is heating up, and it’s getting to be some of the finest fishing of the year. We are finding large schools of redfish, big hungry snook, larger slot sized trout and to top it off the sheepshead are moving inshore for the...

Brandon Douberly Bartow, Florida Reported: 1 year ago

The weather is cooling down but the fishing is heating up, and it’s getting to be some of the finest fishing of the year. We are finding large schools of redfish, big hungry snook, larger slot sized trout and to top it off the sheepshead are moving inshore for the winter months. We are starting to transition over to fishing shrimp but still catching nice white bait for the big predators to eat. It’s a great time to get out and fight some fish, the winds have held us up from going offshore much but the inshore bite is just as good and the results speak for themselves.

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Kyle Harmon
Cape Coral, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

Big red snapper have been all over out deep. Seeing a lot of black fin tuna.

Kyle Harmon Cape Coral, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

Big red snapper have been all over out deep. Seeing a lot of black fin tuna.

Red Snapper Fishing in Cape Coral, Florida

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Brandon Douberly
Bartow, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

The weather is heating up and so is the fishing. These big hungry redfish and snook are giving us some really fun days and giving us some unbelievable fights. Using white bait on a 3/0 hook and 25 lb monofilament leader fishing oyster bar edges, mangrove islands and beaches. Bait...

Brandon Douberly Bartow, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

The weather is heating up and so is the fishing. These big hungry redfish and snook are giving us some really fun days and giving us some unbelievable fights. Using white bait on a 3/0 hook and 25 lb monofilament leader fishing oyster bar edges, mangrove islands and beaches. Bait is getting a little smaller and once we see the schools of little greenbacks the snapper fishing will begin to heat up inshore. The fishing is phenomenal, we are seeing large groups of upper slot and over slot redfish and snook and they’re hungry and giving us some fun days on the water.

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Kyle Harmon
Cape Coral, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

The grouper bite has been really really good the best I have seen in years. We are getting a lot of Red Grouper over 30 inches 20lb range. American red snapper are in but the fish have been a little scattered. A lot of big Mangrove snappers being caught.

Kyle Harmon Cape Coral, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

The grouper bite has been really really good the best I have seen in years. We are getting a lot of Red Grouper over 30 inches 20lb range. American red snapper are in but the fish have been a little scattered. A lot of big Mangrove snappers being caught.

Red Grouper Fishing in Cape Coral, Florida

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Brandon Douberly
Bartow, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

Nearshore has been our go-to all week long with calm water and winds. We are fishing between 6 and 9 miles out in 40-60 feet of water using live shrimp. Lanes and mangrove snapper, sheepshead, white grunt, red and gag grouper have been our main targets and we have been...

Brandon Douberly Bartow, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

Nearshore has been our go-to all week long with calm water and winds. We are fishing between 6 and 9 miles out in 40-60 feet of water using live shrimp. Lanes and mangrove snapper, sheepshead, white grunt, red and gag grouper have been our main targets and we have been catching a boat full of everything. Groups have been keeping me busy baiting hooks, it’s typical to get one fish for every bait that hits the bottom and we’ve got some good fighters out there for light tackle. A two ounce knocker rig on a 3/0 circle hook and 40 lb leader has been the setup that has been working best for these nearshore species. We take advantage of these calm days to go nearshore, they don’t come often enough this time of year and right on schedule the next week or so is looking to be windy and choppy in the deep water. Finding the window to go is imperative.

Lane Snapper, Scup Fishing in Cape Coral, Florida

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Brandon Douberly
Bartow, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

Weather has been good at times windy a lot of the time but we are managing. Targeting sheepshead, redfish and trout inshore, days we are able to go a few miles offshore we are getting lane snapper, grunt, tripletail, red grouper and triggerfish.

Brandon Douberly Bartow, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

Weather has been good at times windy a lot of the time but we are managing. Targeting sheepshead, redfish and trout inshore, days we are able to go a few miles offshore we are getting lane snapper, grunt, tripletail, red grouper and triggerfish.