sanibel pier Fishing Report 2025

To say we were disappointed with our results on this beautiful 20+ ft kelp would be an understatement. This sweaty Betty was located in the same water as yesterday’s small kelp that kicked out limits of dorado. Mother Ocean humbles us once again. 5 yellowtail, 2 dorado, 2 bonito.

Rolling down on the Ranta trip! Grease calm seas here rolling down on the Ranta 6 day trip. We had a great day of rigging, and are ready for action tomorrow. We may have a little wind this evening but it should subside by about 1 am for us. We start fishing tomorrow. Wish us luck!

40+ bluefin onboard so far for Capt. Matt and the boys. These bluefin are averaging 40 pounds and are very catchable on 30 lb. come prepared with different line sizes from 20-40 lb. hooks from #4-2/0. Match your Flourocarbon size to your mainline size. Listen to the crew, even if you have been fishing since before they were born.

The Apollo had another successful overnight trip up the coast. They had limits of rockfish. The weather is great and they will be fishing the island tomorrow.

Captain Alyar called in last night last night with a dual update. We returned this morning from a 1.5 day trip. We ended up with limits of Bluefin Tuna. We then ran a full day trip and caught 37 Bluefin Tuna and 5 Yellowfin Tuna. The Bluefin are 15 to 40 pounds and the Yellowifn are 35 to 40 pounds.

We have a Full day trip departing Tuesday morning and a 1.5 departing on Tuesday night. Be sure to bring outfits for 25 to 50 pounds with flurocarbon leader. Right now we are using size 6 or size 4 circle hooks.

Father, Daughter Ahi ! Conditions are trending in the right direction. It won’t be long now. Hope your here. 10 yellowfin for 26 anglers. Private Charters the next 2 days.

~~Sept. 2
 We hit the yellowtail grounds today. Not until 9:30. I started looking at 0400 but we weren't there until 9:30. "There" is where we had some good tailing. There's not a whole lot to write about it. We were there, and they were hitting. Most everyone was dropping jigs down and winding them back fast to achieve there tails. Before lunch I was considering fishing yellowtails tomorrow morning before traveling all day to put us in position for tuna the following day, but when I went in to eat lunch, there were 10 fish in the box. The crew dropped them, when I came back out there were 3 in the box and everyone was leaning against the rail not fishing except 3 passengers and 1 of those had 1 hanging. I got the hint. They caught enough yellowtail and they want tuna now. So we'll be traveling all day tomorrow to put ourselves in position to fish bluefin the following day weather pending.

 The weather today was windy, but the further north we get now the less wind there is. It's a nice ride now.

ISLANDS ARE ON THE MEND ! 35 yellowtail (12-25 lbs) on the boat so far for just 20 anglers. Flylined Sardines on 25 & 30 lb monofilament has been the best. Stay tuned for a final report.