Pine Island Fishing Charters & Guides

Pine Island Fishing Charters

Florida's largest island and the 118th largest in the US offers some of the best fishing you can ask for. It has plenty of amenities for family members who are not interested in fishing. Along with chasing fish that can reach 400+ pounds or more, you can golf, sail, kayak and visit historic sights. Pine Island is located in South Florida and is sandwiched between a string of barrier islands and the mainland. This unusual configuration and the closeness to several state preserves create a huge nursery for juvenile fish. If little fish are present in huge numbers, the big ones are there for the lunch buffet. One thing you cannot do on Pine Island itself is lay on a beach. Pine Island does not have sandy beaches. You have to visit nearby islands for that. Instead of beaches, Pine Island has mangroves, something that makes inshore anglers salivate. Mangroves mean incredible structure. Inshore anglers know if the mangrove trees are thick, the fishing is phenomenal. That is the case with Pine Island. Miles and miles of mangrove swamps are simply packed with fish. Before you head out, check the regulations so you know what you can keep and what you have to release.

Pine Island Inshore Fishing

Mangrove snapper get that name for a reason. These inshore fish are common in the mangrove swamps. Just like their offshore cousins, they are fun to catch and great on the table. Use fluorocarbon leaders no matter what you are throwing. If you have live bait like shrimp, small crabs and glass minnows, you need just enough weight to keep it in one place on the bottom. Artificial lures are soft-bodied lures and shrimp-imitating jigs. These waters are also home to tarpon. Mangrove snapper and tarpon can often be found near each other. Live pinfish, blue crabs and if you can find some, eels, are the best live baits for the silver kings. Tarpon also hit big crankbaits and white bucktails. Fly fishermen consider tarpon to be a bucket list fish, but the mangrove thickets are not the place for fly casting. If you chase tarpon with a fly, look along the edges of the trees and channels where the bigger tarpon have room to maneuver. Big streamers, crab and shrimp pattern flies are the offerings of choice. These waters also hold plenty of reds, black drum and speckled trout. Reds and trout are particularly fond of live bait or shrimp jigs fished under a popping cork. The cork sounds like baitfish at the surface, which brings the fish in. Black drum prefer to feed on the bottom so shrimp and crabs are the best baits. If you find a school of them, you can throw bucktails with or without a bit of shrimp or squid for scent. Just fish it slow, bouncing it along the bottom. Pine Island is a great place to catch one of Florida's many slams. Getting a Bay and Estuary Slam, a mangrove snapper, Spanish mackerel and snook, is pretty easy. The hardest one to catch is the Spanish mackerel because they are constantly on the move. Troll silver spoons or mackerel trees until you find a school. Then cast white bucktails into their midst. The Inshore Grand Slam of a red, trout and flounder has the flounder as the most difficult to catch. To get a flounder, find a place with moving water and a dropoff. Rig a shrimp or squid on a hook with a little weight. Cast above the dropoff and let the current push your bait over the edge.

Pine Island Offshore Fishing

Get past the barrier islands into the Gulf of Mexico to find sailfish, tuna, grouper, more snapper, hogfish, amberjack, king mackerel and more. Some fish are constantly moving and others find some bottom structure to call home. Trolling covers a lot of water in a hurry and is useful for locating the roving fish. Another good way to find fish like mackerel, wahoo, mahi mahi and others is diving seabirds. The birds are hammering a school of baitfish. Under the baitfish, something else is also feeding. Reef fish are best caught by staying over the reef. Drop lines with live or cut bait directly onto the reef. Bait chaser rigs dropped on the same reef can catch all the bait you need. Pine Island Fishing Charters guides in the know can also put you on rod-breaking monsters. Goliath grouper are huge fish that grow to over 500 pounds. Getting a photo of one next to the boat is the best trophy you’ll get; regulations and common sense ask anglers to leave goliaths in the water.

Book A Pine Island Fishing Charter

It's time for you to visit the Sunshine State and take home memories for a lifetime. FishAnywhere brings you the best Pine Island Fishing Charters at the best prices. Let's fish!