Fishing On Sanibel Island

Sanibel Island offers a great fishing experience to anyone who enjoys getting out their rod and reel and casting a line into the water with the hope of catching a monster fish.

The pristine waters that surround Sanibel provide excellent opportunities for novice fishermen to the World Record seeker. Fish can be found on Sanibel Island all year round, whether fishing offshore, inshore, back bay, pier, beach or wade fishing.

When offshore fishing on Sanibel, the body of water is shallow, which means that anglers can be 20 to 30 miles offshore and only be in 50 to 75 feet of water. Some of the finest grouper fishing can be done here with black grouper and red grouper being very common.

Some of the other offshore species which can be found here include:

Inshore fishing on Sanibel Island offers prime fishing for a wide variety of species including the much sought after redfish, sea trout, snook, and tarpon.

Redfish

Sanibel has one of the healthiest, largest redfish populations in the State of Florida. Just imagine the thrill of sign casting to a “tailing” redfish in crystal clear, shallow water, or reeling in a large redfish from the mangrove shoreline.

Sea Trout

Sea trout are becoming more and more common and larger in Sanibel Islands due to their good fishery management. The sea trout are gaining a healthy respect as highly sought after saltwater fish.

Snook

Because the habitat that surrounds Sanibel Island contains many inlet river mouths, oyster bars and mangrove shorelines, there is an abundance of snook present all year round.

Tarpon

One of the most spectacular fishing experiences in Sanibel Island is tarpon fishing. This area is whereby the first tarpon was ever caught in Tarpon Bay on a rod and reel on 1885 by W.H. Wood. He used a bait and thumb steel reel with linen line.

Tarpon migrate annually beginning mid-April and go well into the months of July. The various professional fishing guides primarily fish off the east end of Sanibel offshore, anchored up, chumming the water and using light to heavier tackle. This area offers the ultimate in tarpon fishing.

Sanibel is also great for fly fishing. It is a place whereby anglers can enjoy saltwater fly fishing at its finest. This area is fished every month of the year by experienced fly fishermen due to the abundance of fish.

Imagine casting out to a redfish in the shallow water flats and watching it charge and eat the fly. Or the thrill of watching sea trout that are generally between two to four pounds in weight straighten out a fly line. A snook can violently strike a fly whereby the hookup is almost unexpected and then the fish will run with incredible speed and perform acrobatic jumps.

You can even see a 100 pound tarpon follow the fly with its enormous bucket mouth wide open, and witness the fly disappearing into its mouth as it turns around with great force and speed and begins to perform uncontrollable jumps. This is what makes fly fishing on Sanibel Island the ultimate challenge.

The causeway beaches and the beaches close to the Lighthouse end of the island, Bowman’s Beach and the beaches off West Gulf Drive are whereby anglers can fish in shallow water with light tackle using live bait, artificial lures or fly rods. Anglers can walk the beaches and catch flounder, mackerel, pompano, sea trout, sheepshead, snook, or whiting.

It is even possible to catch black drum, redfish, sheepshead, snapper, snook and many other species from the pier. When fishing from the pier, it is generally required for the angler to use heavier tackle.

Listed below are the different species which can be caught at the different times of the year in the Sanibel area.

All year round fish:

Spring and Summer:

Spring and Fall:

• Black Drum

• King Mackerel

• Tripletail

Winter and Spring:

• Sheepshead

Of course, it is also possible to rent a charter boat fully equipped with a crew for the purposes of fishing on Sanibel Island.

It is required that most residents and visitors purchase licenses for fishing in salt or fresh water.

Here is some of the latest Sanibel Island Fishing Information:

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