February fishing can be very good but the weather is a factor. The winds of March are not yet here and the cold of January is behind us. I hope Mother Nature has a plan because I wasn’t happy to see the fish kill in mid January. I didn’t realize how many 30-40lb tarpon were resident until I saw them dead. The fish I didn’t see dead were the red and black drum, trout and sheepshead. These fish are more resilient to the cold. The colder it gets the clearer the water gets in SW Florida and it was crystal clear like the keys in mid January. Water temperature I the backcountry got as low as the high 40’s.

In February the new moon is on the 13th and the full is on the 28th. This means we’ll have very low early morning tides on the1st, 2nd, 13-16 and the 2nd and 29th. Fishing deeper holes and troughs with shrimp tipped jigs can be effective for snook, redfish and sheepshead as well as trout and pompano in the troughs. As the tides comes in snook and reds will move towards shorelines where they like to feed. Light weight floating/diving plugs are a fun and a productive way to fish.

If it’s warm and the water temperature reaches 73 look for tarpon starting to show in the back bays. “Layed up tarpon” are most prevalent in April but they will show in February if it’s warm and especially on calm days. Pompano fishing can be good on the incoming tides around the shoals near Hurricane Pass, Tiger tail beach near Marco, the shoals around Big Marco Pass as well as Cape Romano. Yellow surgical tube jigs as well as pink flashy jigs can be productive.

Capt. Mark Ward
239-450-9230 c