SW Florida Fishing

[MattyP]

I understand this site is geared for our neck of the woods, but it is also about sharing good information, which is the reason for this post.

 

My wife and I visit my parents in Cape Coral Florida 2-3 times a year.  We always book at least one inshore fishing charter during our visits and have used several captains over the years.  We have never had an overly poor experience, but we have found a captain that we believe has to be one of the finest.  We fish in the Matlacha/Pine Island/Charloette Harbor area and always enjoy our trips.  Alex Fischer is the name of the captain.  He was referred to us by a different captain that was unable to accommodate us during one of our previous visits and we have now used Alex four times and do not plan on ever considering anyone else.  Words cannot describe his passion and knowledge of the area, history, and of course the fishing.  As I mentioned, we have used other captains in the past, with no real complaints, but some will seem to run through a routine with always just fishing the same program with shrimp and not anything else.  We have never used just shrimp with Alex.  He starts everyday by going out and netting the baitfish that is optimum for the season.  He shows you how to properly fish each bait and will allow you to be as hands on or off to your liking and will fish different programs based upon your skill level.  He will target meat on the table and/or certain species.  Our last trip with him was a six hour trip and we caught countless snook, some redfish, jacks, snapper, trout, a keeper grouper, and of course some of those ever loving catfish.  I think the catfish exist just so you don't accidentally get confused and think you had died and gone to heaven :). 

 

I don't typically ever post information like this because so much of it is opinionated and could understand how some people could equate a great day of fishing to the skill level of their guide.  However, after using Alex now for several times, his extremely high skill level became obvious to us.  He explained to us that he fishes about 300 days out of the year, and if he doesn't have clients, he goes fishing with his family and friends.

If interested, you can contact Alex at 239-671-6589, or just google him (Captain Alex Fischer).  I am not associated with his business in any way, nor do I get any kick backs from him, I am just sharing what I feel is quality information.  Please feel free to tell him Matt and Wendy said hello.  Please feel free to private message me directly if you have any other questions, and I will do my best to answer them.

 

Tight lines.
 

[whaler1]

Great stuff!


Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

[Gator]

A good guide can make a world of difference. We chartered for eight days out of Matlacha several years ago with a guide whose name I won't mention, but he was recommended to me by a friend as having reasonable rates. Unfortunately for us. After three solid days without a decent fish, but lots of cruising past mangroves blowing out pods of snook and saying, "We'll come back to them", my buddy and I visited Bass Pro and were bemoaning our fate. Several of the guys working there commiserated with us, saying that this guy has a reputation and can't keep clients, hence his lower price. We nearly canceled the rest of our booking with him, but being somewhat stand-up guys we didn't want to shaft him on such short notice. So we fished the entire trip with him.

 

It's a beautiful place down there. We ended up catching a few fish. But because of the guide, my buddy and I refer to Pine Island and Matlacha as "the place that shall not be named".