What a wonderful morning dolphin and shelling cruise we had. The dolphins were abundant and we even saw a few manatee. We found several sea stars at the island and lots of pretty shells. We received this photo from a family that cruised out with us on a recent tour. In the photo is their daughter Melanie with a spiny sea star, learning about them from our guide Cristina. This cruise was great and we saw so much wildlife. 
We have had some great tours so far this summer. The dolphin in the pic we have named Jack knife. She jumps vertically completely out of the water and then reverses nose first back into the water. She has a calf with her that often jumps along side her. They are soo fun to watch. On a recent morning dolphin and shelling cruise, we not only saw lots of manatees and dolphins, we found a live horse conch at our shelling island. The other picture is of one of our passengers holding the conch. The tides have been so high, with strong tides around our new moon, so the shelling has been challenging, but we are still finding nice shells, sea stars, horseshoe crabs, and lots of othersealife around the shoreline.
On one of our morning shelling and dolphin cruises last week we saw a baby snowy egret entangled in fishing line dangling from a low lying branch head down in the water. We thought it was no longer alive and Cristina, our marine biologist and naturalist, waded over to it to cut all the line out of the trees to prevent another entanglement, and to release the unfortunate bird. To our surprise the egret was still alive and struggling to keep his head above water. The egret was exhausted and seemed completely content resting on Cristina’s hand. We were able to get it to a wildlife hospital on Sanibel. Unfortunately, the doctor called us 4 days later to inform us the little egret didn’t make it.
Capt. Mike Denegre of Good Time Charters reports a great week fishing in Estero Bay and its adjoining passes this past week. Casting Live shrimp with no more than an eighth ounce of weight around the mangroves has produced lots of mangrove snapper as well as red fish. Moving water and adequate water depth are key. The Reds have been found most active around the top of the tide around the trees and into the shade as the day warms up. Also around the top of the tide Capt. Mike has found lots of action on the grass beds. Fishing live shrimp under a popping cork in 3 to 5 feet of water over grass brought in lots of spotted sea trout and occasional pompano and bonnet head sharks. Drifting the passes early in the day found a nice mix of snapper, trout, mackeral, and grunts. All of these were caught using 8th ounce jig heads bounced along the bottom.
Here’s Johnathon, from Denmark, showing off this great spotted seatrout that he reeled in. What a great family and fishing trip this was. Family fun fishing with Capt Mike is always a good time.
We love summer time here. The birds are nesting and our dophin also seem to be enjoying summer too. These shots were taken by our crew on a recent cruise.
Capt. Michael Denegre of Good Time Charters reports a productive week in Estero Bay and its adjacent passes. Fishing with live shrimp on jig heads caught many nice sized spotted sea trout and spanish mackeral in the passes. Drifting while bouncing the bait off the bottom had the best results picking up an occasional flounder and black tip shark. Through some of the deeper areas around the passes produced a good snapper bite with whiting mixed in. Fishing the grass flats of Estero Bay with popping corks and live shrimp on jigs found lots of hungry trout on the moveing tide and preferably early in the day. Trout topping 22 inches were common. Captain Mike’s charters also visited some near shore reefs where a slew of spanish mackeral and grouper were gobbling up both the live shrimp and cut bait, starting at the bottom and working back to the surface.
We have been getting to know our resident dolphin and I have started cataloging the ones I see daily on our tours. This couple of dolphin in the photos I always observe together and they LOVE to play. I have named them Lipknot and Blackbeard. I have no idea of their gender yet but Blackbeard is much larger of the two and loves to do belly flops near the boat that will often splash us as we watch in awe. 
The top photo is of Lipknot, the bottom photo is Blackbeard.
Capt. Mike Denegre of Good Time Charters reports that the spanish mackeral have moved in just in time to replace the departing sheepshead following a great spawn this year. Spanish mackeral are a blast on light tackle and are great eating. The mackeral have been hitting on the moving tide in or out. Mike’s charters found jig heads tipped with shrimp to work great, just be sure to not give them to much time before setting the hook as they will cut through most leader with ease. The mackeral have been ranging from all sizes and mixed in are pompano, blue fish, bonnet heads, and black tip sharks. Needless to say lots of great action following this warmer weather. In Estero Bay around the mangroves and oyster bars still finding sheepshead of decent size and red fish are becomming a lot more active with a couple oversized fish being released this past week. As for some unexpected surprises, several flounder were caught some in the passes and others in the back bay, caught wile dragging jig heads tipped with shrimp along the bottom. A few mangrove snappers have also been caught in the bay this week and those numbers should sky rocket if the weather continues on this track.
Captain Mike Denegre of Good Time Charters reports the sheepshead spawn is on! This past week captain Mike’s charters roped in loads of sheepshead in the 4 to 5 pound range. All the fish were caught on small to medium live shrimp around oyster bars and the base of mangrove islands in areas of 3 to 4 feet deep. Mixed in with the sheepshead were red fish and an occasional snook, the better catches of the week being a nice 31 inch red caught using live shrimp on a jig head deep under the mangroves in good current. When captain Mikes charters got tired of beating on the sheepshead it was to the trout holes where there was lots of action between slot trout and more ladyfish than you could shake a stick at. The trout were found around the mangroves in areas of good current, picking up jigheads tipped with live shrimp. For the trout and ladyfish bouncing the bait on the bottom or floating under a cork proved sufficient. Several pompano and spanish mackeral were caught as well this past week in the back bay, an encouraging look at what may be ahead with this warmer weather.
