Fishing with Capt. George Tunison | Is it becoming hotter every year, or is it just me?
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Wow! Can it get any hotter?
At what temperature does fiberglass melt? My boat deck is feeling a little soft and spongy these days. Well, it's not that bad yet, but it certainly feels like it's getting there.
Is it becoming hotter each year or maybe it's just the fact that yet another old-timer's birthday is staring me in the face and the heat is just becoming harder to deal with because of age?
Whatever the reasons, work, family scheduling or other obligations, if you're forced to fish the Southwest Florida dayshift, make sure to protect yourself as much as possible with sunscreen, light weight long sleeves, long pants and quality eye wear.
Bad choices are baseball caps which offer near zero protection for ears, faces and back of necks. Going without shoes invites hook danger as well as nasty foot and ankle sunburns. The typical baseball cap with a half cloth half mesh top can cause a terrible scalp burn and also offers minimal nose protection from the searing sun. If this is your hat of choice at least shop around for non-mesh top, long billed, caps.
Bigger hats combined with lightweight total head coverings or buffs are the way to go and don't forget those sun gloves to protect your hands. Staying well hydrated is a no-brainer along with keeping multiple wet rags or towels in the ice cooler for yourself and the rest of the crew to wrap around your neck for quick relief. Make sure you know the common signs of heat stroke which can lead to sudden death.
With all that being said and if at all possible, why go through all that? Go on the nightshift like the fish do or ,at the very least, start before the sun comes up and get off the water before lunch. Smart offshore crews leave at night to return to port early before heat and Old Sparky cranks up offshore. Night snapper fishing is outstanding this time of year and snook, trout and tarpon also enjoy the cool night bite as well.
We are just entering the bad lightning phase of summer; make sure you don't make the evening news for the wrong reasons.
A good weather compromise this time of year as Mother Nature becomes more violent and unpredictable is early morning nearshore reef hopping. Yes, there are plenty of larger snapper and other bottom dwellers out in the 120 to 150-foot zones but you can stay closer to home, burn less fuel and get out and back much quicker and still have plenty of action as well as filling your cooler with tasty dinner guests.
One plan is to coordinate your nearshore trip with a tide chart. Start in the passes and along the beach early in the morning on an outgoing tide for a chance at giant snook and tarpon, then work your way out to your favorite nearshore GPS numbers for shots at tarpon, permit, jumbo snook, huge sharks and a good variety of bottom fare. I have two friends that dive at every opportunity and both have recently reported seeing truly huge snook lurking around nearshore numbers.
For beach snook, white soft plastics or bucktail jigs are usually winners but don't overlook suspending twitch baits like MirrOdines that sport a rounder profile as well as slim minnow baitfish imitators like Rapala X-Raps or Rapala Husky Jerks. Have a rod rigged with both style baits and let the fish tell you what they want. If all else fails, there is plenty of live bait available for your cast net and snook hook.
Being a fan of throwing lures at giant bridge tarpon at night, I've have good success each year with Hogy soft plastics pre-rigged with their Barbarian jighead in their Pro Paddle Tail and Slow Tail Swimbaits series in 1 to 3-ounce weights. Fantastic tarpon and snook nighttime bridge lures.
Capt. George Tunison is a Cape Coral resident fishing guide. You can contact him at 239-579-0461 or via email at captgeorget3@aol.com.