# Sanibel Lighthouse pier report



## yogai (Oct 21, 2005)

I haven't been very active on this site in a while, but I'm at Sanibel Island right now and I'll be here through June. Just thought I'd give a little report as I've been fishing constantly since last Monday.

I've been catching lots of snapper, sand bream, and spadefish on shrimp at the lighthouse pier. Small bottom rigs work well. On heavier Spinning gear lots of people have been getting decent size snook with pinfish or large shrimp. Casting spoons upcurrent catches spanish macks and jack crevalle very easily, or you can net little greenbacks and free line them just outside of the school that is always at the pier. I've only seen one tarpon jumped but schools of them roll by all the time. A few people with heavy conventional gear have pulled up some big rays with cutbait, usually threadfin which can be caught with sabiki rigs very easily.

For the last few days I had been trying to get a Jewfish from under the pier. I have a 9/0 Daiwa Sealine on a 100lb class rod and 550 lb parachute cord for line. I've been using spadefish and small (2-3 lb) jacks for bait with an 18/0 circle hook and a 1lb sliding weight. Yesterday I hooked up twice on this rig and got whooped both times when the fish went straight under the pier. This morning around 10:30 I put a 3 lb jack on the bottom at the very end of the pier. In 10 minutes a Jewfish picked it up and luckily went straight out from the pier. I fought him for about 10 minutes with the locked down drag still giving line (10 of the longest most painful minutes of my life) and finally got him to the surface. He measured 65 inches long and 54 around, somewhere around 200 lbs probably. Kept him in the water, removed the hook, had someone take a few pictures and it swam off easily after I held it upright and walked a few feet with it. It was a great start to my 18th birthday. I have several pictures, but I can't post them now (I'm using the computers at the Sanibel Library and they're very limited). 

My next goal is a tarpon from the pier and I will probably post another report soon.


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## RuddeDogg (Mar 20, 2004)

Now that's a great birthday present. Great job. Congrats.


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## JettyFisher (Jun 9, 2008)

Wow I just found this board. Great to get a landlubber report from Sanibel Island.


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## bcssux (May 23, 2005)

awesome job. cant wait to see the pics


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## Don W (Apr 27, 2008)

Yogai,
Thats awesome, great report, cant wait to hear about you catching a huuugge Tarpon.


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## yogai (Oct 21, 2005)

Hey I just got back to GA from Sanibel and thought I'd post a follow-up.

I never was able to get my tarpon from the pier. tried live mullet, blue crabs, and spanish macks as bait but never saw a single tarpon. Oh well.

I did get a ~38 inch snook using a ladyfish as bait on my 4/0 senator with some 100lb leader on the bottom

and a 21 and 1/2 inch gag grouper on a pinfish with the same rod and rig. half an inch short of being dinner...

and a 34 inch redfish on the same rod using a big butterflied pinfish

and last wednesday I got a 5 foot hammerhead with my 4/0 using a wire leader and a headless and tailless spanish mackerel for bait. I wanted to make steaks out of him but there were a lot of tourists who started muttering about how I was cruel and they were gonna tell national geographic or some crap like that. Oh well again...

The same day I caught that hammerhead there was a goliath grouper, much bigger than mine (looked like 300 + lbs), swimming lazily around in about 5 feet of water right under and around the pier. It was the wierdest thing I've seen b/c it kept going so shallow that it rubbed its belly against the sand. I watched it with a friend of mine for a while and I was about to head home when some guy offered me a spanish mackerel that had been in his cooler for an hour already. I slapped that thing on my stump rod and dropped it in front of that jewfish. He immediately lowered his head and hoovered it up. Both of us were trying to lift the rod and we couldn't. took about 15 seconds for him to break paracord on the pilings but it was fun.

I caught a couple of smaller (still really nice size) snook on mojaras on bottom rigs swung under the pier. Still lots of snapper. I'll try to get pictures together when I've caught up on sleep.


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## SnookMook (Jan 7, 2004)

yogai--Awesome report. Get some photos up and I'll use one in my weekly fishing report for my newspaper and the Capt. Mel Berman radio show site.


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## yogai (Oct 21, 2005)




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## emanuel (Apr 2, 2002)

Good job!


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## NateM (Jan 9, 2008)

That had to be an action packed trip. I really like that spot, some friends took me down there last year. You'll remember that trip for a while, good work!


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## Don W (Apr 27, 2008)

Great report and pictures


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## eaglesfanguy (May 1, 2003)

Awsome! Nice fishing there yogi... What a beast of a grouper.. could you imagine the fillets from that big boy...... all the grouper you want for years from one beast...


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## RuddeDogg (Mar 20, 2004)

Nice job. Way to go.


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## SnookMook (Jan 7, 2004)

Nice work on that jewfish/goliath. There's a couple of big ones I've been tangling with at Redfish Pass the last couple of years. 

One of em is the classic "bout the size of Volkswagen Beetle." LOL

I've caught some big sharks in my day from shore including an eight foot bull shark, but man, how do you get a goliath that big in?


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## yogai (Oct 21, 2005)

SnookMook said:


> I've caught some big sharks in my day from shore including an eight foot bull shark, but man, how do you get a goliath that big in?


I dropped a jack straight down from the end of the "T" and luckily he ran straight out from the pier with it when I hooked him. Then I just hung on tight and followed him till he got tired. Didn't take long with a really stiff drag setting.

Load up a big reel with some heavy line (200 lb dacron, parachute cord, 400 lb mono) and don't worry about leaders. If there's current or if you don't know when you'll get a hit and are just leaving the rod in a holder or on a pier, put on a really big sinker (12 oz or more). If you can see a jewfish you can just freeline the bait right in front of them and they'll suck it up. tie a surgeon's knot to make a loop about 3 feet long. Loop the end over a really big circle hook Have a fighting belt with you if you want to walk the next day. Good baits are big ladyfish, big spadefish, jacks, small stingrays, blue runners, etc. They'll eat just about anything. Really hardy live baits like jacks and spadefish seem to get hit faster than dead baits. I hook everything in the back to avoid drowning it or hitting vital organs.

If you're on a pier then you have the railings to provide some support and a stable footing. If you're on shore in the sand you should have a buddy with you to hold you're shoulders or even push the rod to you. I always carried a fillet knife on my belt just in case it got to scary and I needed to cut the line. Luckily that didn't happen but I can imagine things geting pretty hairy if you hook into one of those 500 or 600 pounders.


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