The expansive mangroves and grass flats of Charlotte Harbor provides perfect habitat for redfish (red drum). Bull Bay, Turtle Bay and Pine Island Sound produce consistent redfish action. We fish for redfish with fly rods and light spinning gear. Flies are mostly sub surface baitfish and crab patterns but redfish will take top water offerings like sliders and gurglers too. Lures are typically soft plastic on jig heads, bucktails or swim baits that imitate crabs or fin fish.
Hello clients and blog followers, I thought I would update you on what happening in my part of Southwest Florida. I am in Maine working on some carpentry projects and will be flying to Port Charlotte on Saturday the 21st to resume guiding.
"I am rigged, ready and looking forward to guiding you on beautiful Charlotte Harbor. Your past, present and future business is greatly appreciated."
Capt. Dave Pecci 3/13/20
Fishing Conditions: Pretty good conditions this week. Water quality and clarity will be excellent throughout Pine Island Sound and Gasparilla. Lots of moving water and falling tides will keep the active all morning.
My tips of the week: With dropping tides the fish will be coming out of the mangroves and cruising the sand and grass inside the bars.
Capt. Dave Pecci 2/24/20
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission has extended snook, red drum and spotted seatrout catch-and-release measures in areas impacted by prolonged red tide
02-19-2020 Obsession Charters Fishing Report
Watch for pods of tarpon a mile or more off the beaches early in the week.
05-07-17 Fishing Report - Capt. Dave Pecci
The cold front and northwest winds over the weekend moved the tarpon off the beaches and...
Tarpon will be rolling and gulping air early. By mid-morning they will be running and daisy chaining below the surface.
05-02-17 Fishing Report
There are a few tarpon and big snook on the beaches. More of them are showing up with each tide change.
Capt. Dave Pecci April 24th Fishing Report
Water clarity will remain excellent and the water level will be much higher on the flats than we've had the past several weeks...
Capt. Dave's April 17 Fishing Report
Conditions: Morning low tides will provide good moving water and a variety of fishing opportunities this week. Water clarity will be excellent. Water temps will rise back into the high 70s.
The morning dropping tides this week will
Capt. Dave Pecci - Obsession Sportfishing
provide great fishing around the oyster beds. As the tide comes back in and the
sun angle increases the flats will be the place to target...
Outlook: Hot with excellent morning tides all week. We'll have some southerly wind to contend with but with water temps in the high 70s...
April 3rd Fishing Report
Light winds and no rain! Perfect fishing weather. There are some jack crevalle and huge snook on the flats so up-size your leaders and bite tippets.
03-28-17 Fishing Report
Day one - 40* at the boat ramp 60* water and 20mph north winds. Day two - warmer and less wind. Not a stellar day but we got it done.
John Albin and Jim McCadie joined me for a few days of fly fishing. We fished Matlacha, Pine Island Sound and the Cape Haze Peninsula. Water temps and water clarity provided some excellent sight fishing opportunities.
Dry conditions continue. Water levels in the Harbor are low. Water Temps are in the mid-seventies. Water clarity is very good...
"Many of my redfish and snook spots are not holding bait or fish because of the low water conditions. Working potholes and deeper grass flats has been very productive..."
03-07-17 Fishing Report
7 day outlook: The coming week will more like April than the start of March
02-27-17 Fishing Report Capt. Dave Pecci
Conditions: I fished the East Wall, Matlacha Pass, Gasparilla Sound, Bull Bay and Turtle Bay last week. The water clarity was very good throughout the Harbor and it should be the same this week. There's a red tide bloom along the beaches from Boca Grande to Manasota Key but it hasn't entered the sounds or bays...
Water temps are now in the mid-low 70s. Salinity remains high due to the lack of rain. Fishing conditions are excellent.
Capt. Dave Pecci - Obsession Sportfishing
Conditions: We continue to have very good water clarity and quality due to the dry conditions throughout Charlotte Harbor. Water temps are in the low 70s. Average tides this week will provide for good flats fishing. The bite in Matlacha as well as Bull Bay and Turtle Bay has been good. Pine Island Sound's grass flats have been producing seatrout and redfish, concentrate on the deeper portions of the flats. The Keys along the East Wall of the Harbor are holding redfish of varying sizes and a few snook. If you're looking for trout in that area they'll be on the outside of the bar in deeper water.
The mid-day ebb tides will move the fish off the flats. Work the holes and edges until the water level increases.
02-13-17 Obsession Charters Fishing Report
I'll be doing a seminar at the Florida Sportsman Expo in Ft. Myers on sight fishing tips and tactics this Sunday. The Seminar covers ways to catch more snook and redfish on both spin and fly fishing gear. I'll share some of the things I've learned while fishing on Charlotte Harbor the past 8 years like reading the fish's movements, finding productive water dealing with weather changes and more.
My Seminar is at 1pm on Sunday. It's full of cool pictures and videos of fishing action from Matlacha, Pine Island sound, Charlotte Harbor's East and West Walls, Bull Bay, Turtle Bay and more. More info on the Expo including other seminars.
Conditions: Water clarity is good. The water level is very low due to the winter tides. As long as water temps are in the mid-60s or above the fishing will be very good. Lots of snook around. The redfish have been a bit elusive (for me anyway). The fish have been moving back onto the flats with the incoming tide. Work the oysters and holes at low tide.
Bait the fish are feeding on: Shrimp, Crabs, Pinfish, some Threadfin Herring.
Lots of snook around. The fish have been moving back onto the flats with the incoming tide. Work the oysters and holes at low tide.
Fishing Report February 1, 2017
We saw this redfish rush the fly and eat in 12" of water. Paul caught it on a 9wt. Orvis Helios H2 rod and one of my whitebait flies.
