With a wonderfully warm climate, stunning sandy beaches, incredible wildlife, world-famous tourist attractions, and countless other reasons to visit, it's no surprise that Florida is one of the most popular US states with people all around the world. The Sunshine State boasts countless plenty of beautiful towns and cities to enjoy from the busy tourist hotspots like Miami and Orlando to more subdued, picturesque coastal towns like Pensacola and Fort Myers. Fort Myers, in particular, is a beautiful place to visit and one of the state's fastest-growing towns.
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Named after Colonel Abraham Myers, Fort Myers is the home of some superb historic monuments and locations like the winter estates of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. Like many other spots in Florida, it also has some stunning beaches to enjoy and is a huge hit with fishermen. In fact, the waters of Fort Myers, both inshore and offshore, are said to be among the very best in the state. The town even boasts some superb freshwater fishing sources in the surrounding area too like the Caloosahatchee River.
Types of Fish to Catch at Fort Myers
There are plenty of different species of fish for you to try and catch in the waters of Fort Myers, Florida. If you're looking to do some freshwater fishing, head off to the Caloosahatchee River and surrounding canals and lakes to find the likes of crappie, blue gill, largemouth bass, and catfish.
If inshore fishing is more your style, there are plenty of great spots all along the beach and bay of Fort Myers to catch the likes of spotted sea trout, mangrove snapper, sheepshead, red drum, and snook. The Fort Myers area offers a lot of different areas for inshore fishing including piers, docks, inlets, and mangroves. Florida residents don't need a license to fish from these locations but non-residents will need a saltwater license.
Meanwhile, if you'd rather head out to sea to catch even bigger prey, the waters of the Gulf of Mexico around Fort Myers Beach and nearby Sanibel Island offer some great potential to reel in a big one. The likes of shark, barracuda, cobia, Spanish mackerel, king mackerel, and tuna can all be located in this area, but the biggest and most prized fish of all might be the tarpon.
Tarpon fishing is highly popular at Fort Myers and the area around Boca Grande Pass even has the nickname "Tarpon Capital of the World". In rare cases, these fish can even be spotted and caught from the beach, but you'll stand a better chance of heading out to sea with a fishing charter or your own boat.
Fishing Charters at Fort Myers
Some of the best fishing at Fort Myers can be found away from the shorelines, so hiring a fishing charter isn’t a bad idea, and there are plenty of great fishing charters in the Fort Myers area. Here are some details on a few of the area’s top-rated fishing charters.
· FishSkinner - 1350 Monroe St #104, Fort Myers, FL 33901 (239 851-9600)
If you'd like to stay relatively close to the coast and enjoy the beautiful backdrop of the Fort Myers beaches during your fishing trip, FishSkinner is a great fishing charter to choose, offering both inshore and nearshore tours. These family-friendly tours are run by very friendly crew members and give you a great chance of landing trout, shark, tarpon, redfish, and others. You might also spot some dolphins along the way and you're guaranteed to have a great time, no matter what.
· What A Hawg - 13650 Fiddlesticks Blvd, Fort Myers, FL 33912 (239 330-2427)
For Fort Myers fly fishing and light tackle fishing, What A Hawg is the name to trust. This fishing charter scours the waters of the Fort Myers Beach area in search of snook, redfish, trout, and the most prized prey of them all: tarpon. This fishing charter also runs night fishing tours if you're looking to do some angling after hours.
· Offshore Hunter - 6511 Plantation Preserve Cir N, Fort Myers, FL 33966 (239 849-7959)
If you're looking to reel in the biggest prey of them all, Offshore Hunter is a great choice, offering true deep sea fishing charters in search of the biggest fish in the Fort Myers area. This fishing charter makes huge efforts to help every guest reel in a big one, whether it be a grouper, snapper, tarpon, amberjack, or something else altogether.
