Fishing Sanibel / Captiva Islands in the Spring
| Month | Avg. Air Temps °F (Hi/Lo) |
| March | 81° / 59° |
| April | 85° / 63° |
| May | 89° / 69° |
The spring provides awesome fishing opportunities for anglers in the Sanibel and Captiva area. Early in the spring, the fishing can be very good on the bay side for snook, redfish, trout and tarpon. Grouper and black sea bass are good options for bottom fishing. As water warms towards the middle to end of spring, you will start seeing large numbers of tarpon moving through the area. Snook can also be found in bigger schools as they stack up along the beaches and near the passes to get ready for the spawn. These are just some of the species you can catch here in the spring. If you get some time to fish these waters during this time of year, you have so many options for putting fish in the boat.
Fishing Sanibel / Captiva Islands in the Summer
| Month | Avg. Air Temps °F (Hi/Lo) |
| June | 91° / 73° |
| July | 92° / 75° |
| August | 92° / 75° |
In the summer, the weather is hot and the fishing can be too. However, the hot weather definitely makes it more uncomfortable to fish than in the spring. The fish are still plentiful though if you want to get out and do some fishing. Inshore, redfish, trout, snook, tarpon, sharks, mackerel and mangrove snapper are the popular species that most anglers will target. You will find a lot more fish roaming the beaches in the summer, but you also have a lot more crowds on the beaches as well. Offshore, anglers target grouper, snapper, permit, barracuda, huge Goliath grouper, sharks, kingfish and more.
Fishing Sanibel / Captiva Islands in the Fall
| Month | Avg. Air Temps °F (Hi/Lo) |
| September | 90° / 74° |
| October | 86° / 69° |
| November | 81° / 62° |
As temperatures cool off towards the middle to end of fall, it gets a lot more comfortable to fish out here and you will have a lot less competition as the summer tourists are back in school. The inshore waters usually hold good numbers of snook, trout and redfish. You will also see increasing numbers of migratory species such as tarpon, cobia and mackerel. Sharks, grouper and snapper provide good offshore trips. Fall offers some of the finest fishing of the year in this area.
Fishing Sanibel / Captiva Islands in the Winter
| Month | Avg. Air Temps °F (Hi/Lo) |
| December | 77° / 57° |
| January | 75° / 54° |
| February | 77° / 56° |
The weather doesn’t get nearly as cold in southwest Florida as it does in the northern part of the state, however, the cold fronts that do hit this area can really affect the fishing negatively. The inshore fishery is outstanding as many anglers prefer to go fish the mangroves of nearby Pine Island when the wind is blowing too hard. On warmer, calm days, the bay side of Sanibel will produce good fishing for a variety of fish such as snook, sea trout, redfish, sheepshead, mangrove snapper and more. Offshore, the cooler water temperatures actually bring a lot of fish closer to shore, so you may be able to do well fishing 50 to 80 depths instead of having to venture out to triple digit depths. Offshore, anglers target bottom structures for grouper, snapper, sheepshead, triggerfish, hogfish, Goliath grouper and more.
