Sanibel Island sits amid pristine fishing waters. Whether you’re a beginner or novice angler, you’ll enjoy the myriad of fish species the island has to offer onshore, inshore, and offshore. Here, you’ll find many game-worthy species, such as ladyfish, jack crevalle, Spanish mackerel, kingfish, king mackerel, barracuda, cobia, grouper, permit, pompano, flounder, redfish, snapper, snook, sheepshead, speckled trout, tripletail, tarpon, and shark.

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Sanibel and Fort Myers have a fishing-friendly shoreline and many charters available for deep-sea fishing throughout the year. Lighter lures, baits, and fly rods work best for shallow waters near the beach, while heavier baits attract bigger fish offshore. Use shiners to attract redfish and tarpon, catfish for catching cobia and sharks, and shrimps for snagging ladyfish.

The subtropical climate allows for fishing year-round, and wade fishing and fly fishing are popular from the shore and shallow waters. You’ll find fish around the island on the sandy beaches, mangrove estuaries, grass flats, tidal creeks, bayous, rocky groins, and oyster bars. You can fish most fish species from the shore.

Sanibel Island is one of the best fly fishing locations for snook worldwide. May through October is the best time for catching snook here. Seatrout is also very common and makes for great fly fishing inshore and offshore. The best places to fish on Sanibel Island are the fishing pier, Algiers Beach, Lighthouse Beach, Bling Pass Bride on Dixie Beach road, The Rocks, Bowmans Beach, and Ding Darling.

You can also head offshore to the waters near Captiva Island, The Gulf of Mexico, San Carlos Bay, the Caloosahatchee River, Pine Island Sound, Matlacha Pass, and Charlotte Harbor.

Sanibel Island boat ramps:

The following boat ramps provide access to Sanibel Island.