Hello fellow anglers! 2025  February S.W. Florida fishing report. Lets look at the offshore possibilities first. Weather permitting running offshore is a little tricky this time of year. So make sure if your running out deep that you have good weather for that. Red grouper out past 100 ft. there you may find some nice scamp grouper and some gag's. And on some of the wrecks in the 100 ft. range there should be some nice yellowtail snapper. Also it is time to watch for the shrimp boats to be offshore too. Somewhere around 8 to 15 miles offshore. They clean there nets an decks in the early morning . This is a major chumming event it attracts all kinds of fish. You may find blackfin tuna in there slick and plenty of sharks too. So in the fifty foot range on some of the natural bottom you can find some lane snapper ,white grunts and a few different porgy species. There may also be some Gray/Mangrove snapper and some hogfish with the shrimp boats that to me is a clue to use shrimp that is what is in the local waters for the fish to eat. I in the past would fish for shrimp to eat in Charlotte Harbor from Thanksgiving to around Easter. With that said shrimp is what the hogfish will eat, they like crustaceans yes anything crunchy. And close to shore there may be some pompano still swimming around looking for a shrimp to eat, they like moving water along the passes or along the outside edges of the sand bars close to deeper waters. And coming inshore there should be plenty of  reds and trout to target. I like drifting the grass flats using any of several types of lure to target trout. Popping cork and a shrimp/ or gulp shrimp works well. You may also use some type of top water lure that makes plenty of noise, or a suspending lure with some rattles in them the noise gets there attention and then they will attack your lure, they are aggressive feeders. And if you have a fly rod and you find an area that is thick with the trout they are fun on a fly too. Black drum around structure bridges and similar structure use blue crab pieces to harvest them. So if you would like to learn some of the techniques you can come along with Capt. Bart Marx on his boat if you do not have one , or you are visiting S.W. Florida you may contact me at 941-979-6517 or captbart@alphaomegaccharters.com to book a trip or you could purchase a gift certificate as a gift for someone. And if you do have your own boat and would like me to come on your boat and do a training session with you and one of your fishing buddies or your wife. I will go with you and show you where you can take your boat safely without destroying grass beds in the harbor, Also show you how to use the gear you already have or help you get the proper gear and tackle. So always remember singing drags and tight lines make me smile.<*(((((>{