[Bushwacker]

I think winter or early spring is generally the best for the stretch from Sanibel to Flamingo because of the bug factor. However that's all open relatively shallow water so 20-25 kt winds from S, SW or W will create steep breaking waves pretty quick. You don't want to be caught out there in a 20' boat in those conditions! This year we had several cold fronts come through in March and early April, so we delayed trip to start in mid-April and then ran into lot's of bugs! Moral is that you can't have everything perfect! Decided I'd rather put up with a few bugs than nasty weather and unsafe boating conditions!