Marco Island, Ft. Myers & Boca Grande

Capt. Scott Hughes
September 29, 2000
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

Reds are coming!

Generally the fishing this time of year is very good. This year is no exception, but I have had some days that would give the best anglers headaches. Two hurricanes that skirted the West Coast have turned the water muddy and scared off the bait. Jigs, plugs and mullet have kept anglers in the bite south of Marco Island. North of the Naples area live bait has not been a problem. Large schools of thread herring are off the beaches and in Charlotte Harbor. As I am writing this report, our first cold front is moving though the area. Fronts will push the tarpon and mackerel on their migration south and move the redfish into the shallows where they will school in large masses.

Snook have been the main target for most anglers in the 10,000 Islands and Ft Myers. Small live sardines have been the best producers with finger mullet doing well also. Plug fishing in the 10,000 Islands has been producing consistent catches of small snook under the 26-inch minimum size limit. Some nice snook have been coming in from the mouth of the Calusahatchee River and far up the Peace River. Large Shiners are the bait in the Calusa and tilipia are the bait of choice in the Peace. Fish the creeks that dump into the rivers.

Redfish are getting better everyday but they haven’t really started to show in the numbers that we are used to. A large school of reds has been reported on the flats north of Boca Grande Pass and the sand bars north and south of Burnt Store always has a few tailing fish. The islands in the northern part of Pine Island Sound have scattered reds under the bushes on high tide. The redfish in Marco Island are a lot less predictable than those in Pine Island Sound. They have been hitting finger mullet the best around the points of the islands from Coon Key south. Some over sized redfish have been caught from time to time on the shoals south of Cape Romano on live sardines. Shrimp tipped jigs have been producing “rat” reds under the 18” minimum in the creeks of the islands.

Jacks, Tarpon and Sharks round out the action for this week. We have caught a few nice jacks and hooked a couple of tarpon the past few weeks in Caxambas Pass. Both took live sardines on a falling tide. Blacktip sharks are roaming around the islands and in the passes. Live or cut mullet will be the best bait for the sharks and will catch the tarpon also.

Good Luck!

Capt. Scott Hughes

Blackwater Charters

863-946-9171

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