Marco Island, Ft. Myers & Boca Grande
Capt. Scott Hughes
December 19, 2000
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report
Tarpon, Kings and Snook Last Week! This week Cold!
Presently, we are in the midst of a hard cold front so all bets are off after today. Last week however, was a different story. After Thanksgiving we had two weeks of above average temperatures and calm winds. When ever we can get calm winds and warm temperatures the fishing can be as good as any other month. That was definitely the case last week.
As many of you regular readers know, tarpon fishing is my specialty. When they are around I’ll be chasing them. Last week provided a nice surprise with tarpon showing up offshore and in the back-bays. We hooked up on tarpon well over 100-pounds in the rivers of some of the back-bays of the northern 10,000 Islands. We found them lying in the shallows and sight-cast to them with plugs and live ladyfish. Also schools of large tarpon were migrating south off of Marco Island. These fish provided at least 3 hook-ups per trip with as many as 10 caught by a couple of guides. Don’t expect to find any tarpon in the next few days though. After this cold front a few may show. That’s when I’ll be looking for them.
Small snook were feeding well last week before the cold blast. We caught at least a dozen on every trip last week with jigs producing the most catches. Fly fishing also produced well. In fact, the larger fish took flies. Look in the rivers of the back-bays from Chokoluskee to Marco Island.
King Mackerel produced the most impressive catches of the week. They aren’t tops on my list this week because they were inconsistent. One day we would catch our limit before 9:00 AM and the next we couldn’t find any. When we did find them, the action was fast and furious. Double and triple hook-ups of 20-pound kings were common. In fact we burned up one of the drags on the Penn spinning reels we were using. Look between 2 and 10 miles offshore for the mackerel. Slow troll live sardines, plugs or spoons. Always look for birds, which will give away the location of any bait or spanish mackerel which are favorite foods for kings.
I don’t usually talk about ladyfish in my reports. This week is different because ladyfish are an important part of fishing in the winter. I like to use cut ladyfish steaks for redfish, snook and jacks. Also, a live ladyfish trolled around the rivers and creeks of the 10,000 Islands will give you a shot at large tarpon and sharks. Catching them fairly easy. Use ¼ ounce jigs tipped with shrimp and work them around the mangroves. Don’t be shocked to hook other species like flounder, snapper, sheephead, jacks, and if your lucky a pompano or two.
The outlook for the next few weeks is unpredictable. If the weather warms up then the fishing for tarpon, snook and redfish will improve. If the temperatures stay cold then mackerel, sheephead, ladyfish, jacks and pompano will the fish of choice. If the wind continues to blow there won’t be any great fishing until the winds calm.
Good Luck!
Capt. Scott Hughes
Blackwater Charters
863-946-9171
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