Marco Island, Ft. Myers & Boca Grande

Capt. Scott Hughes
January 25, 2002
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

Let's go trout fishing!

As most of you know I haven’t been on the water for three weeks due to a busted knee. It is slowly recovering and I am actually off the crutches. I am going to try to get out and do some trout fishing this weekend. The weather is going to be great for trying some sailfish off of the skiff but I don’t want to get out in the chop with my knee. Tarpon are showing way south of Everglades City but I am not up for the long run. I am just happy to be able to get out on the water again. The report today is from what I have be hearing from the other guides that I know for Marco and Ft Myers.

The story at the moment is trout fishing. Most guides that I know are catching excellent numbers of legal trout from as far south as Seminole Point to north of Pine Island. Most of the fish have been good ones at 18-22 inches. Captain Greg Bond and Steve Loyd are using plugs and jigs in about 5 feet of water over grass beds to catch limits of nice trout on most outings south of Marco Island. Capt. Fred Lieb was catching 15-20 trout per trip out of southern Pine Island and Capt. Bo Johnson was catching up to 60 trout per trip fishing in northern Pine Island and Charlotte Harbor. The fish off the 10,000 Islands have been running a little bigger on average than the Pine Island fish.

Sheephead are starting to gather for the spawn in the passes from Ft Myers to Boca Grande. Shrimp and jigs can catch limits of the tasty fish in less than an hour when they get going good. At the moment, anglers are usually catching a limit or two but many have to wade through plenty of shorts in the process.

Snapper are biting good inshore around Ft Myers and Pine Island. Most of these fish are short of the legal limit but not short in numbers. Fred Lieb’s customers caught almost thirty per trip last week but keepers were hard to come by.

All in all, that’s about the typical reports that we get in the winter. I expect a good Pompano run to start anytime but I have yet to here any substantial reports. The water temperatures are much warmer than normal and in years past that has meant that the residential tarpon will be on the prowl near wrecks near shore and in the shallow bays. Maybe my knee will let me get out and do a little scouting on my own.

Good Luck!

Capt. Scott Hughes

Blackwater Charters

863-946-9171

941-628-4247 (cell)

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