Marco Island, Ft. Myers & Boca Grande
Capt. Scott Hughes
May 2, 2002
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report
Summer species keep anglers working.
The temperatures are in the low 90's and the water is in the low 80's already. This means that the fishing is goinig to be in a summer pattern. Snook will start biting early and late and tarpon will start daisy chaining in big schools and moving into Charlotte Harbor and Pine Island Sound. Sharks won't be far behind.
The tarpon have become inconsistent in the 10,000 Islands. They are in the main passes and on the outside. I saw big schools of tarpon fron 50 to 100 pounds moving north in the upper 10,000 Islands but they didn't want to feed. They were moving fast which means that they wanted to get somewhere and not worry about eating. Lots of big schools of tarpon are showing up off the beaches north of Naples and Ft Myers Beach. Tarpon are already thick in Boca Grande Pass and some fish are in the sound.
We focused on snook for the most part before the season closed May 1st. Were were averaging at least a dozen snook per morning with a few in the slot. About 1 in 15 or 16 were over the 34-inch slot. Live sardines were the key to catching the big ones and moving water is a must. This time of year you can still catch some nice snook in the middle of the day if the current is good. Later in the summer the bite will be almost exclusively at dawn and dusk. For those who like night fishing, it will get better and better if you can handle the bugs.
We haven't targeted sharks lately but I have been hooking hammerheads and bull sharks on the flats south of Cape Romano. There are also bunches of bull sharks in Boca Grande Pass and they are eating 100-pound tarpon like candy.
The forecast for the this month should be great.
Catch and release snook fishing will be excellent and tarpon fishing will make one or two more pushes in the 10,000 Islands and tarpon will be thick from Sanibel to Boca Grande Pass.
Good Luck!
Capt. Scott Hughes
Blackwater Charters
941-628-4247 cell
863-946-9171 home
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