Marco Island, Ft. Myers & Boca Grande

Capt. Scott Hughes
May 15, 2002
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

Tarpon to the North! Snook to the South!

The past two weeks have been dominated by tarpon fishing out of Pine Island Sound and snook fishing out of the 10,000 Islands. This pattern sould remain though out the summer.

My best tarpon fishing this month has been on the outside of the barrier islands from Sanibel to Englewood. The tarpon have been taking thread herring and pinfish. Crabs are also a good choice but I have not been usinig them lately. There have also been reports of tarpon in the sound and in the harbor but I personally have not had the time to go look for new fish. One of my rules that I don't usually break is to leave fish to go looking for fish.

Speaking of breaking rules, I broke that rule this week because one of my customers wanted some fish to take home since snook are out of season this month. We have been catching excellent numbers of snook out of Marco Island almost every day. Well, one day last week we boated around 12 snook to 36-inches before 10:00 am and the bite was still going strong. Normally I stick by my rules and recommend that we continue to target what ever species is biting the best. To make a long story short, we left the snook to go find trout so that we could bring in some meat and spent the next 3 hours with a grand total of one 15-inch trout.

On days that we have sticking with snook fishing it's not been uncommon to catch around 20 snook per day. About one out of five have been the legal slot and a coouple have usually been over the slot. Live sardines have been the productive bait for the snook.

Other species that we have been catching are jack crevelle while snook fishing and grouper in the 10,000 Islands and the main passes north of Sanibel while we have been tarpon fishing.

Good Luck!

Capt. Scott Hughes

Blackwater Charters

941-628-4247 cell

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