Marco Island, Ft. Myers & Boca Grande

Capt. Scott Hughes
June 8, 2003
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

Tarpon Time! Finally

Like I said in my last report, I am going to start fishing for tarpon at night. Tarpon are most night feeders and when the fishing gets tuff I go back to my roots. The nights are more comfortable and hook-ups are more common. That was the case the last 8 days in a row. I targeted tarpon from Boca Grande Pass offshore all the way up Charlotte Harbor to the Peace River. Most of my trips have been in the late afternoon until the early evening.

Like I said, late afternoons and evenings were the key to finally putting up some good numbers of tarpon this year. We sight fished tarpon with live crabs and thread herring along the beaches and into lower Charlotte Harbor. Every afternoon produced at least one tarpon over 100 pounds. We also found some tarpon in the Peace River which fell for trolled plugs. That evening we landed 6 of 10 hooked. Most of these tarpon are medium to small tarpon. One was around 80 pounds.

Snook fishing has also been good. I haven't been targeting them a whole lot lately but I did try them two days last week. We caught fish on sardines and pinfish in the main passes of Pine Island Sound. Most of the snook were under 5-pounds. Upper Charlotte Harbor is still holding on to some good sized snook. They are still in the backcountry but should be heading to the passes any day now. Marco Island Passes are also holding good numbers of small snook. Bait down there has been difficult so throw jigs or soft plastics or top water very early in the morning.

Snapper are everywhere. They are in the passes, in the rivers, in the backcountry and on the reefs and bridges. Catch them on shrimp and small pinfish or shiners. They are a sure thing right now.

Trout, spanish mackerel and cobia have also worked their way into the report. We picked up a nice 30-pound cobia on a live crab in Boca Grande Pass one afternoon and mackerel and trout have been hitting top water on the flats and near the drop offs in the Myakka River.

Good Luck!

Capt. Scott Hughes

Blackwater Charters

941-575-2389

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