Marco Island, Ft. Myers & Boca Grande

Capt. Scott Hughes
October 7, 2003
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

Good Stuff!

The fishing the past two weeks can only be described as "Good Stuff". We set a new personal record for jumped tarpon on September 24th and the rest of the fishing has been almost as good as it gets. All the areas that I fish are producing. In Charlotte Harbor we are fishing redfish along the bars and on the flats. In Pine Island Sound I have been mostly fishing the mangroves during the higher stages of the tides and in the 10,000 Islands I have been focusing my efforts on the rocky points of the outer islands.

Tarpon: Are on the move and are a little unpredictable. When you find them, watch out. They are hungry and eating anything that you throw at them. On September 24th we set a personal record by landing 11 of 25 tarpon on a half-day trip. The largerst was around 200 pounds and the smallest was in the 70-pound class. That day we found the tarpon just of the beaches of Captiva Island. The next day they were gone and have since showed themselves off the beaches of Naples.

Redfish: are just about everywhere. Big schools are running the bars of Charlotte Harbor. We have had excellent sightfishing for "tailing" reds on the falling tides. Pine Island Sounds has been producing good catches of bull reds in the passes and upper slot size fish under the bushes. Catches of 20+ fish on half-day trips haven't been uncommon. One of my partners, Capt. Bo johnson and his party got into the reds one day last week and landed around 90 reds up to 12 pounds in 7 hours.

Snook: Have been biting live sardines fished under the bushes of Pine Island Sound. Most of these fish have been from 23-25 inches. The upper 10,000 island and Marco island has been producing limits of keeper sized snook using the same baits.

Snapper: We have been able to catch limits of mangrove snapper just about whenever I feel like it. Pine Island has big 12-14 inch snapper under any mangroves with deep water and Marco Island is full of keeper snapper. The 10,000 Islands have had plenty of snapper around the outside points on high tide.

Schools of large Jack Crevelle are roaming around the passes in all the areas mentioned above. They will hit just about any live bait. Just make sure your drag is lubed!

Good Luck!

Capt. Scott Hughes

Blackwater Charters

941-575-2389

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