Marco Island, Ft. Myers & Boca Grande

Capt. Scott Hughes
March 17, 2004
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

Reds, Trout, Sharks!

The reds ,trout and sharks went off in Pine Island Sound this past week. We caught alomost record numbers of trout and reds on all but one day since my last report. Snook were mixed in as well but the bite has been a little off for the snook. I'm working on 9 straight days of guiding so this is going to be short and sweet.

Redfish: are just about everywhere in Pine Island Sound. We caught plenty of reds under the bushes on hand picked shrimp. Most were 18-26 inches. Bull reds were schooling on the flats. We had limmited success catching them on cut bait and a few on plastics.

Snook: Snook fishing has been hit and miss all week. My best day this week was 7 snook ranging from 16-24 inches. We caught them on live sardines in Charlotte Harbor.

Trout: This past weeks trout fishing was the best of the year so far. We boated at least 40 trout day with about half per day in the 15-20 inch slot limit. One day we actually landed over 70 trout with about 30-35 of them being keepers. Soft plastics caught all of them.

Sharks: Lemon and sandbar sharks have moved into Pine Island Sound. Most have been 6-7 feet long and around 100 pounds or more. We caught them on cut mackerel and bluefish.

The forecast for the next few weeks should be excellent. Tarpon, sharks and snook should be hot in Marco Island and all of the above will be in Pine Island Sound. Also, a few tarpon should start to show up in Pine Island.

Good Luck!

Capt. Scott Hughes

Blackwater Charters

941-575-2389

941-628-4247 cell

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