Marco Island, Ft. Myers & Boca Grande

Capt. Scott Hughes
April 17, 2000
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

Better Weather Provides More Chances For Trophy Fish

The weather this week let up somewhat and the fishing followed. Most of the week my customers used live bait to target large tarpon and snook. However, we did try for some trout and jacks with artificial lures. Flyfishing has been pretty good in the backcountry from what I hear, but I haven’t had any trips focusing on flyfishing lately.

Tarpon fishing has been very good. We’re still averaging between 2 and 4 school tarpon on each trip. Almost all of these fish are over the 100-pound mark. You should be able to find these fish migrating up the coast. The area passes from Cape Romano to Redfish Pass are likely places to start. A live sardine about 4 inches long is my favorite bait with finger mullet or crabs a close second.

For me snook fishing has been a little slow. One reason is I have been spending most of my time chasing tarpon. We have been hitting the outer points of the upper 10,000 Islands with some success. We landed a couple of snook to 34 inches with a few more that were under the legal limit. Live sardines a little smaller than 4 inches will be your best bet.

We brought back some very impressive trout catches this week. Most of the fish came while we were trying to finish off a couple of “backcountry slams”. We used the 4-inch sardines to catch a number of large 20-29 inch gator trout. We also caught a few 20-inch trout on jigs while we drifted the grass flats south of Cape Romano.

Mixed bag of jacks, mackerel and sharks rounded out the week. The majority of the mackerel schools have moved north of the Marco area and are in the Lee county waters between Estero Island and Boca Grande Pass. Large jacks are plentiful in all of the area passes and rivers. Live sardines and lures are hot. Small blacktip sharks and hammerheads are biting sardines and cut bait while waiting for tarpon to bite. We have also hooked a few in the 100-pound range but failed to get them in. Live or dead mullet drifted in the major passes should draw some major strikes.

Most of this week I will be looking for more tarpon and snook. Remember, if you decide to go for tarpon be very careful with the fish once you have brought them to the boat. They are very fragile after a long battle and too many of these exciting fish die because they are kept out of the water. If possible don’t bring the fish out of the water. They are very much like a thread herring. They are very hardy in the water but die quickly when they are out of it. Most people don’t realize that a 100-pound tarpon is about 30 years old. Let’s keep the fishery healthy so we can enjoy this fun for years to come.

Good Luck!

Capt. Scott Hughes

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