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Report for Naples, Marco Island and the Ten Thousand Islands
Capt. Matt Hoover
December 21, 2000
Marco Island - Saltwater Fishing Report
Christmas
The water temperature managed to climb to the upper sixties at the beginning of the week. Most of us were catching a mixed bag of fish. It all depended on what method you were using. Most of us were using popping corks and shrimp. We were catching redfish, snook, and trout. If you were fishing deeper runs you may have been catching sheepshead with an occasional black drum thrown in. Some folks pounded the trout with jigs. I saw a few nice pompano hit the docks too.
As the weekend approached, it was apparent that a cold front was on its way. I must have been in the right spot on Sunday afternoon when it started to get gray, cold and windy. We were throwing popping corks and shrimp on a point where there was a strong current hitting it. We caught something different on every other cast. We hooked many large jacks. We jumped countless ladyfish. We caught a few trout. We also caught and released fourteen snook! As many of you know, the bite can be quite good as a front is coming through. The trick is to be at the right spot when it happens. It was our day for it to happen. I can't claim that I was some fish wizard. We were just lucky.
After the front came through, the temperature hit the floor. I looked like a mummy when I got to my boat the next morning. It was way too cold for sane people to go out at seven in the morning. I had a fly fisherman that morning. I think we saw a mullet jump. There was no life in the shallows. Capt. Stacy Mullendore confirmed my suspicions. His anglers caught snook, reds, and black drum by sinking shrimp into deep holes. That seemed to be the method of choice for the remainder of the week. We actually were able to garnish some nice catches by sticking to the “deep drop” method.
The water temperature has tried to creep up in the middle of the day. When it goes down to forty at night, the water temperature goes down with it. The fish will probably remain in deeper water until we get some warmer weather. Redfish may come up to the shallows because they can tolerate the cold water better than snook.
Trout fishing has been good during this cold snap. Most of them are being caught over grass with bucktail and screwtail jigs. Once again, most of the trout are well over the fifteen-inch range. They seem to be in deeper water too. Look for them to be in depths of five to twelve feet of water. We are supposed to get another front but it is not going to have the cold air that we just experienced. It is typical winter weather. Just bundle up in the morning. By mid day, your boat will look like a clothing rummage sale. Fishing has been well worth the extra clothes. Throw on your winter duds.
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