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Report for Naples, Marco Island and the Ten Thousand Islands
Capt. Matt Hoover
August 14, 2001
Marco Island - Saltwater Fishing Report
Hot, Hot, Hot
Aside from being unbearably hot in the afternoon, the weather was kind to us this past week. Fishing perked up as a result. We closed the week with the RedSnook tournament and the numbers of fish caught reached a new record. The three divisions were flyfishing, general, and artificial. All three categories produced fantastic results. I mention the tournament because it is the best indicator of what the fishing is like. The tournament ranged from Pine Island Sound to Chockoloskee.
Everyone caught snook. There were a few large fish caught but most of them were small. I would have to say that my anglers caught and released fifty or more snook over the coarse of the two-day tournament. Not one fish was of legal size. We had some embarrassing moments with larger fish that managed to escape the net. We fished in the Marco and Ten Thousand islands area with live bait. There were twenty one boats in that division and the competition was top notch. The way the scoring is set up, one fish could make or break you. The hardest thing in our area was to fill your card with redfish. We managed to catch three of our needed four each day. Most of the large snook and redfish came from south of Chockoloskee. Last week I discussed why that would come to past.
The guys throwing artificials brought in fantastic numbers. Most of the guides that I talked to had their anglers pitching soft baits. Bass Assassins, Rip Tide bodies and similar soft plastics were killer producers. The flyfishermen did extremely well considering that the water is still a bit dirty and the tide was not the greatest.
It looks as if the same weather pattern is going to continue. I think that the mornings are the best. It has been hitting the nineties by noon and it is almost unbearable. Expect scattered showers throughout the week. It is a good idea to have your raingear at all times this time of year.
Without boaters and fishermen, there would be no need for me to write this column. When I first moved here, I fell in love with the quaint little town of Naples and it’s fishing. Well, Naples is no longer quaint or small. There is nothing any of us can do about that. One out of three people come to Florida to fish and recreate in the water. That right is seriously being threatened by so called environmental groups that are not giving the public sound scientific data. Right now, the public has to get permission and pay the Save the Manatee Club a sizable fee to build, improve or repair a dock. It sounds like extortion. It is hard to believe that a club has so much power. Standing Watch is a responsible organization that is fighting the results of the lawsuit through legal avenues. Folks, the legalese and the political fencing on these issues are very expensive and mind boggling. Standing Watch has already spent sixty thousand dollars in legal fees and spent monies on valid manatee research. Manatee populations have been on the rise since the eighties but the public is not being told about it. The environmental groups have very deep pockets. They can drag this out until we go broke. Here is the point. The Standing Watch group is having a fundraiser that is being held on September 14th at 6:30 p.m. at the Naples Elks Club. There will be dinner, music, and a silent auction to help raise money for legal fees. Someone in the know once told me that there were over five thousand millionaires in Collier county. Some of you are boaters and moved here for that reason. I hope you will step up to the plate because our rights as boaters are being taken away from us. If you need more facts, log onto WWW. Standing-Watch.org. Please get involved. I hope to see you on the water.
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