Report for Naples, Marco Island and the Ten Thousand Islands
Capt. Matt Hoover
March 22, 2000
Marco Island - Saltwater Fishing Report
Flawless Fishing
This past week was as close to perfection as anyone could ask. The fishing was outstanding. There is still plenty of bait around. The water temperature is on the rise and all the players are showing up for the spring games. I had some fantastic catches and I heard similar reports from other guides as well.
Snook, redfish, and tarpon were on the prowl this week. It is like someone let open the gates with the snook. I had a client out on Saturday and we caught snook on sardines in the morning at every turn. My angler hooked and subdued a ninety-pound tarpon as well. We lost one other tarpon that day and saw more of them milling around.
The tarpon showed up this week in significant numbers. I had anglers Tim O’Bryan and Tom “Sticker” Shelton out this week. They caught plenty of snook in the first part of the morning. A couple of the snook that escaped were keeper size. We went hunting for tarpon later on. Tom waged war with a seventy-pound fish the first time around. We brought a one hundred twenty-pound fish to the boatside for Tim. He caught a tarpon that was around seventy pounds too. We fought four other fish that day as well. Harry Schell caught an eighty-pound tarpon with Captain Duane White this week. Congratulations to you Harry.
There have been keeper redfish coming to the dock this week. Folks are catching them with live bait or jigs. This is a good time to be throwing plugs. The snook and redfish are eager to be fed. Top water and subsurface lures have been doing well. Soft jerk baits are a great way to go because they are virtually weedless.
Anglers are still catching trout out on the cape. You can catch pompano in the passes of Marco and the islands too. Don’t be surprised to catch a few mackerel. They are prevalent almost everywhere you go. There has been some tanker jacks running rampant at every turn. There are not many fish out there that will thrash a ten-pound outfit as hard as a ten-pound jack. Don’t pass them up when you see them crashing a shoreline.
This is the time of year when it becomes a free for all. It is only going to get better as spring gets a strong foothold. Don’t miss out on a single day. I hope to see you on the water.
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