Fishing Transitioning in Naples and Marco Backwaters
Capt. Todd Geroy
December 4, 2011
Naples - Saltwater Fishing Report
Fishing continued to transition here this week as the inland waters cooled a little as a result of a cool front moving through early in the week. With onshore winds, unfortunately we were also affected by a red tide algae bloom along the coast and throughout the inland waters.
Despite the less than favorable natural events and some weak tides, we had some pretty decent trips last week, I wouldn't be honest if I didn't mention that a couple trips turned out to be more challenging and a bit under par!
Early in the week it was quite obvious when we were fishing water that was within the red tide bloom. Lack of any life such as birds, baitfish, mullet and bites in some areas prompted a quick move further inland where we found plenty of activity with redfish providing the most action.
Tuesday afternoon I fished Dave Fruend and friend and caught some nice slot redfish using both jigs and shrimp. We had steady action all afternoon boating about 15 reds mixed in with a number of small snook and some mangrove snapper.
On other trips, I found sea trout schooled up in some of the channels mixed in with pompano and flounder. An interesting note... several flounder boated this week were absolutely choked on dead needle fish that apparently were victims of the red tide and had sunk to the bottom. The flounder were jammed with these often with them protruding out their mouths when we caught them.
The winds are now easterly and should help to push the red tide bloom offshore. This accompanied with stronger tides during the upcoming week should help the fishing really perk up!
- Capt. Todd Geroy
Target Species:
redfish, sea trout, pompano, flounder
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