Late August Variety in the Backwaters of Naples
Capt. Todd Geroy
August 26, 2016
Naples - Saltwater Fishing Report
It has been a fun week of fishing for me along with my anglers who have been rewarded with some great catches. Very warm water temperatures over 90 degrees inshore are forcing most of the action into the early morning.
I headed out before sunrise early in the week to target the tarpon frenzy that has been occurring as the sun comes up. Tarpon of all sizes have been gorging themselves on the masses of small bait fish that congregating outside the passes. Despite our efforts with a variety of lures, flies and baits, we did not fool any of these fish as they are dedicated to the millions of tiny baits flushing through. It is an exciting show to witness however, and there are mornings this time of year that provide success.
Snook action has been decent with multitudes of smallish fish in the 18 to 22 inch range bunching up along banks with good tide flow near deep water. Live pilchards are the key to fooling them as they are a bit sluggish to feed with the warm water. A little live bait chumming doesn't hurt to get them going either.
Redfish continue to show up on most outings, although not schooled up. We have caught several mid-slot reds as well a a couple of very nice over-slot fish up to 34 inches. We have caught them in the same areas as the snook.
Mangrove snapper are as big as I've ever encountered. Plenty of snapper from 12 to 18 inches have been caught. They are scrappy to catch and great on the dinner table.
Catching big sharks remains to be as easy as it gets. Big lemon and bull sharks are prowling the shallow back bays and providing constant action for us when we want to catch them. Tuesday morning, I took my brother-in-law, Jim McGuire and his son John out for some crazy shark action. We decided to step it up a notch by battling these bruisers from my paddle board. Hooking up and going on a SW Florida sleigh ride was a fun new challenge and an interesting twist as Jim and John each caught big sharks on the light board. Not something I recommend for all of my anglers, but these guys were thrilled with the challenge!
Naples Fishing Forecast:
I am looking forward to more redfish to start showing up in the next few weeks. Tarpon and snook will continue to be reliable targets.
Target Species:
tarpon, snook, redfish, mangrove snapper, shark
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