Naples Backwater Report / Late October Snook, Redfish,Tarpon
Capt. Todd Geroy
October 28, 2011
Naples - Saltwater Fishing Report
Well, I'm back on the water again after a well needed, short vacation with family to West Virginia and home through the Blue Ridge Mountains. While I was away last weekend a fairly strong cold front came through the area and really stirred things up for a few days. I am happy to report that on my guide trips the last two days, fishing was back to normal and we had some great trips.
Tarpon are still blasting through the mullet schools around the passes especially early in the morning and late in the evening. Yesterday morning, I headed out in the dark to load the bait well with live mullet before picking up my clients. We were able to hook into two big tarpon within the first hour of fishing. Both fish managed to throw the hook after some wild jumps.
We moved on to the back country to target snook and redfish. With a strong falling tide, the snook were very cooperative and we found them biting at nearly every stop. They ranged in size from 18 inches to a couple 30 inch plus fish that managed to either spit the hook or chew through the leader. At least 20 fish were hooked and released.
To my surprise, we did not hook a single redfish which has not been the norm lately. They just didn't seem to be biting in the areas that I expected them on that low water.
Today, I fished the afternoon with repeat client Robert Johnson of Naples and his lifelong friend Kelvin Byrne from Chicago. We picked this afternoon in particular to coordinate with the incoming tide and high water which make up my favorite combo for redfish and snook. We hit the backcountry with live sardines and found a ton of action. The gentlemen released fish after fish all afternoon with both redfish and snook equally active. Kelvin topped off the afternoon with a beautiful, fat 36 inch snook that weighed in at 14 pounds caught against the mangroves on 10 lb. test line! Great job guys! Here is a shot of Kelvin (left) and Robert with the fish before release…
Target Species:
snook, redfish, tarpon
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