Pick Your Quarry Right Now in the Naples Backwaters
Capt. Todd Geroy
May 22, 2012
Naples - Saltwater Fishing Report
May 22, 2012
We're nearing the end of May and summer is definitely settling in here in SW Florida. Fishing patterns have made the transition to better action early and late in the day as opposed to all day action. I have adjusted my trips accordingly, running morning half days, returning for a siesta and heading back out in the late afternoon to fish through sunset. While there have been a few trips that found the fish a little challenging, we have caught some good numbers of snook, large sea trout and a few redfish along with some big tarpon hooked and several large bull sharks released.
A majority of the snook have moved from the back bays towards deeper water in the passes and along the outside beaches. At daybreak, they are feeding well taking flies, lipped plugs as well as the usual live baits. Most of the fish we are catching are in the 22 to 26 inch range, but we have also had run ins with some bruisers over 15 lbs. and running to 20. Unfortunately, many of the big ones have been taking advantage of many anglers by running them into the heavy cover and breaking our connection.
I fished several trips exclusively for tarpon in the last week, and while we were able to get on a few fish, they were not in large concentrations and bites were hard to come by. We did manage four hookups with large fish, but none boated. I feel the warm winter we experienced, brought many fish through the region early. Hence, we are not experiencing a heavier run. There are still fish out there, but it may take a serious commitment to get hooked up.
Sharks are in abundance in the backwaters as usual for this time of year. We boated three large bull sharks from 5 to 71/ 2 feet on one evening trip a few days ago. I really enjoy watching anglers battle these bruisers of the shallows! They provide a great alternative to the menu of species and give a great challenge to anglers despite their level of experience. We are targeting them with cut bait and fishing in shallow inshore bays.
Lastly, I am still catching some beautiful sea trout in some of the deeper holes in area passes. Several of these fish are running up to 25 inches. That's a giant trout in our area! Here is a shot of Jay Sandza with a 25 incher caught last week…
Plan your fishing early and late to beat the heat and enjoy some great May action.
- Capt. Todd Geroy
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