Just pick your target now in the Naples/Marco backwaters!
Capt. Todd Geroy
March 6, 2011
Naples - Saltwater Fishing Report
Although it has been really windy the last week, fishing has been literally about as good as it gets this time of year! From snook to redfish, pompano, trout and mackerel down to large sheepshead, tripletail and some hard fighting jack crevalle to top it all off. We have been finding large numbers of each species on many trips.
I have been very busy fishing double half day trips for the last six days and we really had some great catches over the week. The hardest part was trying to decide what to target. On most trips, I managed to move around and give a taste of everything we have to offer.
There was a ridiculous number of pompano in Gordon's Pass earlier in the week. On the incoming tide you could catch them continuously if you wanted bouncing tube jigs on the bottom. Unfortunately, it didn't take long to attract a huge fleet of anglers and with that were many displays of poor etiquette. Our routine was to get there early in the tide and quickly catch our limit and then proceed on to other spot where we could fish alone. I also found good numbers of pompano along some of the many groins along the south Naples beach as well as along the sandbars near Hurricane Pass. There were some giant sheepshead to 7 lbs. mixed in as well as some nice sea trout.
In the back bays, we are still enjoying some great snook action using live sardines. We are releasing as many as 20 on some trips and have had fish ranging to 29 inches this week. Redfish cooperated on several trips as well, with high tide producing the best action along the windward shorelines. We took them on shrimp, sardines and jigs.
On Monday, I enjoyed a morning with Terry Hopkins and his daughter Kelly. They released countless snook and some large jack crevalle and managed some nice pompano for a gourmet dinner.
Tom Iverson and Jay Sandza fished Wed. morning and wore out the pompano, trout and sheepshead before we moved on to catch 7 redfish and a couple snook before the trip was over.
Fri. afternoon Bob McClure and his buddy David found several schools of redfish eager to please. We released over 20 reds in a couple hours.
-Capt. Todd
Naples Fishing Forecast:
The only species lacking on the list right now is the tarpon. They have been in the area, but high winds have muddied up the bays where we target them this time of year. Frankly, I haven't had anglers in the last week caring to target them anyway. I am looking forward to some hookups in the next week or so if the water calms down.
Otherwise fishing for the other species should continue.
Target Species:
snook, redfish, pompano
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