Solid Inshore Action on Naples and Marco Island Waters
Capt. Todd Geroy
April 23, 2011
Naples - Saltwater Fishing Report
While I must say that we have had some great trips on the water in April, this last week was the most solid fishing we've experienced this spring. I ran 11 trips in 6 days and can report that all of them enjoyed great fishing action.
Tarpon are all over the area and most trips dedicated at least some time for a hookup with everyone at least getting to jump at least one and up to 5 "silver kings". We are finding plenty of big fish along the beach as well as in some of the backcountry bays. I am missing the baby tarpon that I usually into this time of year. Unfortunately, they have not made much of an appearance since last years winter fish kill.
The most noteworthy tarpon catch of the week has to be a triple digit fish caught yesterday afternoon by 10 year old Isabella Forte'. She is the granddaughter of one of my bi monthly clients and comes to visit and enjoy the fishing every spring. Isabella is no bigger than a minute, but is already an accomplished young angler with great catches of snook and other species on previous trips. This year with the tarpon action so reliable, they decided to dedicate the afternoon to do battle with a big one. We located pods of northbound fish just off the beach within minutes of our search and within 10 minutes "Izz" was hooked up! She fought the fish hard for nearly an hour and with a little help next to the boat from her dad Rich, her fish was brought along side and released!
Isabella and her big tarpon...
Her sister, Mary Kate 13 later boated two lemon sharks of about six feet long each and hooked up on another big tarpon which ended up spitting the hook on a jump.
The snook fishing is fantastic right now, and will likely continue from here on out. I would estimate that we caught and released well over 100 fish this week. Most are running in size between 22 and 28 inches. Great fun on light tackle! There are some over slot redfish scattered around the mangroves mixed in with the snook. While I am not finding them schooled up, we released several during the week from 29 to 35 inches.
There are also plenty of hefty jacks around looking for a fight.
Nancy Poffenberger released this 29 inch red...
Norman Nat and a 30 inch red that didn't want to be held!...
Bob Messey took this 23 inch flounder home for dinner...
Sharks are also an easy target, with lemon and bull sharks providing action every 15 minutes when also tarpon fishing with bait in the back. We boated several this week, including an 8 ft. 200 lb lemon caught by Alexandria Forte' on another of the Forte' families outings on Thursday morning.
Now is the time to get out and catch the fish of a lifetime!
- Capt. Todd Geroy
Target Species:
Tarpon, Snook, Shark, Redfish
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