Fort Myers, Sarasota and Marco Island fishing report
Capt. Scott Hughes
January 1, 2009
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report
I've been splitting my fishing time between Sarasota Bay, Charlotte Harbor and the 10,000 Island south of Marco Island. Each of these three areas have had a slightly different kinds of fishing. Sarasota fishing is mostly artificial lure fishing for large speckled trout and redfish. Charlotte Harbor is lre fishing for trout and some redfish. Marco Island fishing right now is mostly snook and jack crevelle fishing with live sardines.
Sarasota Bay: I've been finding lots of trout from 15-22 inches in 3-4 ft of water with heavy grass. The redfish have been slightly shallower but in the same areas as the trout. The key to the better areas has been the presence of mullet. Almost anytime that i've found good sized schools of mullet i've found good numbers of trout and redfish in the mullet. Soft plastics rigged either weedless or on jigheads have worked the best. Mirrolures have produced well when the water has been cleaner.
Ft Myers: Most of my fishing in the Fort Myers area has targeted trout. I've been catching between 60 and 150 trout per trip from Ft Myers all the way north to Punta Gorda. The trout have been running slightly smaller than the Sarasota Bay trout but with that many fishing per day were still catching a number of limits. Soft plastics have caught the mostly fishing because I've been fisnding the most fish in 4-6 ft of water.
Marco Island: Marco Island fishing has been competely different from the other two areas. Marco doesn't have as many grass flats and the shorelines are more oysters and mud rather than grass and sand. I've been able to net good sized sardines and the that has helped my charters to catch double digit numbers of snook up to 30 inches on each of my last two trips to Marco Island. There have also been some huge schools of jacks working the flats south of Marco. They have aking almost anything that you throw at them.
Fort Myers Fishing Forecast:
I'd suspect that the fishing will remain much the same for quite a while. The water temperatures are in the upper 60's so I don't think that it will get much colder. The water should start to warm up some by the beginning of February.
Target Species:
Snook, redfish, trout and jacks
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