Marco Island, Ft. Myers & Boca Grande

Capt. Scott Hughes
January 28, 2001
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

Sailfish Season!

After a very busy Christmas and early January the charter business has slowed. Most of my bookings have been for April-June tarpon fishing trips. By the way, if you are interested in an April tarpon fishing trip call to reserve a date as soon as possible. I only have about 5 or 6 dates still available. May and June trips are starting book also. Anyway, this slow down gave me a chance to do some fishing of my own this week. I decided to load up the boat and trailer over to the East Coast of Florida and get in on some of the sailfish action. During the summer of 1999 I did great on sails and blackfin tuna, but last year I didn’t get a chance to go over and try them out. You must remember that I’m fishing out of a 21ft Maverick flats skiff so the days that I can get out in the winter is limited.

I picked up my fishing partner Fred Lieb and we drove to Stuart to launch. Our plan was to go out the St. Lucie inlet and catch live herring and fish for sailfish about 4 miles west of Hobe Sound Beach and then fly-fish for Spanish and King mackerel in the surf. The seas were flat calm but the swells were in excess of six feet with the tide coming in. We managed to time the swells and made it out the inlet to catch bait. It took us about an hour to gold-hook enough thread herring to go fishing and we were off. It was like a roller coaster ride going up and down the swells that were about 20 seconds apart. We made it to the ledge in about 100 feet of water and put the baits out. It wasn’t 15 minutes and Fred hooked up. We lost the fish however, when the knot from his bimini twist to the shock lead failed. He’s going to kill me if he finds out that I printed this. He got redemption about 20 minutes later when another big sailfish took his herring and this time the tackle held and we boated a 50-pounder after a twenty minute battle and 7 magnificent jumps. That was it for the sails for the rest of the day. We didn’t have much slow time though. We caught 4 false albacore tuna from 10-15 pounds over the next two hours. That’s not bad for less than four hours of fishing. We decided to run back the beach to try to get some mackerel on the fly rods, but the surf was way to big. The flat seas in 100 feet were turning into 10-foot monsters when the swells reached less than thirty feet of water. All the mackerel were just outside of the whitewater and we didn’t think that mackerel were worth the risk of having a set of 15-foot swells catch us in shallow water. So we decided to call it a day and head for the inlet. When we got to the inlet there was a surprise for us. The weather forecast was calling for the swells to subside during the day. But, what we found was an outgoing tide that was stacking up 8 foot swells into 12-15 foot monsters that were totally engulfing the jetties when a large set would break. Thirty-foot offshore boats were having a time trying to get back in the inlet. After riding a set of three fifteen foot waves, which almost broke on us I knew that a set of five or more would do us in. I saw an opening in the surf. I guess it was an opening, it was a set of ten-foot swells that were breaking in the inlet. We headed right behind the second wave and tried to ride the back of the crest through the inlet. Hoping it wouldn’t throw us into the rocks or break and pitch pole us into the first wave. We made it through. There were a number a boats inside the inlet watching the surf, I wonder what they were thinking when they saw us bust out of the surf line. I bet we looked like we were riding a 21ft surfboard with a polling platform on the back. It was a very exciting trip to say the least. Which is exactly what the doctor ordered. I fish all the time, so it’s fairly difficult to give me a real rush on a fishing trip. The video of the sailfish and tuna was great but the ride put the icing on the cake. I wish we could have got that on video, but we were holding on for dear life.

Ok, here is the fishing report for southwest Florida. The water is extremely cold. Marco Island fishing has been slow except for ladyfish, jacks and sheephead. Jigs have been the best producers with live shrimp doing well also. Reds and snook have been scarce. Ft Myers fishing has been better than Marco Island but the water is still very cold. Trout are in the back bays and redfish are still in the creeks. A few snook are around, but they are mostly small. The river is holding plenty of hard pulling jacks to about 12-pounds. Live pinfish or sardines will catch them the best. You might hook up a small tarpon while you’re at it. Ladyfish and sheephead are everywhere. Jigs will catch them both. As the full-moon approaches look for the big sheephead to congregate at the passes. Most of these fish will be 3-5 pounds. That is your best bet for a mess of good eating fish.

Good Luck!

Capt. Scott Hughes

Blackwater Charters

863-946-9171

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