Marco Island, Ft. Myers & Boca Grande

Capt. Scott Hughes
June 10, 2001
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

Tarpon Fever!

If you have been wondering what is going on in Southwest Florida, well its tarpon fishing. The last time I reported the tarpon were a little scarce and the bite was slow. Since then the fishing has been consistent and we have scored on nearly every trip in June. I even have a tarpon released after an hour-long battle that we estimated at 193-pounds. Customer Dave Whitmer did a great job to land quickly the fish using 20-pound test line. In the past few days I have started doing some more flats fishing out of Marco Island and the snook are starting to heat it up.

Tarpon can be found all over Southwest Florida. Small tarpon under 60-pounds can be found in the Cape Coral canals and the big boys over 100-pounds are out on the beaches and in the major passes such as Boca Grande, Captiva and Redfish. I have been using a combination of thread herring and pass crabs to draw the strikes. Late afternoon has been producing somewhat better than the morning trips. Tarpon have been scattered in the harbor and in the sound but the fishing is to “spotty” to spend a lot of time on.

Snook fishing has been good late in the afternoon in Redfish Pass. Falling tides are the best and pinfish are the baits of choice. I seem to catch the big snook using threads but they draw fewer strikes. Out of Marco Island the snook are out along the beaches and in the passes. Small scaled sardines have been doing well but the large threads have been catching the big snook.

Redfish have been showing up on the shoals of Cape Romano. High tide is the best. Sardines, shrimp and lures have been catching keepers. I have also been seeing some reds under the mangroves in northern Pine Island Sound and around the Alligator Creek area of Charlotte Harbor.

Trout fishing is still pretty incredible in the 10,000 Islands. Small sardines will catch as many limits as you want if you try hard enough. Almost all the grass flats and sandbars around Cape Romano are holding good numbers of keepers.

Jack Crevelle are keeping the drags of my snook rods singing, like they always do this time of year. Jacks in the 7-12 pound range are all over the shoals and in the creeks flowing into the passes. The jetties around Marco Island are also annual jack haunts.

Don’t think that the tarpon fishing is over just because June is almost over. I actually scored more tarpon in July last year than I did in May and June combined. The tarpon that are all over Boca Grande and on the beaches will move into Charlotte Harbor and feed on herring, pinfish and ladyfish to fatten up for the migration out to sea. I’ll be there to greet them and I hope you’ll be with me.

Good Luck!

Capt. Scott Hughes

Blackwater Charters

863-946-9171

www.blackwatercharters.com [email protected]

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