Marco Island, Ft. Myers & Boca Grande

Capt. Scott Hughes
February 5, 2002
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

Sight fishing!

If you have been following the reports then you know that I had a serious knee injury about a month ago. I figured I would be out 4-6 weeks. I am happy to say that I have been fishing for the past two weeks. The only thing that I haven’t tried yet is throwing a cast net. This time of year artificial lures and shrimp tipped jigs do just as well as shiners most of the time. This week proved that to be true although the larger fish hit the live thread herring. Anyhow, I can always throw the net with my other hand if I’m in a pinch.

I did a little fishing in Marco Island and in Charlotte Harbor targeting mostly trout, redfish and snook. The trout were a bit picky in the 10,000 Islands last week. They didn’t want the usual jigs and soft plastics but instead hit small sardines that moved in close to the outer islands. The problem was that the bait decided that it wasn’t going to hang around for more than a day or two. The bait situation in the Marco Island area is surprisingly scarce for water temperatures in the 70’s.

Charlotte Harbor is very clear and sight-fishing opportunities are abundant if you’re targeting snook, redfish and trout. Schools of thread herring are near the bars on low tide and up on the flats during the high. Trout, snook and large ladyfish ate pretty well last week with the live bait. Top water lures produced the most consistent catches of trout and snook in lower Charlotte Harbor. Bagley’s finger mullet caught nice catches of trout ladyfish and hooked a few snook. Also black and white deceiver fly patterns caught plenty of large ladyfish and some small trout.

Other catches of the week a few huge pompano, and lane snapper. Pompano are running off of Marco Island along Kice Island. They are not producing large numbers of fish but they are good sized. Most are running about three pounds. Massive amounts of lane snappers are being caught offshore of Marco Island with cut bait and jigs. Some buddies of mine have reported catches of over fifty in a four hour span. Grouper are nowhere to be found within 20 miles offshore and kingfish action has been downhill for the past few weeks. I know that you SKA guys don’t want to here that with the big tournaments coming up this month. I don’t think that you’ll have to run as far as last year though with the water much warmer.

The forecast for this week is cold temperatures with low’s in the upper 40’s and high in the mid 70’s. This will cool the water off and push a few more fish back into the creeks and up the river. Also, tarpon season is just around the corner and open dates are getting slim. So if you think you might want to try for the silver king this year plan ahead.

Good Luck!

Capt. Scott Hughes

Blackwater Charters

863-946-9171

941-628-4247 (cell)

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