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Report for Naples, Marco Island and the Ten Thousand Islands
Capt. Matt Hoover
February 20, 2001
Marco Island - Saltwater Fishing Report
Fair February
Fair weather and plenty of action would best describe this past week. The cold front came through and there were some stiff winds behind it. Even though strong winds can dictate where you fish, with a little ingenuity, you can stay in the action. It looks as if we will enjoy the same warm weather throughout the weekend. The mercury is supposed to dip a little in the middle of the week but it shouldn’t effect the fishing that much. The eighty-degree weather that we have been having is the key to warmer water temperature. I like to see the water temperature get into the seventies.
We are starting to see and use live bait around Marco and the Islands. Don’t leave home without an assortment of jigs either. Pompano have been in the passes of Marco and they love to bite quarter ounce or three eighth ounce jigs. Many folks have been using Don’s Potbelly jigs. Yellow and pink seem to do the trick. I like to cut the hair back to just about the bend of the hook. Make sure that you bounce the jig slow on the bottom.
Before the winds blew, some of us were able to get live shiners. They paid of with small to medium sized snook and redfish that were more than happy to eat them. Jacks and ladyfish will supply plenty of entertainment between the snook and redfish strikes. The availability of bait will only get better in the next week. If you can’t get bait, screwtail jigs have been producing well-rounded action. Don’t forget to try deep dropping shrimp into deeper holes if the wind handcuffs you. We are still catching many different species using this method.
Trout were a bit more of a challenge this week. It was windy and the tides were low. The tides in the upcoming week will be less radical. If the wind lies down, we should be able to get back to jigging up some decent numbers of trout.
Many reports of large tarpon are filtering in. Some have been subdued on the fly rod and others have been caught by conventional methods. There are fish showing in some of the passes of the Ten Thousand Islands. Other fish are laying up in quiet bays. With a little luck and calm weather, the tarpon fishing should only get better in the upcoming weeks.
Once again, I would recommend loading your boat for bear. Take along your light tackle and flyrods. But don’t forget to pack the big rods too. As we approach March, I think you can expect the action to start heating up. I’ll see you on the water.
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