Report for Naples, Marco Island and the Ten Thousand Islands

Capt. Matt Hoover
November 7, 2003
Marco Island - Saltwater Fishing Report

Fall Finale

October ended with a bang. Double digit days of snook and redfish were had by most. We had back to back cold fronts pass through in the last week and a half. Rain blew in with them. Oddly enough, most of us were able to pull off at least some extended half day trips. This past week has been stellar in the catching department.

Bait is still readily available. We would start off with a well full of scaled sardines and head for the hunting grounds. But wait. Was that a tarpon bashing a school of mullet? Several dozen casts with a jig to an adjacent grass flat produced a couple of ladyfish that would suffice for a poon inquiry. Guide and friend Stacy Mullendore beat me to the punch. His anglers had a ladyfish out for about eight seconds and wham….the line came tight. One hundred pounds of silver put a major melt down on his spool and crack. I don’t think that I have seen two hundred yards of line disappear that fast. We were in very fast current so that gave the fish an advantage. What a show.

Yes there are still some tarpon around. The mullet are starting to bunch up a bit. Tarpon will take advantage of these hapless fish. If you have patience, the early morning hours will produce the best results.

Smaller snook and rat reds have been supplying plenty of action in the front and middle grounds. There are jacks of all sizes prowling around too. Mackerel are coming to the baits well on the inside. So I had a hunch last week that the move was on. I started going to the far reaches of the back bays and hit pay dirt. We would go from point to point and started drilling the larger slot snook. There is nothing like being there when you figure out the transition. It was like clockwork getting some good numbers on quality fish. There have been some larger redfish smashing our baits as well.

I have seen the action remain good in our area up until mid December. It is the first real cold blasts that will send the game fish running. Let’s hope for a mild winter. I’ll see you on the water.

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