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Report for Naples, Marco Island and the Ten Thousand Islands
Capt. Matt Hoover
November 22, 2005
Marco Island - Saltwater Fishing Report
Fall Flush
Fishing these past few weeks has been very productive. The fall bait migration started a few weeks ago. There was a mix of scaled sardines, threadfin herring, and hordes of Spanish sardines from the beach to near shore. That means that predators were hot on their trail.
After filling the wells in the south Marco area, it was a no brainer to find fish in the immediate area. Double-digit days on snook were no problem. These fish ranged from pee wees to slot sized and above snook. I had several double-digit days with all sizes of redfish as well. The fish had no particular pattern as we were catching them in the front and middle islands as well as the back bays in the Ten Thousand Islands.
On one outing, angler Al Wilson had quite a tarpon show. We were in the middle of a Spanish sardine school of off a beach near Marco that was lighting up my bottom machine from the bottom of the boat to the bottom of the sea. There were hundreds of tarpon of all sizes crashing and splashing within touching distance of the boat. They were cruising sideways with their mouths open. I know what happens when tarpon are keyed in on certain bait but I tried anyway. I even tried the old cut catfish on the bottom trick. We tried mackerel, sardines, catfish, and mullet. Usually you can draw a strike. Nada! All we could do was watch with our jaws hinged open with slobber rolling off our chins as tarpon were literally slapping the side of the boat. We pulled out of our stupor an hour later. We headed for the bushes and caught snook and reds. As good as that fishing was, it didn’t squelch the fire.
As the week progressed, the tides went to the negative so it got a little harder to get the ball rolling. I started catching bait as quickly as possible, headed to the Islands, and started fishing anything that was holding water. It was hit and run until the water came in. We had very productive days by fishing fast.
We have our first real cold front passing through right now. There are heavy winds and no bait. I used popping corks and shrimp this morning and did very well overall. The wind was out of the north so the islands acted like a shield. We caught both slot sized reds and snook.
I hope to do well with snook and redfish up to the middle of December. By then, we will be catching trout, sheepshead, and black drum. I start fishing the deeper runs and rivers. You never know what you will get. Winter is a great time to stalk snook and redfish in the back in the skinny water boat. You have to step up a notch in the skill level. I love it. We’ll see you on the water.
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