Report for Naples, Marco Island and the Ten Thousand Islands
Capt. Matt Hoover
April 5, 2000
Marco Island - Saltwater Fishing Report
Double Whammy
Fishing this past week was like running the gauntlet in a fast paced movie. There were back to back fronts with intermittent reprieves in between. The wind was ferocious most of the week and you had to grab the calm moments when you could. Those of you that were persistent were undoubtedly rewarded. Snook, redfish, trout, and some large tarpon were caught in the last week.
The first front blew through in the middle of last week. There was bait available but it wasn’t easy to acquire. Most of the guides that use live bait have out of the way spots that they guard with their lives where they can get a net full when times are hard. That was the case most of the week. Some folks threw lures and jigs and managed to do well. Snook, reds and trout fell for live bait on my boat Wednesday, but we had to fish hard. On Friday the wind died down and a few tarpon showed up. One of my anglers managed to catch a ninety-pound tarpon in the morning. We caught a few snook in the afternoon. On Saturday, the wind was stiff in the morning but the tarpon were in full swing. We jumped two large tarpon and caught snook as well. Anglers Trevis McCelvey, his stepdaughter, and Donnie Kish brought three tarpon over one hundred pounds to the boatside. Not bad for a little weekend warrior action. Donnie went out the next day and jumped six tarpon. They brought two of the fish to the boat. Tarpon have been in the passes and bays throughout the Ten Thousand Islands. They will take plugs, flies, and live bait. Just be sure to have a stout rod that has a reel that will hold at least two hundred yards of twenty-pound test. I use twenty five-pound test because my anglers need an advantage on their first tarpon.
As the new week came around, the wind started to pick up. The fishing became more difficult because the wind would dictate where you could go. Still, most of us were catching enough fish to justify our trips. As the week progressed, the wind got worse with another impending cold front. Tuesday, if you could stand the wind, the snook bite was very good. Anglers "Hit Man" Ray Guido and John "Snoopy" Ashby toughed it out with me and caught quite a few almost legal snook. A few keepers were brought back to the dock by some of the other guides. I also saw a few redfish go home to the kitchen. By the time I got home on Tuesday, the sky turned black and the cold front was barking at our door. That night and the next day, all hell broke loose with cold wind that rattled the house. Most of us cancelled trips and stayed home.
It was a fast moving front and it will be business as usual. The temperature dropped but shouldn’t effect the current pattern of the fish. There shouldn’t be any more cool wind until next fall. I hope that April will stop behaving like March so we could get on with this “catching” business. I’ll see you on the water soon.
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