Report for Naples, Marco Island and the Ten Thousand Islands
Capt. Matt Hoover
August 16, 2000
Marco Island - Saltwater Fishing Report
Blind Sided
This past week was business as usual. The bait was available. The fish were cooperating. The weather was beautiful. By Saturday, a tropical situation developed over southwest Florida. The focus of the ill-fated weather centered over Marco right in the middle of the prestigious RedSnook tournament. The lightning and thunder that hit Marco would put the fourth of July show by the Boston Pops to shame. Many guides found refuge under boathouses or bolted south. It wasn’t much better south either.
Weather like that can uproot the best laid plans. It made a free for all out of the tournament. Everyone had a blast anyway. The beginning of the week was producing plenty of snook of all sizes. Live bait was plentiful before the storm and many folks were catching snook, redfish, trout and an occasional tarpon. Jigs and plugs are working well too.
We have been catching some of the largest trout that I have seen in over twenty years in our area. It is not uncommon to catch them where you would expect to find snook. These trout are well over twenty inches. It won’t be long before we start catching true “gator” trout. Large trout are not picky about what they will eat. All forms of live bait take trout. But getting over the grass flats and throwing a topwater plug is the way to go. You will almost always catch larger trout. And you will most certainly catch other species as well.
By Saturday, it was every man for himself. Despite the nasty weather, there were some impressive catches turned in. My wife PJ turned in a picture of a thirty two-inch snook in the general division. I didn’t think it would hold up, but it was the largest caught that day. When Sunday rolled around, the weather was much better and the catches got more impressive. A thirty six-inch snook caught by Doug Poe with Captain Todd Geroy got the nod. The largest snook was caught on a plug. It was a whopping thirty nine inches. Robbie Morgan with Captain Mike Friday landed that fish. It just goes to show that perseverance will pay off. It isn’t too bright to be out in a thunderstorm though.
We did learn that there were more redfish out there than were suspected. Many of us filled our card when we didn’t expect to. The weekend passed and the weather became beautiful. The water cleaned up and I took Richard Knat flyfishing. We saw all sorts of unsociable snook. Richard did hook and land three very nice snook. Those fish fell for a Mangrove Bunny that Andrew Bostick taught me how to tie about a hundred years ago.
The wind is out of the southeast so the bait will be back. The fishing has been excellent. This is a good time to get out and do research. There isn’t as much traffic and there are all sorts of critters out there. I’ll see you on the water.
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