Tamiami Canals for Snook and Tarpon
Capt. Paul Wolter
May 7, 2009
Naples - Saltwater Fishing Report
Went out to the US41 canals today to see what we could do. The water out there is LOW right now. Seems like everytime I go, its down a few more inches. As meteorologist Tom Johnston always says on the news "WE NEED RAIN!" With the water down, there is just not alot of productive areas. The key is to find the deepest water available. Things started out quite slow at our first Tarpon spot, but after we hit a little ledge and got a decent Snook. After that, we moved on to another Tarpon spot and thats where the action started. In 2 hours 11 Tarpon were hooked or missed, and we had some follows from LARGE Snook none under 10lbs. Most of the Tarpon were 10-20lbers, but one was a brute, an easy 50lber. All the bites were totally visual, as the fish were hitting soft plastic swimbaits in the top 2 feet of water. The bad news is that the longest any of those Tarpon stayed on was about 3 seconds!! They were either missing the hook, or just not getting stuck good enough. Swimbaits can be a tough deal on Tarpon sometimes! Definitely not the norm, but it shows you what CAN happen out there if you are in the right place at the right time, even in tough conditions!! Just wish I had pictures to share!!
Naples Fishing Forecast:
The canals are super tough right now unless you have a good knowledge of the area. I only have a handful of worthwhile spots with this bad low water, but they are holding good numbers of fish, some quite large. This is a great time to try and get yourself a Tarpon or large Snook, before the heat and bugs crank up for summer!
Target Species:
Snook Tarpon
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