New Year Brings a Cool Change on the Fishing Front
Capt. Todd Geroy
January 7, 2012
Naples - Saltwater Fishing Report
The first week of 2012 brought the coolest weather since last February to our region. A very strong front moved in on Monday night bringing high winds on Tuesday and near freezing temperatures the next two nights with highs barely making it into the 60's. Red tide also returned to the area with a heavy fish kill in the Naples Bay area. The red tide was not noticeable from Rookery Bay south.
Needless to say, We cancelled morning trips last week, but I did make trips on the last three afternoons. Weak tides and a dramatic drop in water temperature made for pretty slow action until Friday, when things really broke loose!
Sea Trout fishing reopened on the 1st and Friday afternoon I took Dave Fruend and his buddy John Henshel for a little trout fishing. We had no problem finding as many Trout as we wanted. We quickly caught a limit and continued to release at least 60 at just a couple of stops. Pompano were also in the mix. Many of the fish ran in the "keeper" range while others measured out right at 15". An interesting note, at the cleaning table I noticed that the Trout were absolutely gorged with large baitfish such as pin fish and sugar trout. The fish in their stomachs seemed out of proportion for the size of the Trout. They were hungry!
The Trout are schooled up in deeper inland channels that have clean, sand/shell bottom. We caught all of them on my "go to" 1/4 ounce jig heads with Berkely Gulp shrimp in a molting color.
Stronger tides begin today and continue through next week with negative tides running in the morning This should be a great opportunity to run into the deep backwaters and target a variety of fish in the deeper holes at low tide. Cut shrimp on the bottom or jigs should get action from Redfish, Sheepshead and Trout.
Naples Fishing Forecast:
Strong tides with the full moon Sunday will bring negative low water in the mornings for the next week. This will concentrate fish of all kinds into deep holes far in the backcountry. Fish the bottom with live or cut shrimp on a jig head or small hook and a split shot or a 1/4 ounce jig tipped with a small piece of shrimp. A great way to catch everything that swims!
Target Species:
Sea Trout, Pompano, Redfish
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