Backcountry and flats fishing report

Capt. Scott Hughes February 22, 2010 Marco Island - Saltwater Fishing Report Last week I started running a few trips out of Marco island and the 10,000 Islands. Every spring I like to run my fishing charters out of Marco Island which in about an hour south of Charlotte Harbor because the bait migrations start in the 10,000 Island in early March and doesn't gt to Charlotte Harbor until late March or early April. Trout: The water is still to cold for any baitfish schools. We worked the back bays from Everglades City to Goodland and caught good numbers of speckled trout and ladyfish. The trout were mostly over 18 inches and were very healthy and fat. We also ran into a few pompano and sheepshead. We also worked a number of flats near Marco Island and caught loads of speckled trout, ladyfish, mackerel and sheepshead, shrimp rigged on jigheads caught most of the fish. Pine Island and Charlotte fishing is a lot like Marco Island except that the trout a running a little smaller and there are more smaller redfish around. We are catching quite a few small to medium sized redfish in the creeks of Charlotte Harbor. Shrimp is the only bait that is catching any fish right now. Marco Island Fishing Forecast: The water temperatures should come up quite a bit within the next few weeks and when it does the baitfish will show up and the big gamefish will be right with them. Big jacks, sharks, mackerel, tarpon, snook and redfish will be players in March.