Marco Island, Ft. Myers & Boca Grande

Tarpon are Early! Book your trip NOW! I just finished my totals for February which is not generally one of the best fishing months. Out of Ft Myers my charters averaged just over 31 fish per day. Out of Marco Island we averaged just over 15 fish per day. That may not sound like much but that is pretty good for the winter. About 27% of our fish for February were snook, redfish, tarpon and trout. Jacks and sheephead made up for the majority of the rest of the catches with 49.5%. For March the fishing will only get better because the bait schools are moving north into our area and the major players are migrating into our area. When I say the “major “players, I mean tarpon in the 100-pound class. Tarpon have shown up in our area a few weeks earlier than any of us expected. We are catching large 100-pound class tarpon throughout the 10,000 Islands and I don’t expect anything to change except for the better. Live sardines and mullet will get hookups just about any time that you find the fish but flies will catch their share when tarpon are found in the shallow bays sunning themselves. I still have quite a few days available for tarpon fishing in March because most of us weren’t anticipating any good tarpon fishing until the end of the month. So if your want to get in some good “early bird” tarpon fishing before the crowds hone in on them, now is the time to book a trip. After finding good numbers of tarpon this week I found it hard to think of anything else. But, there are other fish in our waters and they are starting to bite well also. Trout have moved in the snook holes that have been producing good numbers of legal sized fish for the past few weeks. Live sardines fished along the flats south of Round Key and along the outer islands north of round key have been producing keeper trout. Jigs fished on the flats of the Calusahatchee River in Ft Myers are also producing good numbers of keeper sized fish. Big jacks have completed the migration north and are tearing up bait schools off the beaches south of Ft Myers. Good places to look for 15-20 pound jacks are the large passes to the gulf. Big Carlos, Marco River and Caxambas Pass will all hold jacks over 10 pounds. When you find a school you can through live bait, plugs or flies at them. Deceiver baitfish patterns are always good choices of flies. I recommend a 9 or 10 wt flyrod for the larger pass jacks. Snook and redfish, which have been doing great for February, have hit a lull in the action. We are still catching 3 or 4 snook per trip but we have had to work for the hook-ups. Redfish have been hit and miss. They have been the least productive species for February in Marco Island. Ft Myers redfishing which is always more consistent the 10,000 Islands has been much better with a few reds to be expected on each trip. The Islands in the mouth of the river and the islands in the northern part of Pine Island Sound have been holding reds on high tide. The creeks have produced the best on low tide. Fish live baits on high tide and jigs on low tide. One other note about snook fishing at the moment. The spillways of the Calusahatchee River are producing snook up to 25-pounds almost daily. The larger snook have been right up to the mouth of Lake Okeechobee. The only drawback to the snook fishing there is that it’s almost impossible to catch a snook in the 26-34 inch slot limit. Ninety percent of all the snook caught there are 35-37 inches. Mylar jigs ¾ to 1 oz are the main lure used there. Bomber long A plugs also catch their share as well. Good Luck! Capt. Scott Hughes Blackwater Charters 863-946-9171