Marco Island, Ft. Myers & Boca Grande

Strong Winds Hammper Excellent Fishing. Fishing has been pretty darn good the past few weeks. Until today, that is. We are in the midst of 20-30 knot winds with gust to 35 knots. It’s pretty hard to fish in those kind of winds. Even deep in the backcountry. But before the winds, we were slamming with good catches of snook, redfish and trout on every trip. October is traditionally a slow month for the charter business and this year isn’t going to be any different. I’ve been telling many of my regular customers that the fall is much better than the winter but I guess that running from the snow in February is more important than catching tons of snook and redfish in October. The charters that have taken advantage of the good fishing have been locals form the east coast and from the Tampa area. Snook fishing has been spectacular with my customers catching around 20-25 snook per trip. Some of the other guides that I have talked to have been doing even better south of Marco Island in the upper 10,000 Islands. I have been focusing on the vast expanse of islands north of Marco Island and south of Naples. Most of the snook have been hitting small-scaled sardines near the mangroves. Jigs have taken a few also when bait was tough because of the wind. Love Lure minnow bodies on ¼ oz lead heads is good bait to start with. They will catch redfish, trout, snook and Jacks. They are even better when you tip them with a piece of shrimp. Redfish have been on the prowl all around Marco Island and the northern 10,000 Island. Jigs tipped with shrimp have been catching the most numbers for my customers but large live sardines have been getting the bigger reds. Small shiners that are used for snook will catch plenty if you can chum a school into range on the grass flats. Trout from 16-25 inches are south of Cape Romano. We chummed up plenty with small sardines before the winds blew in. I’m sure there will be some around once it calms down. Northern Pine Island Sound is also holding good numbers of trout but they seem to be running slightly small than the Marco trout. Spanish mackerel are from Boca Grande Pass south to Cape Romano. Most of these fish are huge for spanish mackerel. Many of the mackerel we caught last week were 20-30 inches. That’s big considering that a few years ago it was hard to find keeper 12 inch mackerel. These fish have been eager to take flies, jigs, plugs and of course, live bait. Jack crevelle have been all over the flats and in the deeper runs of Rookery Bay. We have been catching up to 30 jacks in the 5-pound range each trip with a couple pushing 10 pounds per trip. Live sardines are usually the best baits for jacks but jigs and flies have been catching their share. Clouser minnows in Chartreuse and white are good choices for trying to catch everything from snook to jacks. Other species that we caught this week were snapper, sheephead and ladyfish. Most of these were caught with jigs tipped shrimp. Some big snapper have been coming from the 10,000 Islands south of Marco Island. The forecast for the next month should be excellent as long as these high winds go away. Tarpon are roaming around the 10,000 Island and I’m just waiting to go tarpon hunting. Reds and snook should remain strong in Marco Island and reds should continue to be good though Thanksgiving in Pine Island. Good Luck! Capt. Scott Hughes Blackwater Charters 863-946-9171