Marco Island, Ft. Myers & Boca Grande

Go for a Slam! Grand slams have been common the past two weeks. If you aren't familar with the inshore "slam" it consists of catching a tarpon, snook and redfish in the same day. All three species have been available in Charlotte Harbor and Pine Island Sound for the past two weeks. The tarpon fishing has actually been the best that I have had all year. We aren't catching them every day but we are scoring with tarpon on about 70% of my trips in July and so far in August. TARPON: The past two weeks have produced multiple hook-ups on tarpon almost everyday. In fact, last Wednesday we hooked 17 tarpon over 100-pounds on a half day trip. The fish were hitting 5-inch plastic jerk baits. Most other days have produced 2-4 tarpon using live bait. The key is to move around until you find glass minnow schools. The tarpon are following the bait. Look for birds to help you spot the fish from a distance. SNOOK: They have been about as automatic as it comes. We have been catching up to 35 snook per trip using a mixture of scaled sardines and pinfish. The beaches are holding most of the snook but our bigger fish have come from deep into the backcountry. REDFISH: Reds are plentiful in Pine Island Sound and in Charlotte Harbor. Pinfish have produced about 90% of the reds. Fish high tide around the bushes and find depressions on low tide or go trout fishing. Trout fishing has been poor. I saw at least 200 dead trout off the beaches while we were snook fishing last week. The combination of some redtide and 90 degree water temps made for a huge trout kill. Hope plenty survived for the fall. The forecast for the next few weeks is great. As long as we have these extremely calm seas the fishing will be great. Tarpon should be good for another month and snook and reds will continue to get even better until November. Good Luck! Capt. Scott Hughes Blackwater Charters 941-575-2389