Marco Island, Ft. Myers & Boca Grande

Lazy summer days This time of year my days are pretty slow. The long hours of running two trips a day for tarpon during May and June are over and I'm back to working half or full-days when I can get a trip. Even though the bookings are slow the fishing can be very exciting. Even though the tarpon have left Boca Grande Pass for the the most part July puts up some of the best tarpon numbers of the year. After the tarpon leave the pass they scatter out on the flats and up in the bay much like they do in April and early May. We fish for them by drifting large threadfin herring or by casting 5-6 inch soft plastics. The area bridges also hold a lot of tarpon this time of year. I do most of my bridge fishing at night and fish the shadow line with large lipped crank baits. Most of the bridge tarpon have been running 15-50 pounds the tarpon out in the bay average over 100 pounds. July is one of the top three months of the year for snook fishing. Snook are spawning late this year so expect to still find a lot of fish on the flats as well as fish in the passes where most of the spawn. I usually stick with live pinfish or sardines for the snook this time of year. We don't usually target redfish much in the middle of the summer but we have been able to get into some big schools lately and had a blast catching big reds on almost every cast. I use cut thread herring for reds in the summer. The big schools are on the open flats and you'll find scattered singles under the bushes during high tides. Sharks, jacks crevelle, mackerel, cobia and snapper are also showing this month so keep an eye out and be ready to take advantage of every opportunity that arises. Good Luck, Capt. Scott Hughes Blackwater Charters 941-628-4247 cell