Marco Island, Ft. Myers & Boca Grande

Let's Get Ready to Rumble! From Marco Island to Ft Myers live bait fishing is the order of the day. Large schools of thread herring and scaled sardines are moving up the coast. Small baits will be near the coast or in the bays and the larger bait will be schooling in deep water offshore. A large cast net or sabikies rigs are needed to catch them. It’s also helpful to mix some chum, which will concentrate bait, when it’s not very thick. We could discuss the good snook, trout, or mackerel fishing in Marco Island, but what’s the point. The tarpon are here and they are slamming any bait that gets in their face. Hundreds of 50-100 pound tarpon are slowly migrating north and we are doing very well with live sardines. We’re catching between 2 and 10 fish per trip, not bad for the beginning of the season. Remember tarpon are very fragile after a long battle and sharks are following the tarpon schools, so please try not to bring these fish out of the water. Speaking of sharks, they are everywhere. We’re averaging double digits on every trip. Their not a bad distraction between tarpon strikes. Blacktips and hammerheads are the main types and they’re running about 20-50 pounds. Large schools of “serious” sized jacks are schooling in the same area. We have playing with them when they get close and I know they will take a fly but I haven’t had anyone want to fly fish. Ft Myers fishing has been good but its still in a winter pattern. Jacks in the 5-8 pound range and trout are the main targets. Pompano, mackerel, ladyfish, and small snook are also providing fairly good action. All of these fish will take shrimp tipped jigs except for the snook, which will need sardines, herring or pinfish. With the tarpon in the Marco area it shouldn’t take long for them to show up off the beach in Sanibel. It’s probably going to take about three weeks. Good Luck! Capt. Scott Hughes Blackwater Fishing Charters