Naples Florida September Fishing

Yesterday was my first charter since getting back from Alaska where I was working at Fish The Nush (www.FishTheNush.com) located in Bristol Bay, Alaska. I wasn't sure how it was going to go since we have been dealing with water quality issues for the past couple months. Just about every morning since getting back from Alaska I've been going to the beach in the morning to check on the water. Every day its been getting clearer and I have been seeing more and more baitfish and birds. Anyways getting back to my charter yesterday. There are still fish out there! My day started off early getting down to Wiggins and trying to catch some live bait. Went straight out to 18' of water where some birds were working and used a Sabiki rig to catch Threadfin Herring. I then went to the beach where there were literally thousands and thousands of Pilchards (small ones). Went back to grab my party of 4 and we fished multiple spots from 3-12 miles offshore. We caught Mangrove Snapper, Grunts, Blue Runners, Gag Grouper, Pork Fish, Spanish Mackerel, and had a shark on for a few minutes. Have I had better days? Absolutely! But, all things considered after what's been happening with the red tide. It was good just to catch fish. They were not all big ones, but we caught lots of them. It was also good to see the bait starting to show back up again. Hopefully fishing continues to get better.