Reds Continue to Dominate Inshore Naples and Marco

Again, I have had a busy week fishing double half days each day with the exception of Thursday afternoon which brought welcome rain to the area along with a not so welcome cold front. Redfish continued to be the dominant target aboard my skiff the "Into-Wishin". We had strong incoming tides early in the week which flooded the mangrove shorelines drawing scores of redfish to feed along the roots and oyster bars. We fished with a mix of shrimp and whitebait with equal results. While the high water made for some very tricky casting, especially on the windy days (of which there were several) a well presented bait deep under the overhangs or in a pocket was greeted by fish most of the time. Most of the fish were just under slot size of 18 inches, but several fell nicely into the slot. Dave Fruend and Mike Johns of Naples were out Tuesday afternoon and boated redfish what seemed to be continuously all afternoon. Snook fishing slowed a little last week as a mild front last weekend cooled the water back down into the upper 60's from the 73 degree water we had been spoiled with. Although we had to work a little harder for the bites, we did catch and release a fair number of them by the end of the week. Late Thursday morning, we were driven to the dock by a strong squall preceding a cold front. White out rain and wind gusts to 50 mph. cut our trip a little short, but not before the Forte' brothers hooked several snook and bruiser jack crevalle. Here is a shot of the approaching storm… {%image_id=19697%}