NAPLES — Well it finally is spring, we have waited a long time for it to get here! Water temps are well into the 70s, bait is all over the place, and lots of different species are eating live bait and shrimp.
The pompano run has hit full stride, with catches into the 20-plus per trip range, and these are big fish -- two to four pounds with an occasional five-pounder. They are being caught around the passes near deeper cuts using jigs, plain and tipped.
Snook fishing is trying to get up to speed, and depending on where you are on a particular day, you might catch 20 or more, or you might catch two. With live bait being so numerous on the beaches, the fish should start to show up there in numbers.
As we progress into the weekend, the tides get better and the catching should, too. Tarpon are also beginning to make more regular appearances including a 180-pound fish taken on fly. Offshore, the gags are making their way to the dinner table, accompanied by some red grouper. Kings are scattered, but when you get in them, you can wear out your drag as well as your arm.
Offshore: Capt. Ed Nichols has been heading to the south to find his fish recently. On Tuesday, he took the foursome of Jake Jacobsen, Dan Craver, Bill Ells and Don Christle out 34 miles, where they got numerous gag grouper and kept five up to 33 inches. Also, they battled a couple of goliaths to surrender and release. Then Ed came in to about 20 miles, and got two keeper red grouper, and a mixed bag of mangrove and lane snapper. Earlier in the week, the Dick Washburn group went out 29 miles, and got six keeper gags to 29 inches, mangroves, lanes, one king and a goliath.
Onboard the "Capt. Marvel," Michael Avinon is finding red grouper in deeper water than normal for this time of year, and says the gags are getting a little shy about eating a bait, but that didn't stop a group from Minnesota from limiting on gags to 27 inches, and plenty of kings up to 30 pounds. Tuesday, Capt. Avinon took Reggie Pratt and family out, where Mrs. Pratt took honors by landing a 12-pound red grouper in 90 feet of water. They also got one keeper gag and wore out the kings. Michael suggest keeping an eye out for cobia on their way north to spawn.
Naples/Estero Bay: In the Naples area the snook can be hard to find or all over the place. It depends on the time of day, water movement and luck. Capt. Chris McCubbin has been using his skills as well as some luck to put his anglers on some great afternoon snook bites. Using live white baits, Chris is landing 20 to 40 fish in a trip and the fish are all nice ones, ranging from 23 to 35 inches. Bay waters are warm, but still dirty. Some tarpon are being seen, but not caught. Chris also reports a good pompano bite and a few redfish, too.
Big pompano and a lot of them are the ticket lately for Capt. Todd Geroy on trips. He is finding lots of them outside channels with moving water. Using jigs, Geroy is catching good numbers of pomps as well as mackerel, bluefish, jacks and ladyfish. He reports seeing some tarpon, but no takers. On Saturday, the pompano bite was so good, anglers Ed Eaton and son Mike sat on one spot for four hours, pulling in pompano one after the other. Doubles were common.
In Estero Bay, Capt. Mike McDonald says the sheepshead are still biting around the mangroves, but he is doing real well on trout using a shimp under a popping cork in two feet of water. In the early morning, his anglers have been warming up by fishing the passes and catching mackerel, blues, and some pompano. On Tuesday, his group kept three trout over 20 inches and landed and released a 34-inch redfish.
Big snook continue to "plague" Capt. Seth Hayes, who has released nine slot snook in the last few days. Using live bait on Tuesday, anglers Paul and Darrin Schapp from Michigan caught around 40 snook up to 30 inches, one 23-inch red, and huge jack crevelle up to 14 pounds. Darrin was trying out one of his rods when one of these freight trains hit and snapped the rod. This past weekend, Seth took out the Carters from South Carolina, and they caught their share of snook, including two in the slot, as well as one oversized red and a few trout.
Ten Thousand Islands: The tarpon have started! Capt. Jeff Legutki has had anglers throwing some of his custom flys at the big silver things, and getting a positive response from the fish. While Jeff reports that snook and redfish have been slow, the laid up tarpon have kept his people happy. Happy is an understatement when it comes to the giant landed by Dave Tepper, who fought and landed a 180-pound tarpon in just 30 minutes! Great job.
Capt. Rob Walczak also joined the catch-a-tarpon club Tuesday. John Redman wore out a 120-pound fish caught on a large whitebait, just off the outside islands. He also caught four sharks up to 100 pounds on the same set up, and one 26-inch redfish. On Monday, Walczak put his anglers on two limits of trout to 25 inches, six pompano, and two small snook. He reports water temps hitting 77 degrees, and the water is clearing, but still somewhat dirty.
Fishing around the Cape Romano shoals, Capt. Tim Daugherty got two limits of pompano on a Tuesday morning trip. They also landed countless mackerel, jacks, and ladyfish using a three-eighths-ounce jig tipped with a small piece of Gulp baits. In the afternoon, they got six more pompano and two snook in the 25- and 28-inch range. The afternoon tide was much better than the morning.
Pompano also were the fish of the day for Capt. Jessie Karen on Tuesday. He reports catching more than 20 on both morning and afternoon trip, while fishing hard bottom in about 15 feet of water. Jessie uses a shrimp with a small weight, while moving around on the targeted bottom. On Saturday, angler Brian Nickle from Appleton, Wisc., ended his trip with a 12-pound tripletail for dinner.
If you have a report to share, send it to captsnookus@hotmail.com
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