Naples Fishing Report 9/28/10

The last week has been really good for tarpon and snook in the Naples area. I have not seen the huge schools of bait yet that signal the Fall run of tarpon, but they have been feeding great anyways. Its still been a early morning and late afternoon bite on the tarpon. They are on the beaches eating glass minnows for about an hour each morning so its a short window, but on most mornings 6 hookups of 80-160lb fish have been normal. We are throwing DOA baitbusters and live ladyfish at these fish. Some days the bite has lasted till 10am which is nice. The afternoons Ive been using live mullet and ladyfish, its a longer bite lasting from around 5pm till dark. We have a great week of tarpon tides coming up starting October 8th and I have some days open so dont miss out. The snook are everywhere and the bigger fish are starting to show up more as the waters cool. Live pilchards have been the way to go on the snook. This is a picture of good buddy and guide Jeff Legutki this morning out of Naples.

Naples Fall Tarpon Fishing 9/19/10

The winds have switched over the last two weeks going northeast. This
is a sign that Fall is coming, the humidy is down and the weather is
more enjoyable. The fishing has been excellent both off the beaches
and in the backwaters. The schools of bait are beginning to flood the
beaches and eating them are tarpon, sharks, mackeral, ladyfish and
jacks. I have been targeting the tarpon first thing and them messing
with the others as the tarpon bite slows. We have had some excellent
mornings on tarpon. Today I had Gordon on the boat and we were looking
for the early morning tarpon bite. Live ladyfish have been the bait of
choice, we got 10 live one by 6:45am and were on the tarpon by 7am. We
ended up hooking up 7 tarpon in 1.5 hrs landing 3 including this
monster Gordon caught. She was around 150lbs and put up a serious 50
minute fight.
Redfish have also made a good showing in the Naples area. They have
been easiest to target in the backwaters around mangroves and oyster
bars. I have been chumming live pilchards to get them feeding. Most of
the fish are in the 23-30in range with some small rat reds mixed. The
beaches have had some big schools of monster reds, 100 or more fish in
the 30-35in range. The only problem is they haven't been reliable,
here one day gone the next.
Snook season is officially closed this Fall and will reopen next
year. The northern regions lost a lot of fish this Winter due to the
very cold weather. Naples faired very well and are snook fishing has
been great. We aren't catching any monsters right now, but the numbers
are making up for it. Most trips are catching between 25-50 snook
depending on how much time we spend fishing for them.
October fishing should be excellent with Tarpon fishing being in
full swing before they head south for the Winter. Snook fishing will
get better as the waters cool and the big fish will start to move back
inshore. Redfish will make an even better showing and become easier to
target. Along with the cooler water will be trout and pompano in the
backwaters and kingfish, grouper and bonita on the inshore wrecks.
October is the start of the busy season with the return of clients
from the colder states. If you want to get out fishing don't wait to
call or email me. Tight lines

Naples Tarpon, Snook, Redfish Report

The fishing this last week was excellent except for one afternoon. The pilchards are very easy to get in 15ft of water and there are also big schools of threads off the beaches. I will start with the redfish and snook report, the snook are pretty much everywhere they should be. I fished the mangroves this week more than I had been with good high tides in the morning. The snook were not big, but the numbers were great and the action was good. They are still on the docks in the bay, but if I can avoid fishing them I do. The backwaters gives you better chances at catching redfish and baby tarpon mixed in with the snook. We managed to catch redfish on every trip but one and the water was just to low to get where I wanted to go. Redfish will start becoming more common as Fall approaches and they make a great dinner. I have been chumming pretty heavy to get them going and it has paid off. There are also a lot of snapper and big jacks mixed in with the snook and redfish. The tarpon I have been targeting have been in the 10-30lb range and have been eating well both in the morning and the last hour before sunset. I have been using live bait in the morning and plugs in the evening. The big ones have been scattered on the beaches in the schools of ladyfish and mackeral. They just have not beed real cooperative, one day you hook five and the next day you can't find any. This will all change soon as they take over the passes and beaches. This is a great time to fish in Naples and I have days available so give me a call and lets catch some fish 239 404 6255