Naples & Marco Island

August 4th, 2008

New Report for August

July is over, hot weather to follow should still be great fishing for the waters of Naples and Marco area.

July was one of the best fishing months I have ever seen on the Naples and Marco waters. Temperatures were fairly mild and the late morning and the early evening Snook Bite, seemed red hot no matter what the tide was.

Night time fishing for July was also pretty darn good for Snook and Tarpon and we even recorded a large number of back country slams with Tarpon, Redfish, Snook, and Seatrout. The other great thing about July was I was able to take a trip to Wisconsin and fish the Menomonie River for Smallmouth Bass. We fished with a group from the Tight Lines Fly Shop. www.tightlinesflyshop.com

These were some of the nicest guides I have ever fished with in my life. This was one of the most courteous and professional outfits I had ever been with and the fishing was wonderful. You need to check them out. We fished with Tim and Nate. The weather was fantastic and we were able to catch river Smallmouth to 21 inches. They fought like little trucks on our 5 weight fly rods. If you go there Bring some Spider Flies with you.

Fishing from inshore to Offshore in the Naples and Marco waters should continue to be good barring any adverse weather and wind. Inshore I would expect an increase in Small Tarpon activity if the rain activity increases and Snook will start scattering out from the Passes to the back country creeks. Not that they haven’t already done this. There has been less activity in the passes and increased activity in the farther reaches of the back country. I was up a creek in Periwinkle the other day and a steady line of big Snook kept cruising by. Tip of the week!! Tarpon will be about also, some of the best Tarpon fishing of the year will be this month in the backs of the creeks, most of which will be fish under 50 pounds, but do not be surprised to come across a laid up biggun somewhere back there. Beach fishing for Tarpon will still be available but the numbers of fish you will see will be greatly reduced. You will probably want to check the pilings along the Naples beaches for Redfish this month they usually start showing up there. Night fishing for Snook and Tarpon will continue to be strong all this month as long as the home owners keep turning the lights on. I want to thank all the homeowners for turning the lights on and caution the fisherman. Please be courteous to these wonderful people that keep there lights on for us to fish. It is a wonderful resource and it would be a shame to lose it because of people that leave line tangled on the docks and do not respect the property owners. The other thing if someone else is fishing the dock already, especially a home owner do not try and fish the light also. Please just move on to another one where there is no body else.

Offshore will still be cooking the whole month of August. Large schools of bait will be out there bringing all sorts of critters to the near shore wrecks and reefs. Expect to find scattered Cobia, Kings, Spanish, Permit, Sharks, and good Grouper and Snapper fishing. Load up with some live bait and get out and fish in what should be some of the calmest weather.

Good luck and good fishing. Remember what I said please be courteous on the water. Roan z.