Ft. Myers Fishing Report

Fort Myers to Boca Grande fishing report
Capt. Scott Hughes
September 13, 2009
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

We have had some of the best weather for fishing the past two months that I've seen during the months of August and September. This good weather has led to some very good catches of tarpon on almost every trip when I have targeted them. When i haven't been fishing for tarpion I've been searching the flats for snook, redfish, trout and snapper. There are also quite a few sheephead, and spanish mackerel around also.

Tarpon: September is still tarpon season for me and I've been able to stay on a number of groups of fish. I've finding them in Charlotte Harbor, the passes and in the open gulf. Most of my fishing in the gulf and passes has been with large live sardines or herring. When I've been targeting tarpon in Charlotte Harbor i've been using a variety of lures. Most of the time I've sight fishing and blind casting large soft plastic swim baits or trolling larger lipped plugs. The tarpon in Septmeber are somewhat smaller than the fish that we catch in the spring but most of the tarpon have been 70-100 pounds.

Snook: Snook season opened on Septmeber 1st and will be open until December. I've been finding snook near the passes and on the beaches. There are also a few fish moving up into the backcountry where they will stay until they move into the rivers during winter.

Redfish: Redfish are staring to school up on the open bars of Charlotte Harbor and Pine Island. Most of these fish are over the slot but are a lot of fun when you can get on them. Live bait, cut biat and lures will work when the schools are not spooked.

Trout: I don't usually catch very many trout this time of year but this year there are more on the flats than usual and we have been catching them with small live sardines. We are also catching loads of big snapper, mackerel and ladyfish while we are catching the trout.

Fort Myers Fishing Forecast:

The tarpon fishing will probably be over after the fist good cold front in October. The snook fishing will be good until sometime in early November and the redfish and trout fishing will get better as we get closer to witner. They will be the main targets until March when the snook fishing get good again.

Target Species:

Tarpon, Snook, Redfish, Trout, Snapper

Summer fishing report Forty Myers and Boca Grande
Capt. Scott Hughes
August 9, 2009
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

I'm sorry that I haven't been able to keep up on my fishing reports this summer. But, after spending all day on the water in 95 degree heat, getting on the computer has been a high priority.

Tarpon: For the past three months I spent most of my time tarpon fishing. We had a great start to June with quite a few fish landed on most trips and I had another 4 tarpon over 200 pounds landed. By the middle of June the weather was starting to hamper the tarpon fishing. We had 17 days of west winds and that pretty much killed the last two weeks of June. July started about the same a June ended but by the 4th the wind switched out of the east and the fishing picked up in Boca Grande Pass and along the beaches. Some smaller tarpon also started showing up in Charlotte Harbor and the rivers that feed it. So far, August is more of the same. Boca Grande Pass and the beaches still have some quality tarpon and Charlotte Harbor is holding lots of smaller tarpon along with studs in the 150 pound range. I've been using live ladyfish or trolling large lures for the large "blackwater" tarpon. Out in the Passes I've been using live pinfish or thread herring.

Snook: Snook fishing has been great when I've been able to get out for them. Most of the fish are in the 3-5 pound range but most of the time I've been able to manage a few in the 28-32 inch range even though they are only catch and release until September 1st.

Redfish: Redfishing has been tough all season. There are redfish around but its not been good enough for me to charters on.

Snapper: Snapper have been everywhere. They are inshore, offshore and nearshore. They are thick in the passes and around the mangroves and on the artificial reefs. They have been hitting live sardines and shrimp.

Good Luck,

Capt. Scott Hughes
Blackwater Charters
941-575-2389 home
941-628-4247 cell
www.blackwatercharters.com


Fort Myers Fishing Forecast:

Forecast: I'll be targeting tarpon until the end of September. After that they will probably be gone so if you want to get in a trip you better act quickly. Snook season will be September 1st and the fishing should be excellent. Look for the fish to be moving out of the passes in into the bay.

Target Species:

Tarpon, Snook, Snapper

Tarpon Season
Capt. Scott Hughes
May 10, 2009
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

Sorry, It's been a while since my last report. I have very busy for the past month trying to catch the elusive Silver King. I'm up at 4:30AM and don't get home until after 9:00 PM on most days. The morning tarpon fishing trips have been out producing the afternoons so far this year. I thinnk that it has alot to with the water being somewhat colder than it has been in the past and the tarpon are running a little later than normal. We are still catching alot of tarpon in the bays. Last year i started catching a lot of tarpon in Boca Grande Pass by the middle of April. This year is much later. We didn't see lrage fishable schools of tarpon in Boca Grande pass until early last week. They have biting well on jigs in the morning and I have been able to sight fish some on the outer edges of the pass with live thread herring. The crabs aren't runing very good yet this year. I expect them to start to flow better on the new moon phase in a couple of weeks.

The bay fishing for tarpon has been excellent in the mornings. Charlotte Harbor has a number of schools working the usual holes and all the bars on both sides of the harbor are holding fish. Pine Island Sound is also good the the morning. Cut bait is doing well there. The afternoon bite has been tougher because of the wind. On the days when I can locate a nice group of tarpon before the winds kick up I've done well with a combination of cut bait and live thread herring. I've averging 1-3 tarpon on my afternoon trips comapared with a 4-6 hook-up average for the morning trips. That could chance on the next moon phase as more tarpon will flood into the area as they prepare for the spawn that usually occurs from Mid May until early July.

Fort Myers Fishing Forecast:

More tarpon fishing for the next 4 months. There are lots a snook around also and even the trout bite has been hot for those not wanting to fish for tarpon.

Target Species:

Tarpon, Tarpon , Tarpon

How about that WIND!
Capt. Scott Hughes
April 2, 2009
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

The wind has been out of control lately. It hasn't cost me any trips but it has made thing a little difficult. I scored my fist tarpon of the season on 3/31/09 and if it wasn't for the wind i would have many more by now. The only good news is that most of the 20-30 mph winds have been out of the south or southwest and that make for the best flats fishing in the areas that I fish. I feel for the guys on the southern eand of Pine Island. I'm sure that the water is pee soup down there.

Tarpon: They have been in the area for a few weeks now but not if fishable numbers. I caught a decent morning on 3/31 and my customers were able to hook 4 and land 1. All of the fish were in the 100-pound range. I hooked on on cut bait and the other three on free lined live herring. I'm not going to go into detail on the locations but the usual spots for early season tarpon are holding fish. I have seen fish in a number of places in Pine Island Sound and they have been moving though the passes and sight fishing off some of the larger sand bars is good for cruising singles.


Snook: Snook fishing has been the staple the past three weeks. The strong south winds hasn't hindered the bait gathering and the snook have been feeding most of the day on the extra high water that is pushed in with a southerly wind. 40-50 fish days are not that uncommon with 15-20 snook days the norm. 95% of the snook are a few inches below the slot. I'm seeing alot of slot and over slot fish but not in the numbers. If someone wants to put in the time for a trophy snook it is very likely that one could catch a couple of 10-15 pounders if we were to pass on the action that the smaller snook provide. All of my snook fishing has been with live sardines or "white bait" as they are called locally.

Redfish: There are alot of scattered redfish along the shorelines with the extra high tides that we are getting with all this wind. I'm catching a few each day with the exception of a couple of days that I pinned down a school and chummed them into a frenzy and landed 20 the fist day and 50 the second day. All the fish were 24-30 inches. Who know where that schools is now because the last time that i saw them they were runing south at a high rate of speed and I haven't seen them since.

Trout: I'm still catching some really big gator trout as a by catch while I'm snook fishing. I haven't actually when out and tried to catch trout in three weeks. I hear that its been very good for the guys going after them.

Sharks: Lots of sharks out there. Caught a couple while tarpon fishing and have been seeing a quite a few on the bars of Pine Island Sound and Charlotte Harbor.

Cobia, spanish mackerel, kingfish: A few cobia are cruising the bars and some kingfish are in the passes. Spanish mackerel are just about everywhere where the water is clear.

Fort Myers Fishing Forecast:

Cross your fingers for the wind to lay down and we'll be able to put up some tarpon numbers. Expect the snook to be good for the remainder of the season. Schools of redfish are around but we need to wind to lay down in order to stalk them.

Target Species:

Tarpon, Snook, Redfish, Trout, Shark, Kingfish

Snook, Redfish, Sharks and Tarpon
Capt. Scott Hughes
March 17, 2009
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

All the major species are makeing their spring showings. We are coming into some of the best fishing of the year. Snook, redfish, trout, sharks, sheepshead, mackerel, snapper and even a few tarpon are raoming the flats and shorelines of Southwest Florida.

I have mostly been fishing in lower Charlotte Harbor and Pine Island Sounds the past two weeks. The fist week of March was cold and the fishing was slow due to cold water but the past 8 days have been on fire. The live sarines and herring have moved into the harbor and the lively baits have helped catch double digit bags of snook and some really large redfish.

Snook: Snook fishing is the best that I've seen it this year and the fish are coming out of the woodwork. Excellent snook catchs are coming in from south of March Island, Pine Island, Fort Myers, Boca Grande and Charlotte Harbor. I have been filling my livewell with 500-1000 live scaled sardines and chumming the shorelines and sanbars looking for schooling sized snook. These snook are usually 22-28 inches. An average day has been 25-30 school size snook but a couple of days produced snook catches of 50-70. I finding that I catching 1 slot snook for every 10-15 snook caught in Pine Island and Charlotte Harbor. In the Marco Island and the 10,000 Islands I'll catch one slot snook for every 5-6 snook caught. I'm seeing a lot of bigger snook in the 10-15 pound range but these fish are much more educated and unless we are fishing for a trophy fishing, I haven't spent much time trying to catch them.

Redfish: I've been spending about 2 hours a day targeting redfish. Most of the fish that I've been catching have been over the slot. I finding some schools of big redfish running the Bars of Matlacha Pass and Charlotte Harbor. Scattered smaller redfish have been in Pine Island Sound, Bull Bay and Lemon Bay. I've been mostly using cut Ladyfish of rthe larger "bull" redfish. These reds have been running 30-40 inches and range anywhere from 10-25 pounds.

Trout: I haven't been targeting trout but I've have been catching some bycatch of nice 20-24 inch trout while fishing for redfish and snook. I also know that April is one of the best month of catching gator trout over 20 inches. The trout will spawn in April and they will be moving toward the passes in will most likely be in deeper water with heavey grass. Live sardines and soft plastics are the best way to catch a bunch oif big trout this time of year.

Sharks: I'm seeing a lot of sharks on the flats right now. This also means that the tarpon are not far away. I'm seeing bull and blacktip sharks the most. Almost any large sand bar in Pine Island Sound is holding large sharks right now. They can be caught using cut mullet or ladyfish.

Tarpon: I finally get to make a tarpon report this year. I have been seeing a few large tarpon "laying up" in the potholes of Pine Island Sound and in Bull and Turtle Bay. I have also seen a few cruising inshide the passes. I haven't tried to catch any yet but if the weather stays good i'll try within a few days.

Fort Myers Fishing Forecast:

We have a double cold front approaching us as i write this report. I hope that the water temps don't drop to much. The fishing is really getting good. The snook, redfish, trout and shark fishing shouldn't be affected to much unless we get alot of wind. The tarpon fishing will get better and by the time I write another report I should be landing a few. They will probably be big because the ones that I'm seeing are all over 100 pounds.

Target Species:

Snook, Redfish, Sharks, Tarpon

Fort Myers flats fishing report
Capt. Scott Hughes
February 25, 2009
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

We are starting some signs that spring is near. The trout are string to disperse out of the the extremely shallow flats and scatter out in the deeper runs where the grass grows in deeper water out near the passes. I'm also seeing lots of scattered redfish along Pine Island Sound and Matlacha. Bull Bay and upper Charlotte Harbor are holding the larger schools or redfish. I've seen many schools of over 100 redfish is those two areas. Snook are also starting to show up in fishable numbers and there have been a few days that prioduced great snook catches of snook up to 35 inches for aq few guys that went the extra mile and caught a livewell full of scaled sardines.

Trout: The trout are on the ove toward the passes. I've mostly had good days but I've lost the migration a few time and have struggled. Even when the fishing has been tough i've been able to scratch out a few limits of keeper trout in the 15-18 inch range. When the migration is located dozens over the 20 inch mark is not surprising. This week the water temps were a bit colder than last week so the topwater and hard baits didn't produce as well. We had to throw a variety of soft plastic baits soaked in Carolina Lunker Sauce to entice the bites. Zoom super flukes in watermelon, pumpkin and pearl worked best. The Lunker Sauce flavor was "mullet".

Redfish: We have alot more redfish in the area than we had just two weeks ago. Large schools are on the north side of Charlotte Harbor and scattered fish are on the south side. Some days the fish eat well and can be found "tailing" on the grass flats. Other days, the skys are clear and the fish are eitehr locked up or have dispersed off to who knows where. The only constent has been the 18-20 inch redfish that inhabit the deeper runs near the mangroves. They hit almost anything but especially love live shrimp.

Snook: Snook are moving out to the west and if you know where they are you can have a pretty good day if your able to find the schools of sardines. Bait this time of year is difficult unless that is yuour main goal and are willing to spend the time needed to catch it. The live bait guys had a few really good days with double digit snook and redfish days with snook up to 35 inches and slot red up to 7 pounds. There were also a couple of days that the bait catching was a bust and the fishing wasn't much better.

Sheepshead, flounder and snapper have provided some fine eating bycatch this week. The flounderhave been in the deeper lagoons and the sheepshead and snapper have been on the deeper shorelines that have good mangrove structure. Live shrimp has been a must when targeting the snapper or sheepshead. The flounder have been caught on shrimp or soft plastics.

Fort Myers Fishing Forecast:

Snook fishing will get better and better as the water temps rise. Redfish will become more plentiful. Sheepshead will spawn this next month.

Target Species:

Redfish, Snook, Trout, Snapper, Flounder, Sheepshead

Fort Myers Fishing Report
Capt. Scott Hughes
February 10, 2009
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

After 9 days of almost unfishable weather we got a reprieve just in time for a full week of charters. This week i have been focusing on very shallow water. The water temps dropped into the lower 50's after the last cold front and its been gradully creaping up each day. Today I started out with 60 degree water and it peaked at 70 degrees at 1 Pm. The only places that I'm finding any really good numbers of fish are over very shallow water with mostly soft bottom. I believe that the shallow water warms up quicker and the softer bottom hold the heat better. Before the fronts I was catching lots of fish with Mirrolures and other hard baits. The bite has not turned on yet with the topwaters and twitch baits. I've had to use live shrimp and Fishbites soft plastic shrimp tails rigged on heaver jigheads. I'm on some really productive areas and were catching a lot of good trout up to 23 inches each day. We are also catching redfish up to 10 pounds on most days. The smaller redfish in the 2-4 pound range are biting the shrimp pretty steady when you find them. I'm also still catching quite a few pompano and flounder mixed in with the redfish and trout. One thing that concerns me is the lack of fish over vast expanses of Charlotte Harbor and Pine Island Sound. I have been rotating about 5 productive areas to keep my charters busy with quality fish but other than those areas there is not a lot of fish around. I have fished dozens of areas that I normally do well and the are litterly not fish in most of them. I guess its best described as feast or famine. If you don't get any bites fairly quickly then a move is in order until you can find an area with some activity.

Good Luck,

Capt. Scott Hughes
Blackwater Charters
941-628-4247 cell
www.blackwatercharters.com

Fort Myers Fishing Forecast:

I starting to find some good size schools of snook moving around. Its just a matter of time until some baitfish show up. When it does there will be some good snook fishing reports. I'm going to try for some snook with artificial lure tommorrow. I will let you know how it goes.

Target Species:

Redfish, Trout, Pompano

Fort Myers fishing report
Capt. Scott Hughes
January 26, 2009
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report
I've only been on the water three time in the past ten days. We are just comming off a majore cold snap with temperatures that dipped into the upper 20's inland and low 30's on the coast. We actually had frost on Pine Island two mornings last week.

How did the cold front change the fishing? It didn't. The water temps went from 73 degrees to 56 degrees in just a few days but the fish never moved. I'm catching the fish right where i was before the cold front. In fact there are a lot more redfish now than there was before. I think that it has more to do with the longer days than the weather. As we move toward spring and summer, we have more daylight. This have motivated the redfish to come out of hiding and move into the shallow water to find food. These redfish are hungry and are not used to anglers or baots yet. The last couple of days has produced double digit reds up to ten pounds on both love bait and jigs. I am also finding alot of gator tour in the same areas as the reds. Look for soft bottom that averages less than 12 inches deep. The darker bottom is the warmerst and the softer bottom has the most grubs, crabs and shrimp. A lot of these trophy sized trout are full of roe so i would expect to see these fish to start oving out to the deeper flats near the passes within a month or so.

I am also finding alot of pompano on the flats. We are catching them with shrimp, jigs and MR17 Mirrolures. Most of the pompano are nice 3-4 pounders. I have heard that are large schools of them on the outsiede bars and that would make sence if i finding singles in 12-24 inches of water on the flats.

I did take one trip up the river last week when the cold front was bearing down on us. We left the ramp with temperature in the low 40's and a stiff north wind ar 20-25. It was ugly. We found a few schools of jacks in the 10-20 pound class and everyone hooked up with soft plastics and crank baits. We also picked up a few snook that were warming themselves in the shallows and I had a brief hook-up of a tarpon in the 120 pound range with 1/4 oz jig and 10 pound test line. I mean it was brief. Like two seconds.

Fort Myers Fishing Forecast:
I predict that more redfish will move into the shallow water and will start to school up sometime next month. The trout will start moving to deeper water and more near the passes and snook fishing will get alot better. Don't expect to get any tarpon reports until late March unless I get the itch and go down to the 10,000 islands

Target Species:
Redfish, Trout, Pompano, Snook, Jacks, Tarpon

So far all my fishing this month has been in the fort Myers area. I've focused on fishing in Charlotte Harbor as well as Matlacha and Pine Island Sound. We've had some of the lowest tides of the year this past week and that has helped boost up my numbers. We've also had some excellent weather. Winds have been relatively light and the water temperature is up in the low 70's. There are still alot of speckeled trout on the outside of the bars in 3-5 ft of water with heavy grass. These areas have been targeted quite a bit due to the open season on trout and many of the larger fish have been harvested. To get catch the more quality trout I've been running my shallow draft flats skiff into the most remote areas of the harbor and fishing the potholes and sloughs that hold the redfish and trout during these extremely low tides. Early in the mornings the water temperatures have been lower and I've had the best sucess throwing soft plastics like Fishbites, Gulp and Texas Tackle Factory lures. As the Sun warms the water, I've been having my customers switch to Mirrolure MR17's twitch baits. When the bite turns on to the twitch baits some really good numbers can be caught. Two of my last three backcountry trip have produced over 80 trout and close to a dozen redfish using this lure.

I did get to run one offshore trip last week and other than catching one of the largest amberjacks of the season we didn't do that well. We had a hard time catching bait and by the time we got where we were going the front had started approaching and it got rough. We had to come in a little early and caught a few snook and trout before we got back to the dock.

Fort Myers, Sarasota and Marco Island fishing report
Capt. Scott Hughes
January 1, 2009
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report
I've been splitting my fishing time between Sarasota Bay, Charlotte Harbor and the 10,000 Island south of Marco Island. Each of these three areas have had a slightly different kinds of fishing. Sarasota fishing is mostly artificial lure fishing for large speckled trout and redfish. Charlotte Harbor is lre fishing for trout and some redfish. Marco Island fishing right now is mostly snook and jack crevelle fishing with live sardines.

Sarasota Bay: I've been finding lots of trout from 15-22 inches in 3-4 ft of water with heavy grass. The redfish have been slightly shallower but in the same areas as the trout. The key to the better areas has been the presence of mullet. Almost anytime that i've found good sized schools of mullet i've found good numbers of trout and redfish in the mullet. Soft plastics rigged either weedless or on jigheads have worked the best. Mirrolures have produced well when the water has been cleaner.

Ft Myers: Most of my fishing in the Fort Myers area has targeted trout. I've been catching between 60 and 150 trout per trip from Ft Myers all the way north to Punta Gorda. The trout have been running slightly smaller than the Sarasota Bay trout but with that many fishing per day were still catching a number of limits. Soft plastics have caught the mostly fishing because I've been fisnding the most fish in 4-6 ft of water.

Marco Island: Marco Island fishing has been competely different from the other two areas. Marco doesn't have as many grass flats and the shorelines are more oysters and mud rather than grass and sand. I've been able to net good sized sardines and the that has helped my charters to catch double digit numbers of snook up to 30 inches on each of my last two trips to Marco Island. There have also been some huge schools of jacks working the flats south of Marco. They have aking almost anything that you throw at them.

Fort Myers Fishing Forecast:
I'd suspect that the fishing will remain much the same for quite a while. The water temperatures are in the upper 60's so I don't think that it will get much colder. The water should start to warm up some by the beginning of February.

Target Species:
Snook, redfish, trout and jacks

Ft Myers to Sarasota Fishing Report
Capt. Scott Hughes
December 10, 2008
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

Most of my fishing the past month or two has focused on flats fishing in Pine Island Sound and Charlotte Harbor. The fishing has been a bit different than last year. The water is much cooler and I've had to rely on a deep water pattern much earlier than I'm used to. I have found good speckled trout numbers in the deeper creeks from Matlacha pass to eastern Sanibel island. Pine Island Sound fishing has been marginal at best with some nice trout in the potholes but not enough numbers to keep my interest. I made a few fishing trips up to Sarasota Bay and the trout fishing was on fire. Once we found the fish it was constent action with hard jerk baits and soft plastics. The fish were all mid to over slot fish also. Redfish were caught in Sarasota as well with most of the fish averaging over 5 pounds with a few much bigger. Redfish in Charlotte Harbor have been tougher to find but they are eating when you got on them. Average size has been low to mid slot for the Charlotte Harbor reds. Snook and big jacks are roaming up the rivers and have been hitting well after the cold fronts. We've been fishing smaller crank baits for the jacks that are running 10-20 lbs. Snook from 5 to 25 pounds are sometime caught at the same time but the odds are increased if some live bait can be found. Three to five pound Bluefish and smaller jacks are in the lagoons that line Pine Island and they have been the trip savers lately when you have to get some drag burning.

Fort Myers Fishing Forecast:

The forecast for the next few months is much of the same until late february when the water temps should come up. Look for trout to be holding in the deeper runs of the flats from Matlacha Pass to Sarasota Bay. Pompano will be near the passes and redfish will be holding anywhere from the potholes of pine Island Sound to Sarasota. Jacks, Sheepshead and bluefish will keep rods in a pinch.

Tarpon fishing report
Capt. Scott Hughes
August 30, 2008
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

It's still tarpon seson in Southwest Florida. We did have a 10 day period of slow fishing the first week of August I believe due to hot surface water but since then the fishing has been some of the best of the year. The fish are harder to find this time of year but when you do it "game on" because these fish are here to feed. Some days we have been finding the tarpon crashing schools of ladyfish and other days we have found them slurping small shrimp and crabs off the surface. There have been all sizes of fish. On any given cast you can hook into a 30 pounder or one well over 100 pounds. Our best luck has been with large swim baits in either either gold or sardine color. In addition to the swim baits we have hooked at least one tarpon each of the last five days on Cajun thunder gold spoons. If the tarpon are feeding heavily on ladyfish schools its been best to try to catch a few live ladyfish and drift them behind the boat. There is alot of by catch around the ladyfish schools and it hard to get the lures to the tarpon.

Other than the tarpon, snapper fishing is out of control. You can catch snapper just about anywhere in our area. Shrimp or small sardines are the best baits. Try them in the passes, on the flats and in the mangroves. Find moving water and you'll find the snapper. Its been that easy.

Good luck,

Capt Scott Hughes
Blackwater Charters
941-628-4247 cell

www.blackwatercharters.com


Fort Myers Fishing Forecast:

Expect to see the tarpon fishing to be good until sometime in mid October. That is when we'll start to get some cold fronts and that will move the tarpon out of the area. Snapper fishing will peak next month and the redfish are already starting to school on the flats. Expect that to get better as the water cools off and will continue to get better thoughout October.

Charlotte Harbor and Boca Grande tarpon report
Capt. Scott Hughes
July 27, 2008
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

This report will give an overwiew of the past three months since i was to busy to write reports lately.

May: The tarpon fishing was excellent when the wind didn't blow. Despite the fact that we had some of the worst winds that i can remember, May was much better than June was. We were averaging about 40-47 hooked tarpon per week. Afternoons and Mornings produced about the same results. Jigs and crab fishing was best in the morning and crab fishing dominated the pm trips.

June: There were plenty of tarpon in June but there was plenty of people as well. Due to fuel prices and the publicity of all the TV show done lately, we had many more "out of town" guides and recreational boater in and around Boca Grande Pass. Again, the afternoon trips produced excellent numbers of tarpon by either drifting crab or sight fishing with crabs. The moring fishing was tougher due to the number of "rookes" trying to jig fish in the pass. Jig fishing is the prefered method when the tarpon are in more then 30ft of water. In water shallower than 30 ft, pitching live bait with spinning gear is more effective. A few guides and anglers who only come to the pass prepared to jig fish and don't attain the proper bait. When this happens, they ruin the fishing for everyone because they run over the tarpon when they are shallow and prevent the guys with live bait from getting casts on the pods of fish. We were able to make due by finding fishable number of tarpon off the beaches and in lower Charlotte Harbor but a large part of the morning fishery was "hogged" by an number inexperienced and rude anglers.

July: I've been booked almost everyday this month and I've tried to stay on the fish but its been a difficuly month so far. I've had 2 skunks out of 18 tarpon trips so far this month, which is more than I'd expect for July. The first part of the month I fished mostly in the Boca Grande Pass. Most days I was only one of maybe three or four boats out there. I don't like to jig this late in the year so most of the fish were caught on crabs or thread herring. We did have a few 6-8 fish days in the afternoons by sightfishing with crabs off the Boca Grande beaches. The last week or two has been split between Boca Grande Pass and in the bay. I've been drifting crabs and pinfish in the pass for 100-150 pound fish. In the bay, I've been drifting herring and throwing soft plastic swim baits for tarpon in the 40-80 pound range. We're averaging slightly below the norm of 3-5 fish per trip.

Fort Myers Fishing Forecast:

I expect August to be better than July for the tarpon. As we get more rain the baitfish in the bay should start to move out of the flats and this will concentrate the tarpon.

Target Species:

tarpon

Boca Grande to Ft Myers tarpon fishing
Capt. Scott Hughes
May 10, 2008
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

The past three weeks have been mostly spent hunting tarpon. It has been an excellent season so far. We have not had a day yet this month that we have not put at least two tarpon in the air. I am running two trips a day most of the time and we're averaging around 2-4 tarpon per trip which is just shy of the 3-5 that i average most of the season. We also landed our first 200 pounder of the season on May 4th. The big fish hit a freelined thread herring on the east side of Charlotte Harbor in about 10ft of water.

At the moment, there are good numbers of tarpon in just about all the normal spots ranging from Marco Island, Sanibel, Pine Island and Charlotte Harbor. I have been doing most of my tarpon fishing in and around Boca Grande Pass and upper Charlotte Harbor. I've also been spending some time in the Pine island Sound area. About the only place that i've not been able to target tarpon in the beaches. We had alot of south and north winds the past three weeks and that has kept conditions not suitable for sight fishing.

The tarpon fishing is just going to get better thoughout the month. I'm not totally booked up this month so if you want to go out and hook some tarpon give me a call.

Good luck,

Capt. Scott Hughes
Blackwater Charters
941-575-2389 hm
941-628-4247 cell

www.blackwatercharters.com


Target Species:

tarpon

Tarpon, Redfish and Snook action from Boca to Ft Myers
Capt. Scott Hughes
April 14, 2008
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report

The fishing was excellent every day last week. This week may take a little more work since we have another cold front moving in on us today. I spent most of the week tarpon fishing and ended it by "winging" it for snook and redfish on the flats.

Tarpon: We jumped 49 and leadered 22 tarpon last week mostly fishing in northern Pine Island Sound and Charlotte Harbor. All but two of the tarpon were over 100 pounds and a handful were over 180. Freelined threadfin herring caught the most but cut bait and some artificials got a few as well. I don't expect to have very good tarpon fishing until late in the week if even then with temperatures dropping like they are.

Snook: I only flats fished one day last week and that was because my customers had already tarpon fished the day before. Being that it was a weekend and the flats were very crowded we didn't make alot of moved and managed to catch probably 20-25 sublegal snook and a half dozen upper slot redfish. All the fish were caught on freelined scaled sardines.

Redfish: I didn't target any redfish last week other than those that we caught while snook fishing. Two weeks ago we hammered the bull reds and with this cold comming I'm going to try them again this week. I have heard from a few guys that i work with that there are alot of oversized redfish still around.

Kingfish: There are still kingfish around. We caught a 20 pounder while tarpon fishing yesterday and got cut off by a few others.

Good Luck!

Capt. Scott Hughes
Blackwater Charters
941-575-2389 home
941-628-4247 cell

www.blackwatercharters.com


Target Species:

Tarpon, Snook, Redfish