Great Late October Fishing in Naples

October 28, 2012
This will be my last report for October and the month has certainly lived up to it’s reputation as one of the very best months to fish in the Naples Backwaters!  I have been fishing every day and my anglers have been having great trips with plenty of redfish and snook action.  Last week brought some very windy conditions due to Hurricane Sandy skirting the east coast, but that only turned on the fishing more.  We are getting our first strong cold front of the season moving through as write this, and it remains to be seen what that will do to the fishing for next week.  I am sure we will be changing up the techniques and adapting to the conditions.

Redfish have continued to please anglers with some trips catching and releasing as many as 20 on half day trips.  Live sardines free-lined along the mangrove edges at high tide are being eagerly consumed by the redfish.  A little live chumming gets them going when they are being picky. All of the redfish are running within the keeper slot with most measuring out at around 23 inches. There are some larger fish in the 29 inch in the mix as well.

Snook have been cooperative in many of the same spots as the redfish.  We are also releasing up to 20 fish on several trips.  Plenty of small snook in the 18 to 24 inch range have been the norm, however a couple trips got into fish that were running in the 15 to 20 lb. range.  Unfortunately this week, the big fish beat us up by running my anglers lines deep into the heavy cover and breaking free.  Not before several epic battles with these great fish.
Dave Rowe and Wayne Mulligan fished with me on Tuesday morning.  We were off to a slow start for the first couple of hours with only a few jacks and a big 26 inch flounder to show up for our efforts.  But later in the morning as the tide started out, I found the honey hole!  Wayne and Dave ended up hooking up on slot redfish and snook on nearly every cast that was on target for nearly an hour!  We released close to 20 redfish in the 19 to 26 inch range.  A couple of the reds along with the flounder made it home for dinner.

A nice redfish caught last week.

Friday morning, as the winds picked up to gusts to near 30 knots, I fished with Chris Mans, his cousin Pete Mans along with brother-in-law Matt Head.  The trio enjoyed a fantastic morning of action as the fish were on a feeding frenzy obviously connected to the weather change.  We released countless snook and redfish along with too many big jacks crevalle to count.  At the last stop, Matt slugged it out with a couple bruiser snook in the 15 to 20 lb class only to end up cut off in the cover or with a pulled hook.  What a blast we had though!

Chris with one of the many snook caught Friday…

Pete with one of many redfish caught on Friday..

I have a full week of trips booked next week with the annual Redsnook tournament next weekend.  I’m looking forward to some good days on the water!

- Capt. Todd Geroy

Giant Redfish Caught in Naples Backwaters!

October 7, 2012

Wow!  As I’ve mentioned before, October is one of my favorite months to fish the backwaters in SW Florida.  Last week was no exeption.  On several half day trips, my clients enjoyed plenty of action with snook, redfish and juvenile tarpon.

Snook fishing was good, but as the week went on the action seemed to taper off.  However the redfish action really took off as we had trips catching 25 or more fish during half day trips.  The redfish are averaging 24 inches and seem to be just about everywhere we stop right now.
The highlight of the week was Friday afternoon, with long time client John Shroyer and his daughter Susan.  The two found constant action with redfish (boating at least two dozen in four hours) as well as several snook, flounder, too many jacks and a hookup with a 40 # tarpon by John which ended up with a cut off in the mangroves.

John managed to muscle in a huge 24 lb. 26 inch redfish from under the mangroves.  This was the largest red ever boated in the backwaters aboard my boat during my 31 year career!  My previous boat record was 17 lbs.

Bull reds like this and larger were common in the 1980′s but were always caught in the gulf or near the passes.  This was certainly a trophy fish as well as a fish of a lifetime!
Here’s John and Susan with the prize catch before release…
This morning (Sunday) I had a repeat trip with Chuck Maston and buddy Chris.  We managed a mixed bag of several slot redfish, snook, two juvenile tarpon, snapper, gag grouper and plenty of fiesty jack crevalle.
I  am looking forward to another great week on the water!
- Capt. Todd Geroy

October Fishing in Naples Backwaters Is On Fire!

Rolling along now into what is usually my personal favorite month for back water fishing here.  Snook, redfish and tarpon are all potential targets and the action can be all day long.
I had some great snook action on trips the last two days.  I found snook throughout the area and had anglers releasing as many as 30 fish per half day with several running up to the 14 lb. range.  Live sardines provide the best results.  I am fishing quite a bit in the Johnson Bay area right now as well as along the Intercoastal waterway between Naples and Marco.  Moving water is the key regardless whether the tide is incoming or outgoing.
This morning, I fished with Chuck Maston and buddy Chris Conure.  the duo boated and released more snook than they could count.  Chuck battled the two largest fish which were 11 and 14 lbs.  Once the tide came in a bit, they managed 4 redfish up to 26 inches before it was time to come in.  There were plenty of jack to fill in the gaps between all the other bites to keep lines tight all morning long!
Here’s Chuck with his two prize catches of the morning…

It’s time to book now for some of the best fishing our area has to offer!
- Capt. Todd Geroy