February 12, 2013
Well, the great fishing we encountered last week came to a bit of a
speed bump late last week as red tide creeped inland. The algae bloom,
having been prevalent along beaches and just offshore during recent
months finally made its way through out the inshore waters of Naples to
South Marco Island. There has been an abundance of dead fish washing up
mainly mullet and catfish. Red tide at this level does not kill our
game fish but slows down feeding activity as oxygen levels are
depleted. Click Here to learn more about red tide.
Despite the challenging conditions, we are still hard at it and
finding a few very nice fish still willing to bite the hooks. Redfish
in the 22-26 inch range can be found cruising the shallow edges at low
tide. Yesterday morning (Monday) we found several schools working in
less that 1 foot of water. They were waking, tailing and feeding
heavily near the surface on glass minnows. We made some accurate casts
to fish that we could see and managed to hook up with several nice fish
averaging 24 inches. We took two home for dinner and as I filleted them
found that they were completely gorged with the small bait fish.
Coming off of the new moon phase, tides are running very high in the
afternoon. Anglers who are persistent in getting their baits far under
the mangrove cover are also being rewarded with a few nice redfish each
trip.
Large sheepshead are being caught along the outside beaches and
passes. Bottom fishing with a piece of shrimp will fool these picky
biters. Some of them are running upwards of five pounds. Scrappy
fighters, they are also great table fish.
Pompano and trout action seems to have subsided for now, but I expect
they will return on the scene as soon as the water conditions shape up a
little.
- Capt. Todd Geroy
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