Fishing Naples Backwaters in September Is As Good As It Gets!

September 20, 2013

As mentioned and expected in my previous report, the fishing has really broken loose the last week or so in our area.  Scores of bait fish have moved in and the fish have really been feeding up.
Redfish have been on the top of the list with schools reds showing up both along the outside along beaches and passes as well as all over the back waters.  We have had several trips where the redfish have been hitting every cast when a school is found.  A majority of the fish have been in the 24 to 27 inch range with some running to 30 inches. I can say that so far, the redfish action has been as good as I’ve seen it in several years.  It should continue for through October into November.

Capt. Ben Geroy with a hefty September redfish

Snook action has also been hot and heavy.  We are still hooking up with some large fish ranging to the 16 pound range.  Several half day trips have boated as many as 25 snook while using live bait.  There a loads of juvenile snook in the area now, a good sign that the future population is growing.  We urge catch and release as these great fish recover from the massive fish kill that resulted from the cold winter of 2010.

Capt. Ben Geroy with a beautiful snook released Sept. 16, 2013

Naplesfishing.com had the honor of participating with two boats in the 4th annual Naples Take a Soldier Fishing Tournament last Saturday.  Over 60 boats donated their time to take over a hundred active duty soldiers  as well as a few veterans out for a day of fun on the water.  Other community businesses and and individuals donated their time and services to provide lodging, food, drink and prizes for these American heros.  It was a huge, successful event with a weigh in at the docks at Bayfront in Naples where hundreds of residents came out to welcome the boats and show support!  Proceeds generated are donated to the Wounded Warriors Project.  Fantastic!!!

Fishing was nothing short of fantastic for the tournament.  Both Ben and I were able to catch a load of nice redfish along with snook and seatrout to provide plenty of action and get into the competition.
I fished with Navy PO Eric Miller who had done very little fishing before. A very high tide in the morning proved to be challenging for casting under the mangrove cover, but it is also my favorite time to catch redfish.  Persistence paid off and after a few stops, we found a school of hungry redfish mixed in with snook providing action on every cast that hit the pocket.  Eric put redfish into the well for the weigh in later as well as releasing a bunch more redfish and snook.  We headed on to try for a couple of trout to go towards our combined weigh in of reds and trout.  We found trout working on the edge of a shallow flat as the tide dumped out and managed to put an 18 incher in the boat quickly. After that, Murphy’s Law caught up and every trout that bit and got hooked up managed to come off. All in all it was a great day of fishing with a fine young man.

Navy PO Eric Miller with one of many reds caught during the Naples Take a Soldier Fishing Tournament

Heading to weigh in at the Take a Soldier Fishing tournament

Capt. Todd Geroy and Navy soldier Eric Miller at the Naples Take a Soldier Fishing weigh in.

Capt. Ben shared his boat in the tournament with Vietnam veterans Dave Revard and John Webb .  The anglers boated numerous nice redfish as well as a number of snook.  A great day on the water!

Dave Webb shows off a nice  redfish at the Naples Take a Soldier Fishing Tournament with Capt. Ben Geroy

Another notable trip was yesterday morning, Sept. 19.  I once again had Thursday regulars Bill and Jack Forte’ aboard.  We had a super morning with plenty of action including loads of snook and redfish along with Bill catching a “Grand Slam” with snook, redfish and tarpon all boated in a half day trip!  Congratulations Bill!

- Capt. Todd Geroy