| Look for bait, find fish!
August 2-8-09-2008
I had a working vacation on the west coast for the last week. I took my family over to Marco Island and let them help me pre fish for the Backwater Series tournament out of Goodland. Over the years I have spent a lot of time there in August, there are several different options when it comes to back country fishing. The Snook are out on the beaches in the massive schools Mullet, Minnows and Pilchards. We tried them on artificial with no luck and resorted to bait which produced plenty of Snook, Trout, Ladyfish, Jacks and of course Catfish.
Dock fishing is my favorite and Marco is loaded with dock with fish that like to hurt you, watching my son make a skip cast and hooking some big snook was exciting. The one place the bait wasn't as thick was around the docks in the river, but they always hold some fish. The big schools of Jacks always provide some excitement. The big Marco bridge did have some big Snook popping on Sat. morning as we were idling thru headed to Goodland, unfortunately we didn't have time.
The inside bays were active as well with bait and there were plenty of schools of Jacks along with Snook in the pockets and points. I got into Tarpon in a couple different areas of the the Marco River and they did like the finger Mullet. While fishing some deeper bays we heard some giant explosions which were made by some big Snook. It always seemed like they were a bay away from us. I'll be back over there in a couple weeks and I will definitely fish some mullet back there on the points where the current was swift and pushing around the islands
The Back country tournament I was there for was for 2 Redfish and a Trout, we did that fishing as shallow and clear when possible. The 2 days prior to we found Reds in the mullet schools but most we oversized. I had 4 days on the water so I told my partners Bruce and Mitch just fun fish and well find them and we did. They caught Snook after Snook which is never a problem on artificial, its nice to get your timing down no matter what hits your lure.
We spent about 20 minutes catching Ladyfish which I cut up and put on ice for bait this is a great bait for spooky Reds. The bite had been on the first of the incoming tide everyday which was about 10 o'clock today. we got back on a clear clean bank and here they came but I couldnt stop because my powerpole had broke the day before and I couldn't get it fixed. I lowered my jack plate down into the mud and buried it which stopped us. The Reds continued thru and we pitched out several baits, it didn'y take long and I was hooked up to a fat Red. It was 26 inches and 6lbs, a good start. Bruce hooked up and the fish gut him off on a oyster bed then it was Mitch's turn he hooked up and the fish came off. This was frustrating and not much fun but we continued to fish. The water got high and dirty so we moved looking for cleaner water. We found a school of 3-4 inch finger mullet which I netted on my first cast I caught a 4 lb Redfish. We decided to go try for a Trout which would of gave all us 3 fish for the tournament. We only had and hour and 3 spots, 2 of which had a lot of traffic. Later I thought we would of been better off trying to upgrade our Redfish instead. We weighed in our 2 Reds for 10.0lbs and finished 1 ounce out of 5 place.
081509
I am Flamingo with Tony and his son Danny today, we got out early because out the heat and a tropical wave that was approaching. We started out casting at some small rolling Tarpon in the back country we hooked and jumped a bunch but only landed 1. The Tarpon were feeding and putting on a show as the wave got closer, plus we had a few Snook bites throw in. The bad weather moved north on both side of us and the wind picked up to 30 - 40 mph. I stayed in protected areas but the bite slowed as wave moved over us. Danny caught a really big 22" Trout and some Jacks and Ladyfish but the bite almost shut down. I kept the Jacks and went to a Goliath Grouper spot, they got crushed but even the were a little sluggish. We had been dodging the bad weather al day but it finally found us and it was bad. We ran from Shark River to the dock without being able to see in front of us.
082009
I am at Flamingo with James Bruno and his buddy Andy today, we are fishing the Florida Bay side. We got on to some rolling Tarpon early and the mullet we getting beat up so I figure we were in a pretty good spot. I had them casting a couple of different types of lures but the fish showed no interest. I wanted mullet but couldn't get a shot at them and only doing a half day trip I didn't want to waste time. We kept fishing and got some bites the best being a 8 foot Lemon Shark that and hooked and fought for 20 minutes on 12 lb tackle. Andy lives in upstate N.Y. and had never hooked a big Shark before he was impressed. They caught Trout, Jacks and had some other opportunities but very slow today in the area I fished.
082209
I am in Everglades City today with my buddy Mitch doing some pre fishing for a tournament next month. I have been fishing tournaments there all summer and just want to stay on a pattern. We started out throwing top waters, twitch n raps, and paddles tails. We caught a bunch of Snook and just got on the trolling motor, it was low tide and we started looking for Redfish laying on the Oyster bars. We found plenty and they were beating up the mullet schools along with Snook, Tarpon and Sharks. The bite was early and then it got hot with no wind. We caught a few nice Goliath Groupers and got into some Tarpon and then called it a day at 1 PM.
082709
I am with my good friend Bruce Carlton today fishing Flamingo, we got onto to schools of small Tarpon early and Bruce put on a clinic as he usually does. He is an old bass guy who made the cross over years ago and he can fish! He hood several Tarpon before he landed on and then it was on 1-2-3 in a row and then he even let me catch one. this was 3 hours of none stop fishing rolling a in front of us and we finally said lets go get a Snook. I took him to a spot he never been to before and he caught a 33" 10.lb Snook and shortly after he caught his Redfish and a 3.lb Trout to complete his Grand Slam. We ran around the Gulf and hit the markers, we lucked in to a big Cobia. I grabbed a bait and pitched it out and every time the Cobia tried to eat him it would flip out of the water it was a blast to watch. Eventually the Cobia won out and ate the bait and stripped a bunch of line and then zipped back around the marker and cut us off. We caught plenty of Jacks, Ladyfish, Trout while fishing the beaches. we called it a day at 1 PM.
082809
I am with Richard Felder today he is my first real customer and have been fishing with him for 9 years now. His son Rich was in town with his sons ( Paul and Lucas) and we went out to hook up some fish. We started out on the Tarpon but there were several other boats in there making it difficult . I moved to a less crowded spot and we got several hook ups but the kids hadn't fished in a while and there timing was off. We moved again and got into a ton off Ladyfish which they enjoyed while the 100 .lb plus Tarpon rolled all around us. We got into Trout, Jacks, Ladyfish, and Snappers and they were having plenty of fun now. Richard asked if we could go catch something bigger, maybe a Shark so we went to a spot and live baited with Mullet. I put out a couple baits and we ended up hooking 2 Lemon Sharks which pulled really hard for his son Rich. We had back to back Tarpon that ended the day, Richard fought a 90 lb Tarpon for 45 minutes we got some photos and released it. It was hot and they had enough!
082909
I am fishing out of Everglades City today with a couple friends Capt. Gil Gutierrez and Mitch from Biscayne Rods. I am getting ready for a couple tournaments in the next month which are out of Goodland. We were out before the sun came up and tried to make our way down to Lostmans River early but there is just to many good looking spots and we hit a lot of them. The mullet run is in full effect on the west coast and it don't take much to fill your live wells up. The fish are eating the finger mullet and it don't take long. My first 2 baits caught a 28' Redfish and 26 " Snook. The conditions were really breezy out of the west and it had the baits pushed in to pockets. I eventually made my way down to Lostmans river and that's were the show started! There were acres of finger Mullet and they were getting destroyed by Snook, Jacks, Tarpon and Redfish. We caught about 10 or so Snook as we watched in amazement. We made our way back towards the ramp, I stopped at one last spot. Mitch caught 4 Snook, a Shark and Gil caught a 26' fat Redfish. it was about 430 and it was time to go.
The fishing is good anywhere on the west coast from Marco down around Cape Sable right now, with Tarpon Snook and Redfish, you can get there from Flamingo or drive across the trail to Chocoloskee.
The flats out in front of Flamingo are pretty good as well right now loaded with Reds, Snook and Tarpon.
The Snook should be schooled up and biting in Government Cut on this August full moon while spawning.
If you would like a fun, fast paced fishing trip give me a call at 305 333 8149 and I can arrange it for you.
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