More Fishing

• Fishing: Cold front has cooled things down, but opportunities still abound
• Fishing Report: With temperatures dropping, fish are on the move
• Fishing: Naples' Pruitt falls short on tiebreaker

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August typically means light east winds, calm mornings and plenty of snook and tarpon. Unfortunately, this past week, whatever rookie weather god was controlling the conditions in this area must have been oblivious to this August tradition. There were blustery west winds, morning storms, rough, dirty waters, and the snook and tarpon were about as common as condominium sales.

For the backwater fishermen, this meant fishing the back bays and creeks where the water was stained, but still clean enough to fish. The action was not great, but small snook, redfish and tarpon were caught in all areas. Estero Bay fished fairly well. The Naples and Marco Island areas were fair, but the Ten Thousand Islands produced little.

Offshore fishermen did not have as many options as their backwater counterparts. It was either endure 4- to 6-foot seas or stay home. Many chose the latter, but those that did get out said the fishing was good past five miles. Inside of five miles the water was dirty and the fishing poor.

Of course, all conditions have their positive and negative aspects. Rough seas can make some people sick, but, on the other hand, the chum is free.

-- NAPLES: Capt. Tommy Robinson of the charter boat Sea Legs reported he has been fishing mainly half-day charters because of the rough weather. Robinson has been netting small live baits along the shore and then sending them down on the ledges and breaks in 40 to 50 feet of water where the mangrove snapper are schooled. Limits have been relatively easy. There were some grouper mixed with the mangroves, but they tended to be smaller fish.

Robinson did manage to get out past 20 miles on one full-day trip, and his party limited on large red grouper between 26 and 29 inches. Later in the day, they moved to a wreck and added yellowtail and mangrove snapper to the cooler.

-- MARCO ISLAND/TEN THOUSAND ISLANDS: The west and southwest winds have really kicked up the waters south of Goodland, and the fishing is difficult. Bait is scarce, and even if you are lucky enough to net some, the fishing is not that good.

Further north, around Marco Island, conditions are a bit better, and if you can find clear water, there are snook, redfish and snapper biting. Ted Norris and Jack Ely fished this area with Capt. Stacy Mullendore last week, and on a half-day trip, they landed a 26- and 27-inch redfish along with seven large snapper.

Norris said that Mullendore found live bait along the beaches, but the water was dirty and the wind gathered strength as the morning progressed. All of the fish were caught early, and they were back to the dock by 11 a.m.

-- EVERGLADES CITY: Capt. Bob Bergin said it has been stormy every morning so he has had to fish the back bays wherever he could find relatively clear water. He spent most of last week in Fakahatchee Bay or the Faka Union Canal and managed to catch quite a few small snook, mangrove snapper and redfish. Most of the redfish were in the slot with some oversized.

On Thursday, the winds subsided enough so that Bergin was able to get five miles offshore and fish a wreck. He landed three slot snook plus a good number of pompano. He did not see any permit or cobia, but he suspects that they are still in the area and will again begin feeding as soon as the waters clear.

-- WIGGINS PASS/ESTERO BAY: Capt. Larry Regienczuk fished Wiggins Pass on Saturday and said he could not find any bait on the outside. There were no thread herring on the reefs, and the bait along the beach was too small to use.

Eventually, he did manage to net a few finger mullet inside and used them in the back bays to catch four tarpon between 10 and 12 pounds, plus some snook. His party also hooked a huge redfish that Regienczuk estimated to measure more than 30 inches, but the fish was lost when his charter tried to hand the pole to his girlfriend. Another case of love dominating common sense.

I fished Estero Bay on Monday and conditions were quite good, except for the million or so nosee’ums that spent the morning fishing with us. There were a few snook along the shorelines, but the best fishing was out on the grass beds where trout, large jacks and ladyfish were all active.

-- FRESHWATER: There is a full moon this week, and according to Jess Edwards of the Golden Gate Tackle Box, that means that the peacock bass fishing will actually slow down as the peacocks spawn. They will again begin to feed about five days after the spawn.

The tarpon and snook fishing continues to be good down around the Big “T” area, and there are bass biting in the Golden Gate City canals. The fishing, in general, is fairly good, but, even with the canals flowing, the best fishing is still early and late.

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E-mail John Preeg at captjohnpreeg@aol.com.