More Fishing

• Fishing: Take a day at the beach
• Fishing: Cold front has cooled things down, but opportunities still abound
• Fishing Report: With temperatures dropping, fish are on the move

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NAPLES — Most of the boats in this area have remained at the dock these past few weeks. Whether it was the gas prices or the economy, or just that it was September, there were very few boats on the water.

This is bad for the marina business, but great for those anglers that did get out. Every report that I received was positive.

The best fishing seemed to be south of Marco Island and around Everglades City, but there also was excellent fishing in the Naples area, as well as along the artificial reefs that dot the coastline. Typically, the Collier County reef system is heavily fished, but with so few boats out, these man-made structures are holding cobia, giant redfish, snapper, permit and sharks.

The best backwater target continues to be the snook, but there are also plenty of big redfish in the area, and this bodes well for this weekend’s Redsnook tournament. This is our area’s most prestigious tournament, and with many of the best local guides and anglers participating, it is going to take an impressive catch to win.

• NAPLES: One of the charms of fishing is that, even with all the planning, you never really know what is going to happen until you get out on the water.

Capt. Pat Gould had a half-day charter on the weekend, and he went offshore by himself before the trip to catch bait. He tossed the castnet and could tell by the weight that it was full of shiners, but as he was pulling it up, a big cobia came up following all of the bait. Gould then grabbed a rod, put on a bait and flipped it to the cobia, who happily accepted the easy meal. Gould was thrilled until he realized that he had the fish on, but also, he still held a heavy net full of bait in the other hand that he couldn’t lift onto the boat.

Eventually, he got the net on board and fought the cobia to the boat when he realized that he didn’t have a gaff, and not being an offshore fishermen, he did not know how to land the big cobia. So Gould, with the fish running around the boat, got out his cell phone and called another guide who advised him that he was reasonably sure that Gould could grab the fish by the gills and toss it into the boat. Gould risked his fingers and managed this maneuver, and the wild cobia flipped in the boat and preceded to break everything that it could find.

Eventually, the cobia calmed down, begged for mercy and was released.

Gould was late to the dock, but did manage to get out, and his party landed a dozen snook, plus an assortment of other fish.

• MARCO ISLAND/TEN THOUSAND ISLANDS: “We’re killin’ ‘em,” was how Capt. Stacy Mullendore described the fishing in the Marco Island area.

Snook in the 18- to 24-inch range are schooled all around Marco Island, and there are bigger fish further south in the Islands. There also are schools of oversized redfish on the outside points and near the oyster bars. Small tarpon are rolling in the back, but Mullendore has not been fishing them.

Mullendore has been using live baits. The bait has moved in along the beaches around Marco Island, and there is even some smaller baits south of Goodland.

Mullendore said the fishing should be excellent for this weekend’s Redsnook tournament.

• EVERGLADES CITY: Capt. Bob Bergin fished south of Everglades City between Rabbit Key and Mormon Key on Thursday and Friday. He said there was bait along the beaches, and the outside points were holding both slot snook and redfish. There were also a few large trout mixed in. Most of the snook were caught on live baits, but artificials worked well for the snook and trout on the outgoing tide.

Further out, in the five- to seven-mile range, there are schools of huge bull redfish measuring between 38 and 40 inches. These fish are scattered around the wrecks and reefs and can be seen on the surface. Some cobia can be caught in these same areas.

• WIGGINS PASS/NORTH NAPLES: Capt. Dave Hanson fished between five and 18 miles out on Friday with Jeffrey Frost and Brad Bernardy, and they caught two large redfish, nine Spanish mackerel to 26 inches, lane snapper, mangrove snapper, a keeper mutton snapper and porgies. They also released a four-foot shark, a 10-pound bonito and numerous small yellowtail snapper and grouper.

On Saturday, Hanson moved out 36 miles where he boated legal grouper, plus yellowtail and mangrove snapper. He also had two schools of dolphin come under his boat.

Capt. Lindy Yow fished just three miles off of Bonita Beach on Friday, and his party landed an assortment of sharks, mangrove snapper and oversized redfish.

• FRESHWATER: The water is cooling in the canals, and this is helping the fishing, said Jess Edwards of the Golden Gate Tackle Box. The best fishing seems to be right in the Golden Gate City canal system, where peacock bass are biting. Snook are active down around the Big “T,” and the bass fishing is getting better, but is still a bit slow.

Even with this week’s rains, the waters have dropped slightly, but they are still high. As the waters recede and cool over the next few weeks, the bass fishing should improve.

E-mail John Preeg at captjohnpreeg@aol.com