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NAPLES — Someplace between the tropical storms and the hurricanes, snook season opened last Monday, and it was probably a very good opening day, at least for the snook.

After Sunday’s squalls and flood tides and all the talk about Gustav and Hanna, very few anglers bothered to launch their boats and engage the local linesiders.

That decision may have been a poor one. The few fishermen that did manage to get out early this week did very well. It seems that all of the snook that normally congregate along the beaches at this time of year were driven back into the middle bays, and with the bait pushed offshore by the rough waters, these snook were very hungry.

The water was dirty, bait scarce, and yet those fishermen that I talked to all scored 25-plus snook mornings. Some using only artificials.

What was even more surprising was that the few boats that ventured offshore did equally well. The water in the Naples area is stained all the way out past five miles, and the muddy waters extend past nine miles south of Marco Island, but beyond these barriers, the fishing is excellent.

Snapper are the obvious target, but there are also permit, cobia and even tarpon. Only the grouper are reluctant to feed in the murky water.

What this weekend will bring is anybody’s guess. Hanna is on the way followed by Ike, and then who knows who.

Hopefully these storms will not hit our area, but even if they come close, they will impact the fishing. Nevertheless, I was one of those pessimists who stayed off of the water last weekend. This weekend, I am going even if I have to surf out of the boat ramp.

NAPLES: Capt. Tommy Robinson aboard the charter Sea Legs fished half-days on Monday and Tuesday and was pleasantly surprised at the results.

The seas were rough and unpredictable, consisting swells from Hurricane Gustav and southeast winds, but he managed to get out beyond the muddy water and anchor over a wreck. Robinson said there were fish everywhere and they were feeding. Permit were snatching crabs off of the surface, and the snapper were feeding on the bottom and part of the way to the top.

Robinson’s party brought in several mutton snapper, numerous mangrove snapper and some jumbo lane snapper. They also caught two cobia and got a large permit to the boat before it broke the line. The permit was estimated to weigh more than 30 pounds. Robinson said the fishing was phenomenal but he didn’t see another boat on the water.

MARCO ISLAND: Capt. Stacy Mullendore took out Joe Duxberry and Jeff Noe on Tuesday and said the fishing was great.

The water was already clearing up, and although there was no bait along the beach, Mullendore did manage to net some finger mullet, which, in turn, brought in the snook.

Mullendore fished the bays just inside the Gulf where the snook have moved for shelter, and Duxberry and Noe landed 25 snook between 15 and 25 inches, plus a 26-inch redfish and a small tarpon.

Mullendore said the key to the fishing is to get into areas away from the freshwater runoff where the water is brown and stagnant. The snook are schooled, so when one fish is found there are likely quite a few.

EVERGLADES CITY: Capt. Bob Bergan got out on Monday and fished around Indian Key. He said the water was very dirty and bait was nonexistent, so he tried surface lures, but these did not attract any attention. However, when he switched to soft plastics on the bottom, the snook gobbled them up. He managed to land 24 snook between 20 and 26 inches while fishing in the middle bays just inside the Gulf.

Last Thursday, before the winds kicked up, Bergan attempted to get offshore beyond the dirty water. He said the muddy, tannic water extended nine mile offshore. Eventually, Bergan settled on a wreck 12 miles out where he said a school of large tarpon was congregated.

WIGGINS PASS/NORTH NAPLES: I called Capt. Terry Davis while he was out on the water Wednesday morning in Estero Bay. He said the water was very dirty, but he had an easy time catching live bait. Both white bait and pinfish were schooled over the grasses in the bay.

Davis was on his first spot and had not yet caught any fish, but he said earlier in the week there were quite a few redfish around the islands and under the oyster bars. The reds were taking pinfish under popping corks. Some guides were landing as many as a dozen fish in a morning.

FRESHWATER: There is finally enough water in Lake Trafford to launch a boat. I talked to Sharon at the Lake Trafford Marina, and she said Tropical Storm Fay had been good to them, and now the lake is full and even overflowing. Both speckled perch and bluegills are being caught in good numbers. The fish are taken throughout the lake both from the banks as well as the middle. The specs are biting on jigs or minnows while the bluegills will take a worm or cricket.

There are also some bass being caught, but Lake Trafford has special bass limitations. Only fish between 18 and 22 inches can be kept.