Naples to Flamingo
Includes Naples, Marco Island, Everglades City and Chokoloskee

Oct. 3-5

TT

Plenty of Fish But Very Few Fishermen

I almost didn’t get to write this column because I had to fly to Washington Wednesday night to help with the “bail out” dilemma. Congress seemed bogged down until I brought up the idea that the most worthless paper in the country is that held on fishing boats. If you are going to bail out those guys who were fishing for “flippin‘” condos, certainly you should come to the aid of some poor guy who bought a $60,000 flats skiff in the hopes of catching one “flippin’” snook. All the talk is about Wall Street and Main Street, what about those back country roads? Fortunately, there were twelve congressman who were avid fishermen and had previously voted against the bill, and I was assured that with my amendment the bill would pass by the weekend.

Anyway, 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 is 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 was also excellent fishing in the Naples area as well as along all of 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.

Unfortunately, the Redsnook Tournament also means that there will a lot of fishermen out this weekend, particularly in the Everglades City area. If you like a little peace and quiet, you might fish further north.

By Capt. John Preeg | Captjohnpreeg@aol.com

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