The folks at Sunshine Ace Hardware, right next to the Naples Pier, say that one of the best reports this week came from a guy who caught a 30-inch gag grouper while fast-trolling for kingfish off the beach. He was pulling a planer 20 feet below with a mid-size silver spoon, a sure way to attract kingfish. Wham! A beautiful grouper instead. Not a bad fish, when you’re heading for port at the very end of the day.

There are, in fact, lots of kingfish about 10 miles off the pier. Reports indicate there still some grouper and snapper around, too, on the hard spots. Lots of tarpon are being caught everywhere, even under the lights. They’re rolling in almost every canal and along the beach. The bigger tarpon are down south of Marco, however.

There have also been some large schools of permit, around the offshore towers and bigger wrecks. They’ve been moving a lot, instead of sitting. One captain saw a school Tuesday that he said had to be around 75 fish, including some huge ones….he had no crabs for bait, however, so he didn’t catch any permit.

There has also been bait around the Naples Pier, mostly pilchards, thread herring and big-eyes. Chowing down on them were a lot of Spanish mackerel, some pompano, small trout and some snook.

FS