Yesterday afternoon I gave Gordon pass and beach fishing another try.
I thought it would be raining later in the day due to the many clouds rolling in but it stayed dry.


Naples Beach.

The water was quite stained most likely due to the recent strong NE winds.
I fished every jetty and piling along the way to the end of the beach but got no hits.
Further down to the pass water clarity improved.
I fished one of the rockpiles and was rewarded with a Snook that followed my EP mullet fly.
The Snook turned away at the last minute and returned to his hideout.
Another cast along the rockpile yielded a strike from the Snook, my first beach fish was a fact.


Beach Snook.

The other structures all the way to the pass did not yield more strikes so I moved to the inside of the pass.
The tannic stained water was rushing out of Naples bay.
I fished the drop-offs at the sandbar but encountered only loads of tiny baitfish.
On the way back to the beach I fished the riprap along the pass and got another Snook.


Snook nr. 2

Fishing was slow so an hour before sunset I took a break and stared out to the Gulf.
I saw some gulls working bait across the other shore at Keewaydin Island.


View out to the Gulf

Near sunset I resumed fishing and fished some more rockpiles.
A long cast way past the rocks was rewarded with my third Snook of the day.


Snook nr. 3

I was unaware of somebody wo was trying to steal the Snook away from me while I was fighting the fish in the surface.
A bald eagle came swooping in from behind me and tried to nail the Snook.
I was just in time to haul the fish in while the eagle was circeling me.



Famous fish thief.

The eagle made a few passes around me and then settled in one of the palmtrees where he carefully watched me.
It was obvious this bird associated anglers with an easy mail, most likelly he was fed in the past.
I left the beach when it started to get dark, the eagle was gone by then.