Fishing has turned on the last couple of weeks. Many different species as well as snook, tarpon and sharks.

Fishing out of Naples the past week has been very productive. A couple of charters just wanted action and to catch fish which makes my job easier. Fished long time customer Fady and Kareem Shehadeh last Sunday. It was a cloudy and drizzly day but we had great success. We started by throwing the net at the Naples marker and loaded up on bait. Then we headed to the pass a caught nice snook and jacks. The incoming tide was bringing in beautiful aqua marine blue green water and with the tide were loads of fish. We switched to jigs and caught 10 species of fish including big Spanish mackerel, pompano, jacks, blue runners and a host of other fish. We spent almost five hours in the pass having a ball. After we tired of that I asked the guys if they liked to shark fish and knowing Fady, he lit up and said let’s do it. We headed in to the backcountry of Rookery Bay in about 4’ of water. We put out a chum bag with mackerel and jacks and in about 20 minutes caught a nice Bull Shark.

I fished Cleve Whiteman from TX last week and he only wanted to pursue layed up tarpon on the fly. Day one was decent weather and tides. We did find some fish but they were spooky and didn’t eat very well. The next day was cloudy and rainy. Drizzle doesn’t bother me but not having the sun really hampers the sight fishing. We headed to Lostmans River in search of the elusive Silver King. We had the river to ourselves as the rainy weather kept many anglers off the water. We found a pattern with fish holding in coves on the windward shorelines. They were layed up in 18-24” of water but we couldn’t see them until we were on top of them so most of the fish were spooked. We did have a couple of shots but no hook ups. A great adventure in inclement. It still amazes me after 20 plus years of fishing for layed up tarpon that they migrate into such shallow water and lay there like logs. My favorite fishing by far.

Fishing will continue to improve with the snook fishing continuing to improve and any time the tarpon will start to move from the backcountry to the passes and start their annual spring migration northward.

The next few months is the best time of year to fish in SW Florida. The water is clear, all species of fish are active and it’s not too cold or hot. Take your kids, grandkids, grandparents or parents fishing. A great way to spend time with friends or family is on the water.

If you’d like to book a trip you can book on-line at:
https://www.evergladesangler.com/portal ... me=reserve
or feel free to give me to book or just check on the fishin’.

Capt. Mark Ward
239-450-9230 c