Fish continue coming over the rails in the Ten Thousand Islands. Redfish have started moving back in. No keepers so far; they’ve either been too big or too small. Tarpon have been moving in to the bays. Average size of these Tarpon is 80 to 120 plus pounds. We have been fortunate enough to jump 3 in the last week and a half. The longest battle was 15 minutes before pulling the hook. These fish are tough! We’ve had bi-catches of various types of shark, including Bull, Spinner, Lemon, and Black Tip, while fishing for Tarpon. Other noteworthy catches include Black Drum and Sea Trout, which continue in abundance.
Featured below is the Corper family, out on a light tackle backwater fishing charter. While looking for Redfish, Snook, and Tarpon, they hooked and released several Black Drum and one beautiful 33 inch Redfish.
Another group of fishermen to make our Blog is the Kanold family. This brother and sister from the Palm Beach area just destroyed the trout on their half day charter. They hired me for light tackle artificial lure fishing. After releasing several Sea Trout and a couple of close calls on Snook and Redfish, they brought home 5 Sea Trout averaging between 17 and 19 inches. They also got this beautiful 42 inch Black Tip Shark. I was lucky enough that they insisted I take a few steaks home for my family. At home, our steaks were slathered in garlic and butter, and then grilled to perfection. The kids loved it!
Thank you to all of my customers for helping me with this blog. Tarpon, Snook, and Redfish bite is getting stronger. I predict it will continue in to the month of May, with the temperatures rising and rain falling in the afternoons.
Let me know if you’d like to get in on some of this action.
Tight lines,
Captain Jim Fortman
Backwater Fishing in Naples & the Ten Thousand Islands 
Capt Jim took my wife and myself out for a bit of a teaching day. I must say it was a great experience! I call home in Ohio but have fished the Goodland Marco Island area for ten years on and off. New knots…better knowledge of the tides..jigging with spoons, location…drag and line set up for cut bait… and bait presentation. I soon realized I needed to slow down my entire fishing techniques.
We were really not out to load the cooler but did save a few of the many trout caught for dinner and released a beautiful 22″ trout. Tarpon were just coming in but no luck….wife missed a web site posting snook…spinner shark to the boat…some nice jack…and lady fish for some cut bait lessons.
Follow Captain Jims suggestions and he will put you on fish. I have been on multiple backwater charters and have finally found one who wants to catch fish and not worried about getting back and cleaning his boat!!
tight lines Captain Jim
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