End of Summer 2018 Wrap Up (September – First Week of October) Report – Backwater Fishing in Naples & the Ten Thousand Islands

The last month of summer was awesome in the Ten Thousand Islands. I fished a couple of tournaments and took a few clients fishing. Red tide has continued to the north, but has not affected our area. I am happy to report, Naples South is now clean, as well.

Pictured below is a scouting trip I took with a fellow captain, Barry Cuda of Barry Cuda Charters, and friend, Travis Palmer of Ditch Fishing 101, through Estero Bay. We had a great time throwing artificial lures. Look at how the bay is coming back after Red Tide plagued the area for 6 months. I can definitely say they are catching fish in this area.

Now back to the Ten Thousand Islands. I did a couple of scouting trips before tournaments. One really paid off for my junior angler, Ben Mey. Below are some of the spoils from our scouting trips, which lead Ben to his winning Redfish and Snook. I, myself, was more involved in getting dinner and targeting larger species. I’m glad that Geoff Messina was there to pick up my slack; coming in second in largest Snook. Thank you Hook ’em in the Glades Tournament.

Then we did some pre-fishing for Romp in the Swamp. Thank you to my customer, Timur, for hiring me out and giving me a chance to scout out a few more areas. Kim was able to get out with me, when I had a last minute cancellation. I can say that the weather pattern completely changed for Romp in the Swamp. Worst day of the summer – 25 knot winds, rain storms, and an unforgiving outgoing tide that didn’t stop for 7 hours. But, we did have a great pre-fish.

The fall pattern is starting to present itself. The first week of October have winds sustained at 10 knots. Much to my surprise, water temperatures have fallen from 86 degrees to 82 degrees, this afternoon. I think we are in for a fantastic fall backwater fishery. We have been catching numbers of juvenile Snook, Redfish, and Trout. The Black Drum should be schooling in large masses. Tarpon should continue to present themselves until the first major cold front of December. Pictured below is my client Frank. He killed it with a 27 and 30 inch Redfish.