Naples Fishing January

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Gulf grouper sport season closes Feb. 1

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission advises anglers that the recreational harvest of all shallow-water groupers (gag, black, red, yellowfin, scamp, yellowmouth, rock hind and red hind) is prohibited from Feb. 1 through March 31 in all Gulf of Mexico state and federal waters off Florida, except in all waters of Monroe County, the Keys.

Closing the recreational harvest of all Gulf shallow-water grouper species for two months during the spawning season is designed to reduce overfishing of Gulf gag grouper by limiting the unintended catch and possible mortality of gag grouper to help rebuild its populations and achieve larger annual harvests in the future for this important species. Recreational gag grouper fishing has been closed in Gulf federal waters since Jan. 1.

More information regarding grouper fishing regulations, including the current shallow-water grouper closure in Atlantic and Monroe County waters, is available online at MyFWC.com/Rules (click on "Fishing – Saltwater").

Fishing Report: Red grouper closing temporarily on Tuesday

NAPLES — Well, the seesaw effect is still in play, with a cold front coming in about every three days.

We seem to be making a little overall progress in the water temperature, and you can expect mid to upper 50s after a front, with the sun heating it back up to the mid-60s before we start the whole thing over again. That being said, we had a pleasant surprise while fishing in Estero on Tuesday, with the wind howling at 25 to 30 mph. Among the nine species we boated were five snook up to 21 inches. Can spring be far away?

Inshore, the focus continues to be on trout, sheepshead, and redfish. A lot of the trout being caught are in the 13- to 14 1/2-inch range, with the larger keeper fish doing a good job of hiding. Some really nice-sized sheepshead are finding their way to the cleaning table, as well as keeper black drum. For the most part, the reds are under the 18-inch minimum, but more and more of them are creeping past the minimum size for a slot fish. I talked with one guide who found some pilchards and put some in the well, but nothing wanted to eat even one.

Offshore, only a few days remain before the Feb. 1 closure of the red grouper fishery for two months, so if you want grouper, get out on the water in the next week. Mangrove snapper seem to be bitting well for the offshore boats, but they are running out quite a ways to find the nice-sized ones you want to put in the cooler. A few nice red grouper were reported and even a couple of amberjacks.

Ten Thousand Islands: Running out of Goodland, Capt. Rob Walczak fished with Jim and Karl Urban from Wisconsin recently. Using the jig tipped with shrimp program, they caught a bunch of trout, but most were throwbacks. They also got into some redfish, and landed a number of them, and while most were shorts, they did have a few in the 18- to 20-inch range.

Capt. Shane Miller has also been catching up to 40 fish per trip, with most of the trout being small and the reds short, but he has been finding some nice sheepshead in the 2- to 4-pound range. Of course, ladyfish are pretty much always willing to eat a jig, too. The sheepshead that Shane has been catching are coming out of deeper holes in the back country. The water has been pretty dirty recently.

Offshore: Onboard the "Sea Legs," running out of the Naples City docks, Capt. Tommy Robinson ran a night trip on Friday for snapper under a big moon. Tom said the group with Jim Avery and his Fan Depot group enjoyed a spectacular sunset on the way to the fishing grounds. Once out about 30 miles, the group started dropping lines which were quickly hit by the hungry mangroves.

Before the night was over 30 keeper mangs went into the box, as well as two nice keeper red grouper. While using the lighter tackle for the mangroves, a hungry amberjack invited himself to the party and gave one of the anglers a great fight.

Capt. Alan Walburn reports from the A&B Charters running out of Port of Call Marina that fishing offshore has been good. On Sunday, he had a group consisting of Michelle Linderman, Mark Gordon, and John Downey from Ohio. Limits of mangrove snapper were had by all and most were in the 4- to 5-pound range. Capt. Walburn also reports he is still finding red grouper in the 8- to 12-pound range, as well as some nice porgies.

Naples/Estero Bay: Capt. Mike McDonald had an interesting catch on a Thursday trip in Estero Bay. His anglers had been catching a number of trout, with a few being keeper-sized and one hitting a nice 22 inches. One of the lady anglers hooked into a small 12-inch trout and was bringing it to the boat when the pole doubled over.

What was once a small 12-inch trout was now a 28- to 30-inch monster trout. Everyone on the boat saw the fish, but as it got near the boat it became clear what had happened. The big trout had the little one in his mouth and, unfortunately, before it could be netted it just let go of the little guy, which was totally skinned like it had been grabbed by a big grouper. Capt. Mike says the concentrations of large sheepshead just haven't happened yet, but he is getting some keepers using shrimp on a jig.

Down in Naples at the end of last week, Capt. Tim Daugherty was catching a wide variety of fish including trout, reds, sheepshead, black drum, and of course, ladyfish. He has had his anglers throwing a brown Monty's jig tipped with a piece of shrimp. Most of the trout, as well as the reds have been undersized, but he is getting keeper-sized sheepshead in the deeper holes in the back.

Freshwater: Thanks to Jess Edwards out at the Golden Gate Tacklebox we have a good freshwater report. According to Jess, now is the time to be out catching bass. He states that the water temperatures are holding up well even with the cold fronts and that the bass are in a pre-spawn now and eating up a storm. Also the area around Alligator Alley is doing well on bass and the crappie bite in on at Lake Trafford.

Fishing Report: Trout, sheepshead, ladyfish main targets

NAPLES — On days like Tuesday, it's just great to be out on the water. The sun was out and all of the jackets and sweatshirts were stored away. Even the tide was cooperating. Life on the water is good.

Reports from up and down the coast in our area reflect water temperatures in the low 60s, and clarity ranging from not bad to somewhat murky. Winter species like trout, sheepshead, and ladyfish are the main inshore targets for many anglers at this time of year, and, of course, this year we have the large numbers of "rat" reds roaming the bays.

Offshore, the cold front that blew in last week is gone, and a number of the big boats ran trips over the weekend into this week.

With the gag/black grouper season closed, mangrove snapper and lane snapper have been filling the icebox. An occasional keeper red grouper is being caught relatively close to shore, and lots of gags are being returned to the water. Of course, if there is a dolphin around, it gets the grouper dinner. On the offshore wrecks, the amberjack community is very willing to share an encounter with anglers offering a nice-sized live pinfish. Porgies, grunts, and bluefish round out the offshore action that keeps the rods bent, and anglers happy.

Offshore: Capt. Ed Nichols ran a full-day trip on Sunday, and set his GPS for a prime fishing area 31 miles out of Naples.

Onboard was the Will Carlson party of five, out for a day of fishing. In the bait arsenal were some live shrimp, live pinfish, and cut sardines, which were put to good use, pulling in a limit of mangrove snapper to 3 1/2 pounds. A number of gag grouper were caught and released, including two keeper-sized fish. On a nearby wreck, Capt. Ed put his group onto amberjacks to about 20 pounds, and they also ran into a school of banded rudder fish.

On a Tuesday half-day journey, Ed took Dan Jansen and crew out about 18 miles for some bottom fishing. Usually, the offshore boats stay in the 8- to 12-mile range, but Ed reports that until you get farther out, there isn't much action. The Jansen group landed an assortment, including bluefish, porgies, grunts, lane snapper (lots), and some short red grouper.

Onboard the "Sea Legs," Capt. Tom Robinson has been running mostly half-day trips, and heading out about 16 miles off Gordon Pass. Using shrimp and cut up frozen threadfins, his anglers have targeted mangrove snapper, which are running up to 18 inches. He did release a 25-inch gag on a recent trip, as well as quite a few shorts.

Capt. Kevin Condon ran a six-hour trip on Tuesday with Alan Goodenough and Barney Hardy from the U.K. They also used live shrimp and cut frozen threads for bait. They were kept busy with a love of snapper, as well as red and gag grouper that were released, including one keeper-sized.

Ten Thousand Islands: Down in Everglades City, Capt. Glen Poupolo has been seeing a lot of trout and small reds being caught by his customers. The trout are running in the 15- to 20-inch range, and are being caught in three to five feet of water over the grass. Tipped jigs are working for both the trout and the reds.

Some large sheepshead are being caught in the rivers, and even a few small snook in the shallow back bays.

Up closer to Marco, Capt. Andy Werner has been poling his smaller skiff in search of reds. While seeing and catching reds, Andy has seen a good number of large snook just laying in the shallows and not reacting to a bait or jig thrown at them. On a recent outing with Abie, his 2 1/2-year-old daughter, she caught and landed three small snook all by herself. Good job Abie! They pulled about seven snook out of a trough about four to six feet deep at the edge of a flat.

Naples/Estero: Naples guide emeritus Todd Geroy has been out most days recently, and really clobbering the redfish.

His best days seem to be when the temps are lower and the fish bunch up. Using jigs tipped with shrimp, he has been catching some trout, mangrove snapper, and some bigger sheepshead (up to four pounds), while hitting oyster bars and channels. The water has been fairly dirty out near the Gulf, but is somewhat better in the back.

On a trip at the end of last week with Bill and Jack Forte, they were limited on time, but managed over 50 reds and some big sheepshead. Todd says that he is seeing an occasional 25-plus-inch red as well.

Capt. Mike Malay has been joining the redfish brigade, and is catching quite a few of the rat reds along the edges off the flats. A tipped jig is working on the trout, too, but Mike says that since opening day, the larger ones seem to have wised up, and most of the ones caught are just under the 15-inch minimum. Ladyfish and sheepshead are also keeping his anglers happy.

In Estero Bay, Capt. Brad Brown has also been keying in on the redfish using tipped jigs as well. Brad says he is getting lots of small reds, a few good ones, and a rare big one. Sheepshead are being targeted, as well as trout for those who are looking to take home dinner. He is working creek mouths and the tannic water in the back of the bay.

Fishing Report: Incoming chilly weather, wind will affect action

Posted January 12, 2011 at 8 a.m.

NAPLES — In the past week, we have enjoyed a more normal January weather pattern, with mild days and cool nights, but that will change by the time you read this.

They are talking about a couple of days of really cold nights and some very high winds, which will change things up for anyone looking to catch a fish or two.

Offshore, the fishing for red grouper has been pretty good for the boats that do get far enough out to where they move to in recent weeks. Most of the offshore fleet was at the dock, not because of weather, but a lack of anglers.

Inshore, the winter pattern fishing continues with trout, sheepshead, snapper, and redfish being the targeted fish. As with the opening day of deer season (when the deer go and hide), the larger trout we were catching on Dec. 31 have been somewhat elusive, but their 14-inch relatives abound. Some really nice-sized sheepshead, up to seven pounds, are showing up around the pilings and rocks. It's the little 8-inch guys that drive you crazy, stealing your shrimp and eluding the hook. A piece of shrimp big enough to cover the hook, and a slip sinker to hold bottom near the targeted piling, and you should be in business.

Trout and small reds are hitting jigs tipped with shrimp, or just shrimp on a hook with a light weight. Clean water is the key with the trout, and with the winds we will be having the next couple of days, that will likely put a temporary damper on catching them.

Reds don't mind when the water is dirty, and they have an excellent sense of smell. When I thread a shrimp onto a jig, I break the head off to get a little more "smell" into the water. One of the captains has been using a popping cork with a shrimp a couple of feet under it and doing well, too.

Snook are still around, and with the water in the bays above 62 degrees, I have had several reports of snook up to 18 inches taking a jig, especially around docks. Remember to treat them gently and release them quickly.

Offshore: As mentioned above, most of the fleet stayed at the dock this last week, but Capt. Michael Avinon of the "Capt. Marvel" went out on Monday for a full-day trip. He went out to about 90 feet of water to find the keeper red grouper. His anglers landed quite a few, with eight keepers up to 28 inches.

Once they had their grouper, Capt. Mike went to a nearby wreck, and his clients arm-wrestled four amberjacks to the deck. They were in the 25-pound range. Offshore, the water was clean.

Ten Thousand Islands: Fishing out of Everglades City, Capt. Derrick Daffin has been working the backcountry holes for a mixed bag of fish this past week. Using shrimp on a weighted line in the holes, his clients have been catching a lot of small reds with an occasional keeper thrown in.

Sheephead and black drum have been willing to eat a shrimp too and he has been getting some nice size ones recently. Capt. Derrick says that the water has been clean, and has warmed up to the low 60s.

Capt. Matt Hoover has been running out of Goodland with his charters, and hitting holes and edges to find an assortment of fish. Sheepshead, snapper, ladyfish, and small reds have been taking his offering of a shrimp on a weighted hook fished on the bottom. Out on the Cape, he has been finding some decent trout using a popping cork in relatively clean water.

Also out of Goodland, Capt. Rob Walczak has been seeing similar catches using shrimp tipped jigs. On a run a little farther south, he found a good concentration of trout, and his clients landed about 25, with 10 being slot-sized fish. He was fishing water in the three- to six-foot range on an incoming tide.

Naples/Estero: Down in Naples, Capt. Pat Gould has been doing real well on trout and small reds. Pat says that most of the trout since the season opened are running small, but there are a lot of them.

With fish in a good winter pattern, Capt. Pat is fishing in five to seven feet of water around the edges of flats, using a white Monty's jig tipped with shrimp. Snapper to 11 inches and lots of ladyfish add to the action, and recently he caught several snook to 18 inches, too.

Capt. Steve Nagy has been fishing in Estero and hitting the reds, trout and sheepshead. He has been catching some really nice sheepshead up to seven pounds, fishing around the pilings.

Steve is finding reds around the oyster bars, and up near the bushes on higher tides. A popping cork with a shrimp below has been producing the most, but he is also using a Hybrid Flurry on a light jig under a cork, too. He likes the Lemondrop or Glow color. His trout have been coming from the pot holes and on the grass flats.

On Monday, I fished with Buzz from New Hampshire and Mike Poupolo in Estero Bay. We caught the last minutes of the outgoing tide, and quickly put a couple of trout and a red into the boat, but when the tide started coming in, the water got dirty fast.

The trout didn't want to eat in the dirty water, but the sheepshead and reds had no problem. Between them, Buzz and Mike landed 14 reds and seven sheepshead, as well as several ladyfish. The real heartbreaker was when Buzz hooked into a really large red that straightened the hook a couple of minutes into the battle. We used a shrimp threaded onto a 1/4-ounce jig head.

Fishing Report: Sea trout season now open; gag grouper closed

Posted January 5, 2011

NAPLES — Well, we start this new year a little warmer than we ended the last one. Water temperatures have climbed up to the low 60s and the light winds have allowed the water to clear up a lot.

On the inshore front, the season for sea trout is now open, and all of the keeper-sized fish you threw back last week are fair game. The larger sheepshead are now moving into all of your sheepshead holes, but you still have plenty of the small bait stealing little guys to contend with. "Rat" reds continue to be willing to eat a jig with a shrimp on it, sometimes picking it up while it is just laying on the bottom with no movement. I am not sure where all the ladyfish went, but the hordes of a month ago seem to have moved out.

Offshore, gag grouper are closed, as of Jan. 1, for the next sixth months. A report I received points out that the grouper have been over-harvested, and may need an extended closure or other modifications in bag limits to allow this resource to recover. Red grouper seem to have moved out farther into deeper water, but there are still some keepers available until the season closure on red grouper begins on Feb. 1.

Snapper are now the sought-after species for the offshore boats, and some good catches have been reported. Lots of chum and patience are required. With the water getting so cold, some fish are just eating a bait and not moving, and until you go to reel in, you have no idea that a fish is on your line.

Offshore: Running out to 90 feet of water, Capt. Michael Avinon of the "Capt. Marvel" saw the red grouper bite slow earlier, but on Tuesday the feed was on.

Denny Solomen and friends limited out on red grouper up to 30 inches, using squid for bait. After those fish were iced down, Mike moved to look for mangrove snapper. Again, the group limited out on snapper in the 15- to 20-inch range. They were using cut sardines for bait, and Capt. Mike used a lot of chum to keep the bite going.

Capt. Allen Walburn, running out of Port of Call Marina, has also been hitting some nice mangrove snapper up to seven pounds using live shrimp.

NAPLESMoving out to several wrecks, his anglers have caught some amberjack up to 35 pounds, and released gag grouper in the 6- to 18-pound range. On Tuesday, he took Jin Hivnor and Bob Arnold and their kids out for a trip, and they caught limits of mangrove and yellowtail snapper, as well as grunt.

Ten Thousand Islands: Capt. Jesse Karen has been running down south of Chokoloskee to get in the big trout.

Jesse says that there are plenty of trout between Goodland and Indian Key, but they seem to be running smaller there. Fishing jigs on the outside, he is consistently hitting trout in the 18- to 22-inch range. Redfish continue to be part of the daily fishing action, and on a day he is getting as few as four or as many as 25, with most of the fish smaller and an occasional keeper mixed in.

NAPLESCapt. Karen says the big sheepshead are in, and he is finding them in the passes or around hard bottom. Everything is eating shrimp whether it is on a hook with sinker or tipped on a jig. The water, especially in the back, is very clear.

Ken Regals and his two grandkids went out for a day of fishing with Capt. Jack Thompson recently, and they caught lots of short reds, but had one keeper of 18 1/2 inches and another that was too big at 28 inches. On another trip with Rick Johnson and his group, they caught and released 10 reds and lots of trout, some of them quite large. They were using jigs tipped with shrimp.

Naples/Estero Bay: Running out of Naples, Capt. Tim Daugherty has been fishing the deeper cuts using jigs tipped with shrimp during the morning incoming tide.

Lots of rat reds and trout have been willing to eat this offering. Tim has also been getting some nice sheepshead by using a small piece of shrimp on a small hook with minimal weight added. Later in the day, he is switching over to "Cajun Thunder" floats with a 1/8-ounce jig tied on a two- to three-foot leader. Put a "Gulp" shrimp on, and drift the flats for more trout action. While the back water has been clear, the incoming tides have dirtied up the water some.

The end of last week was a hot one for Estero Bay fishermen. Trout were everywhere, and even the big ones were biting. (They probably knew that they would be thrown back.)

Water quality was good, and if you pitched a jig near an edge and moved it slowly, you caught trout. Along with the trout, the small reds were providing a little more pull on the line. I like to use a shrimp threaded backward onto a plain jig head (either 1/4 or 1/8 ounces) and working it slow.

The reds were actually picking up the baits when they were just laying there. On Thursday, one of my trips was with Todd Powell and his son Tom (who will be President some day), and friend Tom Bachner with sons Noah and Gus. They landed 14 reds, including one keeper, and countless trout, as well as two nice sheepshead.

I hope that your New Year's resolutions include one to be out on the water more in 2011.

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