Marco Island Fishing Report- April 22, 2016

April 21, 2016 - Posted by Steve Dall April 22-24: Recovering Nicely… Weather & Tides… As you read this Friday, you may be staring out the office window at some predicted rain, so Wednesday and Thursday may have been the days to be out this week, as those pre-frontal conditions always seem to get the finned critters of the region on the feedbag. If the winds stay tame Saturday and Sunday after the predicted front, we should have a great weekend of fishing. The summer-like fronts are actually easier to recover from, as they generally don’t result in dramatic drops in air and water temperatures, but it is always best to fish prior to the front moving through. The full moon will have tides nearing rather high peaks in the early to mid-afternoon depending on your location in the region, with strong falling tide throughout the balance of the afternoon and evening. Inshore…. Redfish are showing in cooperative numbers on higher tide stages and on the first half of the outgoing this past week, with good action on cut baits in out outside island points, bights and back bays adjacent to deeper water. With a good run of white bait and threads in the area, be sure to bag up some threadfins to freeze to use as cut bait for reds and fresh caught ladyfish and mullet chunks are tough to beat as the water temps continue to climb. Snook continue to show their colors this week as some bruisers are being caught on large threadfins and hand-sized pilchards throughout the mid to southern part of the region and then again in the current rich areas around Marco Island. Good numbers of smaller snook are being taken on artificials from early morning walk the dog style topwaters, to plastic shrimp imitators. Some smaller snook have been taken off the beaches this past week, but the full on beach sight fishing bonanza is still looming on our near horizon. Good reports of some mid 20 inch class trout are being reported in the pothole laden grass flats in the southern part of the region. Walk the dog topwaters in bright hues, along with metallic colored rattling poppers are taking good adult size fish. Abundant smaller “teeners” are being caught on shrimp tipped jigs in a variety of colors along with the tried and true popping cork and shrimp combo. In addition, try swimming your favorite smaller paddle tail swimbait over these grass flats for some rod bending, low maintenance trout action. Tarpon fishing saw a great spike in action late last week as the major front pushed through as predicted last Saturday. Area anglers had a lot of silver in the air and the previously mentioned nearshore bite seemed to be the steady action with a wide variety of live and cut bait before the big front stormed through. Smaller groups of tarpon are filling in the deeper clear passes and their adjacent wide bodied bays, especially in the mid to south part of the region. This is a good 2nd wave of migratory fish with active feeders tipping the scales around the century mark. Friday’s forecasted rains may damper the action, but look to days with calmer mornings and you should be able to capitalize on the bite. While the rapids-like outgoing afternoon tides may be too strong to fish your favorite pass, focus on those current breaks and eddies within those passes. Often the tarpon will simply slide into those areas and lazily wait for the bait to blow by them, versus sitting in the strong current exerting unnecessary energy. When a bait to their liking enters their strike zone, often they will crush the bait and often breach the water. If you have a live threadfins or live mullet, tie one on and let that bait wallow on the surface in these eddies and hold on. Offshore…. Keep an eye on that front passing through on Friday of this week, as the result could be some stronger than normal post frontal winds. ¬¬¬¬¬The grouper bite continues to be solid, with reports of fish being as shallow as 18 feet of water all the way to the century mark, but consistent fish hitting the gunnel have been good in the 55-65 foot range. Fish continue to be caught on a slew of baits with squid and frozen threadfin herring topping the list, with bigger fish coming on live threadies and white bait. Bonito, Kings, Spanish and jacks are slicing and thrashing any pods of bait out there, so keep an eye out for bird action or whitewater blitzes. Tip of the Week…. Want a break from the salty side? Freshwater bass fishing the region’s local ponds, canals and larger lakes such as Lake Trafford are also a good bet this week if you opt for some sweetwater angling. Canals and ponds in Collier County offer some great Largemouth and Peacock Bass fishing in these often overlooked honey holes. Most of the bass are near the end of the spawn and crappie action is starting to pick up on Trafford. Vegetation growth will be nearing its peak growth, so bass anglers should look to punching through heavy matted vegetation such as hyacinths and hydrilla. These “mats” appear as impenetrable mounds of weeds, but they are often just roughly 3-6” thick on the surface and serve as a shady canopy for fish to beat the heat. If you can find areas that hold a combination of vegetation with some hard bottom, you’ll fair quite well. Focus on using at least a 1 oz. tungsten weight and a low profile soft plastic crawfish imitator to increase your efficiency when “punching” through the mats. Combine that tactic with throwing baits through and on top of the less dense hydrilla as you work from mat to mat. Try some Chatterbaits and your choice of a 4-5 inch weedless swimbait, such as a Gambler Big EZ and you should cover all the bases. Until next week, tight lines and screamin’ drags…. Captain Steve Dall www.poseidonschoice.com