For the first few hours of light, it has actually been quite pleasant out on the water, but after that, it is just too darn hot.
Southwest Florida anglers continue to find productive fishing on most all fishing fronts. Our offshore waters, from 60-feet out, have and will continue to offer some nice size grouper intermingled with several species of snapper that include mangrove, lane and yellowtail. The trick of it all is finding keeper size fish. Naples Fishing Club member Ray Russell sums it all up in his recent e-mail.
August typically means light east winds, calm mornings and plenty of snook and tarpon. Unfortunately, this past week, whatever rookie weather god was controlling the conditions in this area must have been oblivious to this August tradition. There were blustery west winds, morning storms, rough, dirty waters, and the snook and tarpon were about as common as condominium sales.
I couldn’t find any local guides who were dedicated enough to fish through Fay on Monday and Tuesday, so I called a few fish that I know personally, but they too were still boarded up.
The big question in most fishermen’s minds this week is how the local fishery is recovering from Tropical Storm Fay, and the answer is a surprisingly positive one.
Someplace between the tropical storms and the hurricanes, snook season opened last Monday, and it was probably a very good opening day, at least for the snook.
For two years now, freshwater fishermen have been using the drought as the reason that they had a bad morning of fishing. The lakes have been too low and the canals were not flowing. Now there is too much water. The canals are running too fast and the lakes are overflowing. As the saying goes, “when it rains it pours.”
It’s virtually impossible today to view an advertisement or cite any activity tangent to our environment without referring to the green effort. Just about any collective and/or personal endeavor or product intended to conserve this planet’s resources and to improve quality of life is swept into that green corner and labeled so.
The backwater fishing has been a challenge. It is not bad, and there have been some phenomenal catches.
Kayak races. Kayak fishing tournaments. Guided tours. Free demonstations. Live music and environmental education. Socials and picnics with paddlers.