Submitted

A large snook caught by Dave McDonald of Huntsville, AL while fishing with Captain John Stop. John reports that Dave was using 19lb test line.

Submitted

Fifteen year old Tony Yarnell with a 75 pound black tip shark he caught while fishing from the outer shoreline using a small live mullet. It took a good half hour for him to beach it on light tackle. Several species of sharks should be increasing in their numbers as we move into April.

April is just around the corner and should be the turning point for some productive fishing and catching on most all fishing fronts. While it may not be until late April, it could also mark the beginning of some tropical rainstorms that would set the stage for early arrival of tarpon and snook at the nearshore fish havens, outer shoreline, flats and passes by mid-month.

These two species will be moving in to fatten up on the increased bait and then in turn begin to spawn in May.

There has already been some reports of catching and releasing some of the larger snook and tarpon, one of which was a whopper snook measuring 44 inches in length with a 28-inch girth.

It was caught and released by Dave McDonald of Huntsville on March 13 while fishing with Cap. John Stop of Goodland using a live minnow on light tackle with 10-pound test line over hard bottom near the Goodland Bridge.

You may call Capt. Stop at 394-8000 for more information.

While it is getting late in the season for trout, you still find some at the passes, flats and nearshore fish havens. Use a float rigged with a minnow or shrimp tipped jigs will work well.

The increase in the patches of bait from the beach and passes out should also attract a nice list of species including Spanish mackerel and kingfish intermingled with trout, ladyfish, jack, bluerunner, barracuda, tarpon and shark.

The wise angler that is drift fishing or anchored over a wreck or fish haven will have one or two rigs set in a rod holder with live bait. One should be almost free lining the bait to stay closer to the surface, the other one with a rig that can be set deeper. The list of live bait includes pinfish, grunt, jack, ladyfish, mullet and crab.

I will continue to remind all of you to be sure you are using the right type of hooks; have your venting kit aboard; and are not using illegal bait. Be sure you and your fishing buddies are aware of the rules and regulations for our Florida saltwater recreational fishing. You can get a copy of it at the local marinas, tackle and bait shops or the local tax collector’s office.

Another report from Marco angler Herb Handelman: Bernie Blutfield caught a 30-inch Spanish mackerel while trolling a spoon from Herb’s boat, Herb Man, near Cape Romano.

Another angler asks: I have noticed there seemed to be a slowdown in you articles these past few months of tripletail being caught. Did I miss them or has it been slow?

Thanks for the question. I have to agree we have had one of the slowest winter seasons when it comes to anglers reporting their tripletail catches. I have no clue why, but will take a walk out on the grand old limb and blame the weather the most.

As you know most of them are found lurking around pilings, buoy markers, docks, seawalls that have riprap making it harder to sight them and many anglers just did not want to fight the brisk winds and colder temperatures.

The good news is tripletail season is just around the corner and the reports should be coming in from mid April through most of the summer.

Meanwhile, the list of species for our outer shoreline, inland waters, passes and flats remain about the same — snook, pompano, redfish, trout and more. It is looking good out there as I prepare this article.

Now for the e-mail of the month: There will be no name of the sender and I will make this as short as I can. The e-mail asked me if I have found any giant Goliath grouper that have expired due to the cold weather and water. It seems the sender decided to do a study about it. I did ask some of our seasoned guides and anglers, none of which had ever seen a GGG die from cold water in our area.

We all agreed that we have seen some snook expire during the one or two really bad cold fronts. I will close this by asking myself and you all, what in the dickens (I replaced dickens for a kinder word) would you do about it if a bunch of them died during our cold fronts. Be aware I am only talking about our area from Lee County south. It could be different further north.

I wish there were more folks worried about getting a saltwater fish hatchery here in Collier County. The drums have been quiet out there on that subject. If anyone has any good news about the hatcheries, please let us know.

April also offers anglers the opportunity to enter the Gene Doyle Fishing Tournament. It was created several years ago to honor Gene’s memory, Robert Eugene “Gene” Doyle, who loved the outdoors and was involved in several areas that included fishing, the study of amphibians and reptiles, Pal Gators football, little league, marine science and many other things. He even dug and stocked a pond in his backyard and spent every extra minute with a fishing pole in hand.

This year’s tournament will be held April 24, 25 and 26 in Naples which will spawn three Gene Doyle Adventure scholarships to help deserving Collier County students to undertake the adventure of their dreams.

You can learn so much more by going to www.genedoyle.org or call Denise Steffens or Linda DeLuca, tournament co-chairs at 261-4313 or 272-6130.

My last article had information about the German submarine that sank the Baja California in the Gulf of Mexico. I asked you if you knew what happened to the sub and was going to have the answer in this article but am running out of space so will try to get it in the next article. Sorry about that.

Catch you later.

Red Stier is a bi weekly contributor to the Marco Island Eagle. Questions or comments may be directed to redstier@aol.com or 172 Trinidad St., Naples, Fla., 34113.

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