Cold Front Fishing in Naples !
This past week has seen some of the coldest weather ever in southwest Florida. I managed to fish three trips during the period and all of those were in the Naples bay area. The fish and the fisherman had to warm up a bit before things started to happen . We were using live shrimp on the bottom which actually produced good Sheephead action on all three trips. Small grouper, snapper and jacks were taking the baits very well considering the water temps were registering in the low 50’s on my Lowrance. The fish were deep in the holes at low tide but when the water came up we switched to artificial lures. We tried pot belly 1/8oz. white jigs then ended up with tube jigs. Working the lures very slowly we could see some trout and ladyfish following and not taking for a while until the afternoon when we actually began to do quite well. The biggest surprise of the week was the 8 to 9 Snook we caught on two of the trips once the water warmed a little. I was fishing more towards Marco Island in the Johnson Bay to Rookery Bay areas in the back bays and holes at low tide . When the water was high, I found myself working the hurricane pass area as well as along some Intercoastal waterway spots. No fly fishing this week. I think as the weather warms fly fishing will be a better bet especially for sight fishing .
