This week around Naples and Marco Island, the mangrove snapper have taken over the passes and the docks, the last of the season’s tarpon are still showing off the beaches at first light, and the afternoon storm machine is running right on schedule.
What’s Hitting
Mangrove snapper are the most dependable bite going — thick in Gordon Pass, Capri Pass, and Caxambas, and around nearly every dock line with current. Tarpon are still rolling early off Naples Beach and the Marco beaches in thinner numbers, catch-and-release snook are staged in the surf and the passes, and redfish are working the oyster edges in the Ten Thousand Islands on the higher tides. Goliath grouper are stealing baits everywhere, as usual.
Where to Find Them
Work the pass edges and dock lines on the moving tide for snapper. The remaining tarpon are in 10 to 20 feet off the beaches at dawn, and the backcountry reds want the outside oyster points from Rookery Bay south through the islands as the tide floods.
Tides & Conditions
Strong tides this week put real current through the passes — the snapper feed best on the middle hours of the flow. Water temps are pushing the upper 80s inside, so the shallow bite dies fast once the sun is up.
Tackle & Tactics
Snapper want a live shrimp or small pilchard on a quarter-ounce knocker rig and 15-pound fluorocarbon — chum the pass edge and they’ll come to you. For the beach tarpon, a pass crab drifted on the tide is the highest-percentage bait this late in the run. Surf snook are eating white paddletails and flair hawks at first light.
Local Intel This Week
Naples Landing downtown, Cocohatchee River Park to the north, and Caxambas Park on Marco are the main public ramps this week. Fish are concentrating in the passes on the moving tide and along the beach troughs at dawn. Snook season is closed on this coast through August and goliath grouper remain protected — check current FWC regulations and seasons before keeping fish.
This Week’s Tip
If the goliaths are mugging every snapper you hook at a pass, don’t keep feeding them — move 100 yards up-tide off the structure and chum the fish to you instead. The snapper will slide up the current line, and the goliaths mostly stay home on the rocks.