Fishing Marco Island, FL

Guys. Never been there. Want to fish. From what I’ve gathered so far there is a lot of opportunity. I like to study up before I get there so I waste little time. We’re flying down the 26th of this month and staying there until the 2nd of Jan. I’ve heard there are numerous shore fishing locations. We won’t have a boat besides the paddle boat that comes with the house rental. And that is limited to the the canal we’re staying on. Although, after talking to a guy at the Ace Hardware store in Marco, it seems a lot of what they do is similar to pitching jigs and plastics on the river. Right in my wheelhouse. Can’t wait. If anyone would like to share experiences or info I would greatly appreciate it and would love to post pics and fishing tales while I’m there, maybe, or upon my return. Can’t wait to escape this cold and try something new. Although, I will be looking forward to pounding the ice when I get back.

I have been to Marco a few times. The most sought after fish is snook. I had a ball catching panfish sized fish on after the other off a dock using a jig and dead shrimp. Some were sheepshead, looked like angel fish w/ black and white stripes, not bad eating. We were on the ocean though. I know snook frequently cruise the canals.

The house we’re renting is one block from the Tigertail Beach entrance. So we could go there or anywhere for that matter. We will have a car or two to get where ever it is I need to go to catch a bunch. Thanks DaveB.

You can also rent kayaks and they will bring them to a boat ramp for you. You can then paddle to a little island and fish from there. Its not that far and I had a blast fishing. I just got couple dozen shrimp and a hook and pitched where the drop offs were. My wife went with and she sun bathed on the beach while I fished. There was no one else out there and like I said was not that far to paddle. I got all kinds of different fish nothing huge of course but enough to make it worth the trip. Just pick a brochure somewhere and find out who delivers them to the boat ramp, I wish I could remember the name for you but thats a option to. At that same ramp there were guys fishing off the sidewall, it was at a public park so at the very least you could find the park and grab some shrimp and fish off the wall. Have fun!!

Was down on Marco last winter. Very nice island. The locals call it “Mark up” island. Pretty expensive there. Also the median age on the island is somewhere around 175 years old . The whole island pretty much shuts down around 9 PM . I enjoyed it though, very relaxing.

Here is the link for the Marina http://marcoriver.com/ . Check it out. Boat/pontoon rentals are very reasonable. We caught a number of different species. From various shark species to various grouper species to sea trout.

Here is who we chartered through. http://sixchutercharters.com/ They used 7′ medium heavy walleye rods with 3500 series reels. Not sure what line they were using but it was a braid, not mono. They did use mono leaders though (sometimes). 3/8 oz hair jigs with chunks of fresh shrimp is what we were using. I did cast spoons a little as the guide wanted to try it. Caught a couple sea trout.

Sea fishing totally depends on tides. You may want to consider renting a 1/2 charter to learn a little about it.

I’ll post some picks when I get a chance. In the photo the “A” pin is on tigertail beach. The red “X” is on the Marina. The yellow lines and “X” show where we fished the channel out of the backwaters and north to Johnson’s Bay.

You MUST and I mean MUST eat at the Snook Inn on Marco. Make a reservation. It’s hard to get into, always busy. Very cool place.

Matt and Ruger. Fantastic info. Thanks a plenty. I will check into it.

I will be on Marco Island Dec 26-Jan 2 as well. We go down there every year for the last 20 years and have a condo next to the Caxambas boat landing. I do a ton of fishing and keep some decent but inexpensive gear down there. Give me a PM if you want to get together. If you want to do some shore fishing, I can loan you a rod. Or, perhaps split a charter if that is of interest to you.

The main fish people will be targeting down there from shore will be sheephead (picture a 3-pound bluegill that is silver with black stripes). Redfish are in season, but Snook will not be. Sea Trout will be in season starting Jan 1. Pompano are in the passes, and are are highly desired. Lots more that I haven’t mentioned, but you can go to http://indian-river.fl.us/fishing/fish/index.html for some idea what is out there.

The best fishing by far will be out on the reefs, targeting snapper and grouper. It isn’t unusual to catch 50 fish in a day out there, but it depends a lot on the wind. January is the windy season, and some years only a handful of days are calm enough to go out, while other years only a handful of days are NOT good to go out on.

Night fishing is also great from our dock, with some wildly differing catches possible. Catfish are VERY likely (Yuck!) as well as ladyfish. However, there are generally snook, tarpon, snapper, and a number of other things that hang around by the lights. Biggest fish caught on our dock was a 175 lb blacktip shark.

BTW – The Snook Inn doesn’t take reservations. They MAY still be having their Thursday/Friday night seafood buffett that week which I think is quite good. They usually end it in January, so it may or may not be available.

There is wonderful italian, seafood and german food down there, but there isn’t much that beats home-made fresh fish. A number of restaurants will cook your fish for you, if that is of interest.

Pictures as promised

More Pictures. I’m sure Das_Bass can verify. These fish don’t look that big. But they can pull with an impressive amount of force. I can’t imagine what a 100+ pound tarpon can do.

I do know how much force it takes to wrestle a 25#-30# Mahi Mahi into the boat. A blast.

Sweet pics. cant wait now. bass ill pm you in a little bit with my cell#. I appreciate the offer and may take you up on some of it.

Long way to travel to catch sheephead and catfish.

Here are a couple pictures of the best fish we have caught over the last severl years, and the view from our unit. This gives you an idea of what the backwaters look like. Backwaters average 0-8 foot deep, depending on the tide. LOTS of water 3 feet or shallower out there!

WalleyeBri.

Well, how was Marco? I hear it’s even cold down there this week. We had the same problem last year. Oh well, such is life.

Don’t forget about the Jew fish Dave.