Hi, we're heading to Marco island next week. Looking for advice on a good back country fishing guide. Both spin and cast. My son (17) and I have just a little experience at this kind of fishing. Any advice would be appreciated. Any other advice for this area....restaurants, beaches , etc. would also be appreciated. Thank you.

ive been to Marco every year for the last 7 years, mostly around this time. don't want to be a downer, but the fishing kinda sucks down there this time of year. the first year i went we went in october and the fishing was awesome. we caught spanish mackeral, snook, and catfish. it was a blast. we went 4 months later, the following february and the fishign was a joke. lots of small fish, lady fish, trout. it was a bummer. spent 500 bucks to go with a guide for that.

as for attractions, check out the guy harvey restaurant/bar. good food and a cool atmosphere after dark. there is an awesome steakhouse right there as well, kinda pricy, but there is an outside bar right on the harbor. The Esplanade is the place.

Well, we have to try. Just wetting a line will be nice after all this cold. Thank you for the resataurant advice.

Hey Joe,
I have been to Naples a number of times in Dec/Feb/March. I have hired Todd Geroy from Naples a number of times. I have been told he is the best in the area and I thought he was outstanding. Its been 3 or 4 years since I went down there.

He runs out of Naples, not too far from Marco, and runs south towards Marco intothe back country. He will position you for a cast and if you put it in the right spot you will get a hit every time, amazing. I struggled a bit with the Mangroves as you need to skip cast to get under, and I have never done that.

The weather will dictate the type of fish you can get. One year I got a very nice redfish in about 1 foot of water. One day I caught 7 or 8 species, trout, snook, red, and more. I caught a lot of fish with him.

I don't have Todd's number, but I think he is (was) in the phone book.

If you're going to go in the back country, I would go with him.

Have fun!

Naples, Southwest Florida Backcountry Fishing (http://www.floridasportsman.com/features/naples_southwest_florida_backcountry_fishing/index.html)

Joe:
We just came back from Marco. The fishing sucked. They have had a lot of cold weather and it has kept the fish down. We chartered with http://www.saltwatercowboycharters.com
Capt. Brant is a good guy and his guy Sean did his best to put us on fish in the back country. We did get a bunch of Jacks in the 10# range and some small snook. Overall I would rate the fishing, at this time of year due to the weather, a 5 out of 10.

Try hitting the 10,000 islands area. Chokoloskee island. It's a little early right now. Might be better off hitting the keys if you have the time and money.

Thanks for the advice and leads. I am going to try the back country fishing, hey if I could get into some 10# jacks like you Piemma, that would be great. And I'll give that guide a look. Thanks again.

Capecodder....great link....thank you.

You are welcome Joe. Sean is a good guide and really worked hard to put us on fish.

I used Mangrove Outfitters. It's a fly shop in Naples. I was there right around this time a couple years ago. Same issue with the weather, it was a little to cold for reds, had fun in the mangroves with some small snook though. The guys I dealt with at this shop seemed decent to me.