Robert's Bay, Marco Island

krombie19

We fish off a dock on Robert's Bay in Marco Island, FL. We fish the bottom generally and have only ever caught sail cats and hard heads. We use frozen shrimp and frozen squid. We use cut the cats in half behind the fins and use the tails for bait. We have caught one tarpon this way. We typically just fish the bottom. Anyone have any advice for catching something other than cats on this bay?

Tarpoon

If you fish the bottom you're gonna get a lot of catfish - especially using dead bait off a dock with no current. The kitty cones are a great idea and the tarpon are almost always in Roberts - they are pretty tough to catch in my experience though.

I've never pulled much out of Roberts Bay unless I was fishing the docks. Docks will hold snook, sheepshead, snappers of course. Live bait is going to work better than frozen.

It's odd because that bay will fill up with mullet - but there never seems to be a ton of fish there. I have pulled a few sheepshead off the hard bottom around the islands but never a snook nor a red. The docks seem to be where they hang.

snookaffinity

You need something you can float on and do as Tarpoon wrote. Fish under the dock your fishing from also. Fish at night around the lighted docks free lining live shrimp without a weight.

krombie19

Tarpoon wrote: »

The kitty cones are a great idea

Sorry for the ignorance but what are kitty cones?

krombie19

Tarpoon wrote: »

If you fish the bottom you're gonna get a lot of catfish - especially using dead bait off a dock with no current. The kitty cones are a great idea and the tarpon are almost always in Roberts - they are pretty tough to catch in my experience though.

I've never pulled much out of Roberts Bay unless I was fishing the docks. Docks will hold snook, sheepshead, snappers of course. Live bait is going to work better than frozen.

It's odd because that bay will fill up with mullet - but there never seems to be a ton of fish there. I have pulled a few sheepshead off the hard bottom around the islands but never a snook nor a red. The docks seem to be where they hang.

I was wondering if you thought there were any sharks of any size in the bay? I am wondering because a) we may swim in there and b) something hit one of my lines and just took off. Wasn't like a tarpon, it took the catfish tail and just ran, a long way, very fast. I don't think it was a tarpon because I put a lot of pressure on it and it never jumped.

Turner River Terror

There's Bull Sharks and a couple other kinds in every waterway in the 10k Islands.
I see them all the time.

whiguita

My GF's family actually has a house right off of winterberry dr and we have fished the bay quite a few times with pretty good success. We usually kayak out to the eastern little island while the tide is going out and cast dead shrimps south of the island with some weights to get them down and catch some really nice reds (with the occasional catfish) we fished there about two weeks ago for around two hours and caught around 10 reds and one really nice keeper one that we released too.

Tarpoon

Kitty Cones are the catfish tails. Cut them at an angle so they stand up on the bottom - sharks love em and I've seen a lot of tarpon caught on them.

In the canals I have seen, Nurse, BlackTip, Bull, Lemon and on and on and even a very very large hammerhead. I wouldn't be afraid to swim in the canals because of the sharks. It's the chemicals, jellyfish etc that you need to watch out for.

Turner River Terror

And all them Oysters on the Dock ladder as well...: )

krombie19

We finally went out to investigate the islands. We went out 2 days in a row. We were using live shrimp at high tide and didn't come away with anything on the poles. We did get some small and some pretty large mullet with the cast net. I plan on using the large mullet on the shark pole in the channel of the bay. Also plan on trying the small mullet in the channel and on the sandbars/islands. My brother was visiting and we went and got a pin fish trap that we tossed into the channel. Got about a dozen of those so we plan on trying those out in the channel and around the islands. I think we need to out to the sandbar either earlier in the day or later in the evening, both days we were out there from about 12-3.

Panfishangler1

Thanks for reporting back Krombie, just gotta keep trying new areas and tactics. Good Work!

krombie19

Turner River Terror wrote: »

And all them Oysters on the Dock ladder as well...: )

Would these be good to use to go after the Sheep's head I see swimming around the pylons? I vaguely remember someone saying one time that you have to use a very small hook because they have small mouths, is this true?

Tarpoon

A small piece of shrimp on a small hook is your best bet for Sheepshead. They have small mouths filled with molar like teeth but they are shockingly good at stealing your bait. Thread the shrimp on a hook and you'll be in business.