Backyard fun Marco Island

AndrewFL

Been coming to SW FL my entire life. My family worked hard and saved and got a great deal on a home in Marco many years ago. The canal that it is on is just off Roberts Bay, I have seen more species than I can count back there. I was there last April with many friends staying at the house. We went out and caught some cudas in a late afternoon run that was very productive (good spot I won’t say where) close to shore. The spot was loaded with life and we decided to keep a cuda for some backyard fun later that night with sharks, Goliath, or anything else that wanted to “play ball.” Missed a good shark cause the cuda head was too big to swallow. My buddy says “I’m going to bed, call my phone if you get tight. I say “what the hell, I have not caught a fish in 2 years, I will wait and see what happens.” I put some cuda in a chum bag, and put a strip out in the middle of canal. 15 min later, fish hits like a freight train, call my buddy with rod in hand, “come down I have got one!” After nice 15 min fight, I land a beautiful lemon shark. The house has a lift that you can lower (to bathe in the canal) so I loaded the shark on the lowered platform to get real close! It was awesome. One of the best fishing experiences I have ever had. Check out these pics, gotta love the backyard fishing that the whole state of FL offers.

larrywitt

Thanks for the report, great that you can lower the deck and let him swim away. To provide another great memory for someone.
larrywitt

AndrewFL

Thanks Larry, I have followed you on this forum since I joined many years ago. You always post great content! Believe it or not those are two separate lemon sharks caught two different days. Initially I thought they were both Bulls since I have seen and caught them in the backyard before, however they both turned out to be two large lemons. I could not believe that we have lemons (of this size) in the backyard. It was a total surprise. They are beautiful sharks, fight very hard, and both were successfully released. Circle hooks are the way to go. Switched to circle hooks fishing off NJ (where I was born and raised) and we had an astronomical increase in hook ups with sharks, tuna, and everything else that travels up the Gulf Stream in the summers up here.

AndrewFL

FYI that is me in the green tee-shirt. The guy I am posing with was blown away by the fishing down here: He loved the backyard and bay, and he couldn’t get enough of the offshore fishing. Could not get over the ajs, grouper, snapper, African P and everything else out there. I always tell the rookies that the action off Marco (and rest of the gulf) is most of the time instant action. Sometimes depending on what you do it can be slow, but most of the time it is instant action.

swampdog

Awesome to be able to enjoy fishing and exploring the gulf and adjacent waters with friends and family. Nice shark.