I’ll be in the Naples area for a couple of weeks in late February (unfortunately, I will have to be home at the time of the Fish In). I’ve done the search here and on another site, but I haven’t found the answers to a couple of questions.
I’m planning on wade fishing in the salt and will be looking for trout, reds, jacks, or just about anything that is reachable from shore and will bite.
Can I wade wet at that time of the year? Do I need boots or will sandals be OK?
I’ll be tying Clousers and some Deceivers, but what other patterns should I have? Do I need to also bring shrimp or crab patterns? Any help on patterns, sizes and colors is appreciated…
I’ve never fished the Florida salt before, so advice is requested.
Shrimp and crab patterns would be a good thing to have.
Although the air temps and water temps have been quite a bit above normal, I wouldn’t count on them to hold up. Most bait fish leave the flats when it gets cold but shrimp and crabs stay put for the most part.
Capt Tony guides down that way and suggests smaller than normal Clousers and other streamer patterns. 1 1/2 to 2 inches will suffice when the water cools.
I won’t wear sandals while wade fishing. Too much stuff gets in between your foot and the sandal itself, cuts from oyster beds, etc. I wear Chota’s with gravel guards. Too many things in the water that can cut and/or stick.
Oh, and do not forget to shuffle your feet while wading to spook the Stingrays away so as not to step on them and I saw plenty of them Friday while kayaking/wading. One small one, a few of them “dinner plate” size and one “door mat”.
I yield the board to the experts. Hopefully they’ll chime in with exact flies for their area during that time.
You can wet wade but wear flats boots for the reasons FL Ski Bum stated & do the stingray shuffle. Clousers, deceivers, shrimp & crab patterns are all good along with the EP baitfish patterns & crab flys. There’s more info with a search : Naples, FL Fishing :!: 8)
It sounds like some of the flies I use for searun cutthroat in the saltwater will work for Naples in that time frame. I will have to tie more shrimp and also research some easy-to-tie crab patterns. I have yet to use crab patterns up here, so I’ll need to work on those a bit.
And thanks for the info on boots versus sandals. I do appreciate the advice on the stingray shuffle. I’ve wade fished in Louisiana a bit, so I’m aware of the need. Unfortunately, I’ll probably combine that with the “horseshoe crab hop” and “lemon shark levitation” until I get used to it down there.
Hopefully they’ll chime in with exact flies for their area during that time.