Tarpon Season 2k10

Sunrise and Sunset all seem to blur together right now, but I have been able to get my camera working again if I use Manual Focus only. Funny how everything in life comes into focus around the same time... I do not know what is going on 100 miles offshore or if there is any relation, but yesterday we ran into Albies, Jacks, Kings, Blackfin Tuna, Amberjack, Sharks, Bluerunners, Baracuda, spanish, and tons of bait just 6 miles offshore. This is highly unusual. We are looking at the largest group of Tarpon we have seen in Charlotte Harbor and Pine Island Sound in years. If you read the research they are here to gather before they go "offshore" to spawn. This could lead to a terrible end for these Tarpon if the oil winds up in their path as they swim on the surface and gulp air. If I could pen up all these Tarpon and keep them inshore for the next two months I would do it.

Tarpon, Tarpon, Tarpon, .... Snook

Toad Hunters

With all the news on T.V. about the oil in the Gulf of Mexico it has been very discouraging for me as a charter fisherman who loves being on the water, but I am trying to stay positive and get fired up about the great fishing we are having here in Southwest Florida right now. It was a very long winter and windy spring, so the fishing guides have earned a little good weather and great fishing in my opinion. The Tarpon have been flooding into the area through Pine Island Sounds and large hungry schools have been a our target fish for the last couple weeks. In the meantime while the fishing here in Boca has been picking up the fishing to our south has been above average as well. One of the highlights in the Everglades this past month has been the number of Snook. I have been fishing on the weekends for Snook and Tarpon in the Everglades and we have had some crazy action. Last Sunday after a long day, doing battle with the Tarpon on the fly rod we switched over to the Snook fishing. We hooked up with three very large Snook and managed to land a monster. It was 42 inches and 28 lbs. I watched as my angler hooked and brought the mighty Snook along side the flats boat, for release. To see these Snook in such good numbers and now starting off what looks like it will be an awesome Tarpon season I am very happy to see mother nature bounce back. While fishing the waters of Buzzards Bay in Massachusetts during the summer of 2003 I patiently watched the clean up project after the "Bouchard Transportation Company" oil tanker ran aground and a large amount of heavy crude oil spilled into the waters I have fished since I was able to crawl. It was a long slow process and there is still evidence of the spill in a few places today, but we were very lucky it did not destroy the fishing completely. The people of the Gulf states are now bracing for a similar disaster and I can only hope that the pristine waters and fish in our habitat are spared.

Wade fishing for Snook, Reds, and Trout here in Boca

Over the last couple weeks we have been getting out of the boat and wade fishing with the fly rod. It has provided us with some excellent opportunities to get up close and personal with the Snook and Reds. Today we also found some HUGE specs.

Everglades Spring Tarpon !

This past month the Tarpon has been moving back into the waters of the everglades. It has been a long cold winter and the arrival of the Tarpon has been much anticipated. We have started to see large Schools of Adult Tarpon and in some places have started catching the resident baby Tarpon. I was concerned back in January that many of the resident Tarpon would perish from all the cold weather. I have now been catching several of them in the same places I was catching them in December so it looks like they made it.

Wade fishing the Gulf of Mexico for Snook, Trout, and Ladyfish...

Spanish, Kings, and Albies

The near shore offshore fishing has blown wide open in the last week. We have schools of Spanish Macs in the Harbor, King Macs just outside, and Monster Albies about 5 miles off the beach...

Boca Grande & Pine Island Sound

Here we go, a full week of fishing here in Boca Grande and the weather is just now starting to improve. I fished with several different anglers from Il, Mo, Nj, Mt, Co, and RI this past week. We were all over the board with Trout, Spanish Macs, Reds, and Snook (that would not bite). Out early in the mornings with the fly anglers poling the boat into 8-9" of water for Tailing Reds. It was very cool to have shots at these sneaky little devils, but not super productive. In addition the weekend boaters did there best to ruin any chance we had by running aground and driving right through the schools of fish we were chasing. Deep breathing and Buddhist meditation were a must, but that is to be expected on the weekends in March here in Boca. Sight fishing for Large Snook and Reds proved to be equally difficult and only a few fish showed interest in the flies we offered them. While looking for Reds south in Pine Island sound we stumbled onto two large Permit. Stay tuned for more on those buggers because as many of you know I spent all of my days off last spring hunting and catching (3) on the fly and the mere sight of them has got the blood flowing and I plan on putting some time in again this spring. The Permit are not a common thing here in Boca, but many of the life long anglers here do know that they exist and are not surprised that I have seen them again this spring. I do however think they would be surprised if I was to land the larger ones on fly. Those of you who know me know that this is not going to deter me from trying...

Everglades Backcountry (bbbbbrrrrrrr)

Almost a full week in the Everglades Back country and the weather continues to beat me down. The Snook and Reds were very reluctant to bite. The ones that were biting are still moving a little slow due to the colder than normal water temps. Our adventures took us deep into the interior and while hunting the fish we stumbled onto tons of alligators, manatees, and tons of beautiful colorful birds. I poled the boat through a small series of back country creeks with small bays that were out of the wind and we were surrounded by small blue, tri-colored, and green herons.

Snook !

Suddenly we have large schools of adult slot and over slot size Snook on the flats. It was a real surprise to find so many healthy large Snook in the back country !

Spring winds

Here we are almost into March and the weather is finally starting to stabilize. There were a couple magnificent days on the water this past week. The water temps are soring back up into the upper 60's in the back country and the Redfish and Trout are feeding on the rising tides in the am. I have been witness to several seasonal changes in the last couple weeks. Here is a short report I wrote for the Boca Beacon Newspaper here in Boca Grande. It talks about the changes I have seen...


"Over the past couple weeks since the deep cold snap we saw here in Southwest Florida I have been fishing the back country for Reds and Trout. The fishing for Redfish has been excellent. With the super low tides in the morning this past week we have been getting on the water around sunrise and looking for tailing Reds on the shallow grass flats as the tide starts to come in. My anglers armed with a nine weight fly rod or light tackle spinning rod, I have been poling my shallow water flats skiff into the skinny waters near Boca Grande. The natural beauty of the early mornings has been spectacular. On days when we are experiencing colder north winds the colors of everything seems to be a bit brighter because the cool clear air (which we only see for a few months a year here in boca) has been making everything look brilliant and the sun has been bright. The waters in the back country began to smell of dead Snook as they started to float to the surface and decay. It was around a week ago that I started to see the live fish move away from the areas where there were lots of dead fish and begin taking up residence in areas nearby. I watched each morning as the Redfish schools were gathering in new places and I also noticed a shift in the number and location of the birds. Everyone has noticed the large number of buzzards around the dead fish on the water, but I have also noticed that several of the Egrets, Ibis, Heron's, Osprey, Spoonbills, Wood Storks, and even our friend the Bald Eagle who lives on Cape Haze Point moved to new areas to feed. One morning this week while I was poling the flats boat, I came through and area where I have noticed a lack of birds just after the cold snap, and this day there was so many Ibis, Heron, and Rosette Spoonbills wading in the water I could not believe it. It was a pleasure to see all these birds return. I do not know if they went inland for a while when the cold snap occurred or if they just stayed deeper in the mangroves where I could not see them, but this past week they have all returned and are now back in all the places we normally see them. When I was driving my flats boat back to Boca Grande after a long day of fishing yesterday there were tons of Terns, Oyster catchers, Stilts, and Ibis all along the oyster bars that line the shores outside of the back country. I had not even noticed that they too were not around as much, but when they returned they colored the landscape like a bed of fresh blooming flowers. As well the smell of the dead fish is going away and the new schools of bait fish are filling in and covering the flats. Although we may still see some more cold fronts, Spring has Sprung."

Late December/ January Redfishing in Charlotte Harbor

Over the span of a few weeks the Redfishing has been terrific. We have had several early morning low tides with tailing redfish in the waters around Boca Grande. I have been poling the Action Craft 1710 TPS just as slowly and as quietly as I can in the first three hours of daylight. In some cases when the angler, the guide, and the equipment we use is all working properly we have been able to lace up some beautiful Redfish in water less than 10 inches deep. In other circumstances (and those of you who have fished for tailing Reds know what I mean), it has been very close with little of nothing to show for it. In addition to the early morning tailing we have found several schools of Reds in the middle of the day when the sun is high enough to allow us to search for them on the bottom. These sight fishing conditions have been what has motivated us in the middle of the day.