Got out with Lance and his sons Black and Grant today and tarpon was on their list. We caught a little bit of bait early and had some leftovers from a couple days ago. Got lucky to get one throw and get 2 dozen mullet, we made a few more throws and came up empty! Bait is a little tough on the mornings with falling tide right now… but thankfully I think Monday we will have some incoming for a few days and that’s been much better for bait catching. Anyways the tarpon were not very responsive early on we found a good batch where they had been the last few days, but no bites we moved a few times and only got some bluefish and jacks. We went up into a channel nearby and found a few more in there, though another boat had gotten lined up on them before us so we watched them get a couple bites but we couldn’t get anything going. I decided to move on figuring it wasn’t gonna happen for us there so we ran out along the mainland to catch the start of the incoming tide. The sharks have been horrendous out there, so I was hoping there’d be enough tarpon to make it worth while. Luckily there was and we went through every bait we had dealing with all the little sharks, but we ended up landing two tarpon and jumping a few others off. It seemed like every time we got a bite, you had to move to get away from the sharks. So that’s what we did and it was pretty good fishing but it was a lot of work, though sometimes that is part of it! Anyways Lance caught both fish I wish we could’ve got the boys each on one, but at least they had a few shots too. Didn’t do much wrong just didn’t want to stay buttoned for us. Oh well thats fishing and everyone had a great time. Hopefully the fish cooperate tomorrow! 2 for 6
P.S. We normally do not lift tarpon out of the water for pictures, though if they are under 40 inches like the one pictures on the right, you are allowed to for a quick release picture. We try to always support the belly and not hang them by their gills, not let them flop around on the deck too much wiping off slime, and make sure to revive them a little in the water if necessary.
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
@richardstanczyk
