Got out with Chad today down from Tennessee, tarpon was on his list and I’ve been good at finding them lately! We had opposite tides from last week… last few hours of the fall this AM. Bait wasn’t at the usual spot, but we found it in another area that is better on this tide. We were able to catch about 3 dozen or so, and a ton of grass as there has been a bunch of dead sea grass floating around with all the heat, so it was a little messy but we got what we needed and then some. We hit some channels nearby where the tarpon had been, and they were here today as well. It was pretty windy, blowing 20 mph southeast, but didn’t seem to bother them too much early. We had to move once but when we got in front of them, we hooked a nice 70 lb fish and Chad landed him. We had both rods hooked up actually, the other likely on a big shark. But by the time we landed the tarpon the shark cut us off. We did get a nice lemon shark later on, and then we jumped another tarpon and hooked one right after that. This one was a larger fish too, 80 lbs or so. Nice to see some bigger ones this time of year! He fought well and we got him boatside for some pictures too. After that the tarpon slowed down, I could still see them rolling and busting a little, and we had good current for a while longer, but they just didn’t want to play any more. We moved a few times, and had a couple other shark bites, and that was it for the big stuff. We did however catch a lunker 14.5 lb triple tail which was very cool, he floated by us while we had our tarpon gear out, and got him on a small rod with artificial bait! That was enough for dinner for both of us and the wives. After that it was time to go home, a great morning had by Chad hopefully tomorrow will be the same. Not booked on Sunday or Monday if anyone wants to go and plenty of time later in August, fishing is really good right now. 2 for 3
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
@richardstanczyk
