Sebastian with his giant Tarpon.
The Tarpon made a good showing in the last 10 days out in the Gulf of Mexico but not all of them get their picture taken. After a fantastic Tarpon bite in February it slowed in March due to cool water Temps but now we are back on track. Lots of Jumped fish and a couple really special caught fish.
Day 1
The Snook bite took a back seat this past week because the Tarpon ,Sharks and Trout bite was incredible. I had Mike Trippe his son Louie and his friends Danny, Ryan and Theresa part of a 2 boat charter. Mike loves Sharks and that's what we did the first day giant Lemons, Bulls, Black tips and Spinners. Now throw in about a hundred Trout, Jacks, Ladyfish and a 150 Tarpon that Mike had on. Impressive day today and they were worn out!
Day 2
I have Mike, Louie and Ryan again today. The weather changed and it was nasty today but we managed a bunch of fish mostly because we found pilchards. We Caught a hand full of Snook, loads of Trout, a Shark or 2 but a slower day today.
Day 3
I have Ryan, Danny and Theresa today, we started out with Theresa hooking a giant Tarpon which she was not ready for. The fish ate her bait and was in the air and all I heard was her scream. The fish thru the bait but it was awesome. I rigged another bait for her while Ryan and Danny were catching some big Trout . I put her bait out and explained to her how let the rod holder do all the work setting the circle hook. It didn't take long and she was hooked up again. The rod holder did it's job and she had a nice 60 pounder hooked and pulling line. She muscled this fish for 20 minutes and eventually I was able to grab it. They took plenty of video but no stills.
We moved on looking for Tarpon but did a bunch of other stuff, they just wanted constant rod bending. I went looking for the pilchards they were gone but we did find a crazy Trout bite. They caught Trout 3 at a time for 2 hours. I had baits out for Tarpon but they kept getting eaten by Sharks. They didn't care as long as rod was bent. I said lets go try something else all we need is for Theresa to get a Snook for a Slam, they were in. It didn't take long, the first bait we cast got hit by a 31 inch Snook. Theresa just completed her Slam but we weren't finished. Danny got hooked up as well but he had a Redfish which gave us a Boat Grand Slam. We had several other bites which came off, it was late so I said its time to head in. Awesome Day!
I am at Flamingo with Bob and Charlie today ,we have been fishing together for a long time. They have caught allot of fish but Charlie's never got a Tarpon with me. The first spot had some big Tarpon rolling around but the Catfish were eating everything we threw. We mad a move and found the mother load but they weren't eating yet. The Mackerels, Trout and Ladyfish were eating, then as the tide started moving we are hooked up. Bob had a nice 50 pound Tarpon jumping behind the boat. He did a good job and got it up next to boat quickly and we had an easy release.
We kept at it and now it was Charlie's turn, he had a fish that was putting on an air show. This 40 pound fish fought hard but Charlie finally got it next to boat and got a picture he has wanted for a long time. I went back and looked for the pilchards after that fish they were there but on top of the stumps where you cant throw a net. Bob and Charlie made some cast and fount the trout again after 30 or so I said let s go find something else. They agreed and we moved on. We found some more Tarpon. Charlie jumped 1 and there were some more big Trout. We finally called it a day, a great day with 2 great friends!
Fishing has been very good, it is a good time to teach your kids because the fish are active. The end of April/May will bring the Tarpon out in big numbers. If things stay the same there will be some big Trout around also. May begins the a beach run for Snook so if you have any of these on your bucket list give me a call at305 333 8149.
Captain Jim Hobales
www.caughtlookincharters.com