Anglers fishing with me for the past couple of weeks had plenty of action with tarpon. With the water temperature in the low 80's now, tarpon have been cooperating better. The pattern has been to have shots at a few nice schools of tarpon in deeper water at first light and then they quit showing. By fishing shallow water later in the morning, we are getting shots at fish that are moving north and south but not showing well on the surface.
Anglers fishing with me all week long during the week of June 11th had lots of action. We had a total of 14 bites (i.e. line got tight and scratched drag off the reel). We jumped 8 of those fish and landed one, a feisty 75-pounder. Most fish were on live crabs either free lined or under floats. Although the percentage of fish landed is below average (usually about 1 out of 3) it is not uncommon. Some fish jumped off, hook pulled, broke off, wore through the leader and even had a hook break. We hooked fish every day except one with the best day on Monday when we had 7 bites, jumped 5 of them and brought one to the boat. We had a few good shots with a fly that week but no takers.
Fly angler, Dave Overby from Minneapolis, MN, fished with me Monday through Wednesday last week. Again we had lots of good shots. Dave had a couple of bites on a black and purple Toad on Monday morning, jumping one of the fish. We had more than 20 shots at singles, doubles and small schools on Wednesday and one bite on a black and purple Toad but didn't hook up.
The wind switched to the west on Thursday blowing us out of tarpon fishing in the gulf that day. Friday was a little better, but conditions were still poor in the gulf, so we chose to fish more protected water in Tampa Bay. Fly anglers Rick Happle and Shawn Borgeson, both from the Tampa area, fished with me on Friday. We had shots at singles, doubles and small schools either milling in an area about 6' to 10' deep or traveling. Rick hooked up near the Sunshine Skyway Bridge with an estimated 110-pound fish on a black and purple Toad and had her alongside the boat in about an hour. She was a hot fish, making a long run with several jumps before settling down and slugging it out around the boat. We also got numerous jumps close to the boat before landing the fish.
Tarpon are definitely cooperating better since the water temperature has warmed into the 80's. I expect the action to be good as we head toward a full moon next weekend.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Rick Grassett
Snook Fin-Addict Guide Service, Inc.
FFF Certified fly Casting Instructor
(941) 923-7799
E-mail snookfin@aol.com
www.flyfishingflorida.net and www.snookfin-addict.com
