090108
The Snook fishing continues to be incredible! My clients are throwing the Twitch n Raps most who have read my reports or have fished with me before know that they will produce, some even bringing there own lures. The falling tide on this past month new and full moons has produced some serious Snook action as I have written about. This week was no different Rick and Kathy from San Diego fished with me on Mothers day weekend and they enjoyed it so much they came back for the Labor day weekend. I did not want to disappoint them, they are good anglers and I owed Rick a Tarpon!
The day started off quickly with a couple off mullet getting popped as I eased up into the area we were fishing. I power poled down and Rick cast at a boiling fish, his Twitch n rap got knocked out of the water so quick he couldn't react. On his next cast he hooked up and this one was screaming the Spiderwire Stealth of the reel, the Snook ran and ran let us know he was large. The Snook finally jumped;that's when we got a look at the 10 pounder. I netted the Snook for Rick took a photo but before he could release it Kathy was hooked up, she had her own battle to contend with for a few minutes. Kathy is a good angler and usually catches the bigger fish, so Rick was finally up one. The Snook bite was good for almost 2 hours, they caught 20 or 25 Snook along with some big Jacks. The Jacks like the Twitch n Raps too.
The tide got low and we had to move so I ran to an area where I had been find a couple Tarpon, nothing guaranteed but possible. There were some other fish in the mix Bluefish, Trout and Sharks but no Tarpon. The tide was still out going but I needed the incoming for my Tarpon to turn on, so we ran around a bit. The tide started to turn and we got on the Tarpon all of a sudden they were everywhere, the Jacks were really thick there as well. Rick finally hooked a big Tarpon but it eventually threw the lure, that's how Tarpon fishing goes. The winds started blowing hard and the fish shut down. We ended the day on a little rock pile catching Snappers and trying for a Goliath Grouper. Its late we'll be back tomorrow!
090208
I always try something different on the second day of a multiple day trip; so today I went into the back-country. We started out with some small Tarpon and it didn't take long before Rick and Kathy were jumping Tarpon left and right. Then Rick had something a little bigger it was a keeper size Snook that was pulling some drag, after fighting it for a few minutes we released it. Kathy never let's Rick get to overconfident so she caught the first Tarpon, as I wet landing the Tarpon Rick hooked up with a Snook. There was a monster storm coming thru the back-country and we got lucky only to get the wind, but again it shut the Tarpon down. We ran from spot to spot where I caught fish just a couple days earlier but with no tidal movement the fish just weren't biting. I made the run north of Shark River to find tide movement and some Tarpon. Rick and Kathy cast for Tarpon but only caught Ladyfish, Grouper and Jacks as the Tarpon just rolled without hitting their lures. I gave them a couple options and they chose go back to the area where Rick hooked the big Tarpon.
We worked our way down the coast and rick spotted a big Hammerhead by the time we got a bait out it disappeared. On the ride back to the Tarpon grounds I spotted some big bust way outside of the park boundary markers off Middle Cape, I headed that way and chased down the schools of 8-10 lb. Jacks, the water was foaming and we had a double hook-up. We landed both fish, took a photo and released them and back on our way. On my approach I noticed a couple free jumping Tarpon so I just headed to my GPS mark from the day before as I slowed down the started rolling everywhere. Rick and Kathy were excited and started casting. The rods were constantly bent whether it was a Trout, Jack, Catfish, or Sharks the only thing not eating were the Tarpon. The boat next to us had a hook up but that was only one 1 in about 2 hours of fishing between us.
I asked if they wanted to try one more spot, I wanted the day to end on with an exciting fish, they flew from California just to fish with me, I owe them! The tide was 3 feet lower than the morning so everything was exposed, I said let's cast in the pot holes in the grass flats and catch something big. The mullet were getting hit and there were Sharks on the prowl and suddenly a big Tarpon tails up in front of us. Rick laid a cast in front but he just vanished! I was throwing a Chug Bug just for fun just to see if something would hit it and boy it got hit! 150 lbs. of Bull Shark crashed it and came right at the boat, I handed the rod to Kathy and the Shark took off about a 100 yards it was total chaos and excitement and a great way to end the day and the trip. Rick and Kathy were worn out and promised they would be back soon. I told them it would be my pleasure!