Tampa To Anna Maria Tarpon Charters, June 27
Wow is all I can say, Tarpon fishing has been great. The weather remains perfect everyday and there is tons of Tarpon. These past couple of weeks has been really good for large fish. I bet we haven't caught a fish this week under 100 pounds, most of them are 125 plus. This one school of fish I have been on has particularly large fish in it. We have landed several 200 pound fish out of the school and I don't know how many we have lost. You can really tell when you're into big fish your landing rate goes down. When you are catching those fish under a hundred pounds landing half of them is no big deal, but when most of the fish are over 130, and those are the small ones, it's more like one in four. It's more typical to catch Tarpon of all sizes from 70 to 200 pounds and larger, lately though they are all big. We have been having some incredible days, hooking 10 to 15 per day has been the norm, two at one time is no big deal and I have had more than one triple this week. A few times I had the Tarpon biting so fast if I had more fishermen in the boat I could have 4 or 5 hooked up during some of the fastest moments. It has been that good. I know each year I get a little more efficient at producing Tarpon, but the learning curve is very small at this point. I really think the Tarpon fishing is getting a little better each year. It just seems like some of the really large schools are bigger than they use to be. Last year was a little tough, we still had a large amount of fish but the wind blew all season. We caught tarpon everyday but It was really hard work some days. This year it has been perfect. I can sit on the fish time after time with ease and hook fish after fish. I love it when the Tarpon fishing is like this. I guess the fact that I had to fight the wind from high above the water in my tower in past years is what makes it a lot more enjoyable for me now. There are some slick calm water days and the only thing disturbing its glassy shimmer is the fins of Tarpon, schools of bait and the occasional Porpoise. Then all of a sudden the peace is broken by the explosion of a 200 pound Tarpon leaping out of the water with your hook in his mouth. I love it, without a question it's my favorite thing in the world to spend my time doing. Its hard and very tiring work, but I love every day of it when I am out there Tarpon fishing.
As for other species that are biting. I did catch a few Snook the week before last along with a lot of nice Reds and smaller size keeper Trout. Offshore there is a lot of Tunny, Mackerel, Dorado, Grouper and nice Snapper. Guys are still catching a lot of nice Kingfish out there, even close in, which is really late for this time of year. Makes me think that Tarpon will run late too, that would be great. Honestly almost all I do this time of year is Tarpon fish because it's all I have time for, but I still spend a few days offshore and on the flats.
Well I Hope you have enjoyed the report. I still have a few dates left in July for tarpon. I also have a half day in the afternoon for Tarpon on June 27th. If I don't have a day available on the day that you would like to get out I can send you to one of my associate charter captains. This is a Tarpon season not to be missed.
Until the next fishing report, as always, good luck fishing.
Captain Matt
www.captainmatt.com
www.tarponfish.com
Cell 941-447-9888
