Anglers fishing with me on the Snook Fin-Addict, out of CB's Saltwater Outfitters on Siesta Key, the past couple of weeks had plenty of shots at tarpon, numerous bites, a couple jumped and one landed. As is often the case early in the season, action was inconsistent.
Anglers fishing with me during the week of May 10th didn't have many shots early in the week. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we only worked one school of tarpon each day off Lido and Longboat Key. I worked further north towards the end of the week and it paid off. Thursday's fly trip had more than a dozen shots at tarpon, a couple of follows but no takers. That all changed on Friday and Saturday when Hal Lutz, from Parrish, FL, and his mom, Andrea Lutz from Atlanta, GA, fished with me. We worked a huge school of more than a hundred tarpon of Longboat Key both days, as well as several other smaller schools. When tarpon wouldn't eat our live crabs or Tarpon Toad flies, we tossed in a live pinfish and Andrea immediately jumped a nice tarpon. We switched Hal to an Enrico Puglisi pinfish pattern and he hooked up right away and landed the first tarpon of the season on my boat!
Last week Keith McClintock and Barry Slee, from Lake Forest, IL, Barry's nephew Paul, from England, Dave Kinnamon from Milwaukee, WI and John Freeman, Jr., from Venice, FL, fished with Capt. Kelly Stilwell, Capt. Jack Hartman and me. A front moved through and stalled for most of the week with rain, clouds and windy conditions. Fortunately the wind was out of the east, so we were able to tarpon fish in the gulf all but one day. We found fish moving fast and not showing very well most of the time, although we did have shots at several "happy" schools. The group had numerous bites on live crabs and pinfish, several jumped fish and 2 fish, a 90 and a 120-pounder, landed by Paul while fishing with Capt. Jack.
Conditions were much rougher in the gulf on Thursday, so we opted to fish Sarasota Bay. We caught and released trout on CAL jigs with shad tails and surface walking top water plugs at Stephens Point and near Bayshore Gardens. An extreme high tide made targeting reds and snook tough. Fly angler, Toby Newkirk from Atlanta, GA, fished with me on Saturday. We had shots at 3 or 4 schools and had one bite on a fly off Siesta Key and the action slowed. With a 4'-6' swell due to thunderstorms churning in the gulf all week, tarpon just weren't showing well.
I expect tarpon fishing to improve when sea conditions settle and we head towards the first quarter phase of the moon later in the week. Be ready at first light in the morning as there is usually a push of fish for the first hour or so and then it will slow down. Sunlight later in the morning or early afternoon may allow you to see tarpon schools below the surface. So far, they've been eating baitfish better than crabs so make sure you have a variety of baits, lures and fly patterns.
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
