Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 6/2/09
It's been a good week.
Monday I arrived in Fort Myers, dropped off my stuff, picked up David McCleaf, and went scouting. We found tarpon everywhere we looked. I had actually had time to take some shots with the fly rod. A fish came up to take the fly but it changed its mind at the last possible moment, breaking my heart. We didn't get a bite. That was OK since the main goal was to locate some fish.
Tuesday Dr. Mike Collins and Dr. Mike Collins, father and son fly casters, joined me for the day. We had numerous shots in the morning but no bites. In the afternoon we had a stretch of about two hours where we didn't see a fish. It was beginning to look bleak.
We went to another spot. We didn't see many fish there but I did spot a single, lollygagging along, high in the water. After I put the boat in position Mike took a cast with a black and purple streamer. The fish saw the fly and sank into the depths. "Here we go again," I thought. Then the fish came out of the depths like a sea monster and inhaled the fly, not 30 feet from the boat, just awesome.
Mike had the fish, about 90 pounds or so, on for 20 minutes and three jumps. Then, for no apparent reason, the hook pulled. We called it a day shortly afterwards.
Son Maxx came down that evening with Scott Radloff. Wednesday found us out in the Mitzi, looking for tarpon of course. We had numerous shots during the morning but again, no bites. Finally the fish stopped coming, so we went looking for some. It took a couple of hours but we found a large school and then another. Maxx and I took turns tossing various flies at them. Scott was using live pinfish. We probably had 100 shots, changed flies four times, and didn't get a sniff. We finally gave up, well after 6 PM, not having gotten a single bite. Very frustrating.
Thursday Scott, Maxx, and I went out again. The wind was pushing 20 out of the southwest and the Gulf was too rough for the Mitzi. We netted some whitebait and went snook fishing. We found a stretch of shoreline where they were thick. We caught 30 or 40 to about 25 inches, until we ran out of bait. Then we got in the lee of Johnson Shoal and cast a couple of fat mullet out. Maxx got a couple of blacktip sharks in the 30-40 pound range before we bagged it.
Friday the three amigos were at it again, for the last time this trip. Again the Gulf was too rough for us. I couldn't find any whitebait and spent an hour catching two or three baits per throw, getting small pinfish and mojarras, and a couple of mullet. We again went snook fishing. It was merely good, not incredible like it had been the day before. We got a dozen or so between us. I also picked up a ladyfish. Then we again went to Johnson Shoal.
We put a pinfish out under a float, and freelined the ladyfish. I was dinking around with a little pinfish on a light spin rod to pass time and got a nice flounder of 15 inches or so. Then Maxx got a mangrove snapper on a jig. Then a tarpon of 80 pounds or so crashed the ladyfish. Scott fought it for ten minutes and three jumps, when the fish wore through the bite tippet during a jump.
We tied on another leader and hook, redeployed the pinfish and tossed out a mullet too. We were watching the terns, pelicans, and skimmers, and talking stupid for a while. Nothing much was happening. Scott was reeling in the mullet to check it when a big tarpon crashed it. He had this fish on for a little longer. It put on an incredible aerial display, jumping a half dozen times, water flying everywhere, 100 pounds plus of very upset silver fish doing everything he could to throw the hook. And he did. On his last jump the hook came flying out. Fish 2, Scott 0. That's OK, no cause for shame there.
Maxx got a hit on the pinfish shortly after. It turned out to be another blacktip shark. I tried three or four times to pull it into the boat so we could get some pictures. I couldn't hold that thing! Tarpon are easier, and safer, to handle. Rather than risk killing it, or getting a lacerated whatever, I used the dehooker and let it go. We retrieved the anchor and called it a (good) day.
Friday night we went to my favorite restaurant in Fort Myers, Café Brazil. Rick and Duke both got the Picanha, Scott the Risotto de Camarao, and Maxx and I split a Muqueca da Bahia. Such good stuff! Every time I go there I really remember how much I miss Brazil. Tenho saudades para Bahia!
Saturday I fished Dr. Michael Collins again. The wind was about 15 out of the west, with clouds. The Gulf was too rough to fish. We looked at some spots on the inside (and got rained upon in the process) but only saw seven fish all morning. We quit early.
Sunday the Tedesco brothers, Jim and Ralph, joined me. The west wind was still blowing, and we still couldn't get out on the Gulf. We saw a few tarpon around Johnson Shoal but it was too rough to stand in the boat. We got a variety of smaller fish on bait, but nothing of note.
Monday Ralph took the day off because his back hurt from th3e previous day. Jim and I went out alone. I first netted a bunch of whitebait, and then we went looking for tarpon. The wind was from the east, hallelujah!
We found very few fish along the beach and most of the boats we saw were running, not a good sign. I pulled up to a beach snook spot and we proceeded to catch and release snook one after another for about an hour and a half. Then we went looking for tarpon again.
I went all the way up to Gasparilla Pass. There were some fish there! We had about an hour of shot after shot with the fly rod, both cruising and daisy chaining fish. None bit, however, very sad. Finally they stopped appearing, so we headed south again.
We looked for fish all along the beach and again at Johnson Shaol but did not see another. Jim wanted to head in early, and we were back at Tarpon Lodge at about 2 PM.
Fishing for the tarpon in Lee County has gotten much more difficult since I first started fishing there. It is hard to get a bite. It can be very frustrating. But it is the opportunity to see, observe, stalk, and yes, sometimes hook and catch, these magnificent animals with fly tackle that keeps me coming back down here year after year. There is absolutely nothing in angling that compares to sight fishing tarpon on fly from a small boat in shallow water.
Life is short- GO FISHING!
And life is great and I love my work!
John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com