It's mid April and the warm water temperatures have triggered the tarpon to start moving along the flats. Despite a late season cold front that dropped the water temperatures by ten degrees, the tarpon were still chomping. In just the last few days we've caught 3 out of seven with the largest topping 140 pounds!
Congratulations to Scott Westfall on catching his first tarpon on fly. After a 45 minute battle the 110 pounder was brought boatside and released unharmed. Nice job Scott!
His buddy, "Jerk Bait" John Ferguson, has tangled with some pretty big muskies in his day, but the 90 pound tarpon he fought on a spinning rod was a whole new experience. Then throw in a 10 foot hammerhead, and all of a sudden the silver king looked like bait instead of a prized catch. We did a few wheelies around the tarpon to keep the hammerhead at bay. We quickly got the tarpon to the boat and released in good condition despite being "t-boned" by the hungry shark. Not a scale was disturbed but we followed the shark until the tarpon was far away, had time to revive and be on its way, way away.
"Jerk Bait" also deserves cudos for catching a tarpon that was on the heavy side of 140 pounds. An hour and a half battle and that "tank" of a fish put new meaning into a strong fighting fish.
But probably his greatest accomplishment of the trip was hooking and landing his first permit on fly. The permit was 15 pounds and after a 15 minute fight with the ten weight fly rod, he was all smiles after some quick photos and a release. Great job!
Capt. Steve
www.afishingguide.com
