The small tarpon are still cooking everywhere....
Although the weather shut me down for most of this past week, we still made it out for a few charters. The first was a night charter in Biscayne Bay for baby tarpon with Willi Gudat and his daughter Ivana. The fish were just on fire at the first spot we hit. Willi hooked up on a 30lb fish on light line that fought as hard as any fish that size I've ever encountered. Every time we got the fish to the boat it got fired up again and slowly but surely dragged us out toward Government Cut. Some tarpon are just plain ornery and seem supercharged, that was a good description of the fish... After about 45 minutes of back and forth on 10lb line we finally got the fish to the boat for a leader release. As Willi said, "Let Ivana catch the next few.." It was a good night, we went on to jump fish at every spot we tried, the biggest was around 60lbs and Ivana got her share of fish to the boat. The night time tarpon scene should last most of the summer...
We fished out of Flamingo on Saturday as the weather worsened while Alberto (then just a tropical depression) blossomed south of Cuba. Although we never saw the sun that day the fishing was pretty good. The outstanding fish of the day was a small tarpon on a topwater plug that Randy Wong from Maryland hooked in the mouth of a small creek. What made the catch special was that he hooked the fish on the wrong side of a small tree that partially blocked the creek mouth. I had visions of a very short battle and a lost plug, but Randy worked that fish right over the half submerged tree while the fish was jumping... an outstanding maneuver and a great catch. Most anglers would have just hung on until disaster claimed their fish... Randy and his son Alan went on to catch and release a variety of fish including a 6 or 7lb permit, lots of trout, a few good sized sharks, and other species. We hooked three very nice sized snook on both bait and lures but the fish either jumped off, burned us back into the trees, or were eaten by the ever present sharks. Right now hooking a nice snook along a Gulf side shoreline will quickly draw a hungry shark in most of the places that we find them. You'll know your fish is in trouble when it suddenly takes off like a rocket about halfway through the fight. If a toothy critter about seven feet long comes after your snook it's usually about 50 / 50 whether you get to release the fish or it just gets eaten right in front of you. Once a shark has fed it's time to leave since there will even more around waiting for a shot at your next fish...
This weekend the fishing should be back to normal since the wind has finally laid down and the water should be clear again along the Gulf coast of the 'Glades. There will be small tarpon biting from Coot Bay all the way out to the coast, lots of bait, and a bunch of fish that haven't fed well for a few days.
Tight Lines Bob LeMay