Got out Monday (03/04/2013) with Blake and his three friends that were in town from New Jersey for a half day of fishing. The weather was beautiful but a little bit chilly. The forecast was calling for 15 to 20 mph winds out of the North with a high of 65 degrees, but when I picked them up at Monty's on the beach we were pleasantly surprised to see that the forecast was wrong and it was not going to be as windy as predicted. After a short 10 minute run we were at our first spot and after three casts we had our first fish of the day. It was a nice 23 inch Sea Trout and a few casts later we landed another one that was just a little bit smaller then the first. We hung around there and caught a few more trout and some small barracudas until the tide stopped moving and the fish stopped biting. After that we bounced around from bridge to bridge looking for fish but the bite was a little slow due to the slack tide but we were able to keep the rods bent with some small Snappers and Jacks. While we waited for the tide to start moving again we caught some bait and decided to try for some Tarpon before the day was over. Blake got the only Tarpon bite of the day but unfortunately was not able to set the hook before the fish spit out the bait and was gone. We spent the next hour watching Tarpon in the 60 to 100lb range swimming on the bottom and rolling on the surface all around us. We through every bait we had at them, live and artificial, but we could not get them to eat anything. After chasing these fish around for a while and not being able to get any to eat we called it a day and after a short 5 minute boat ride we were back at Monty's enjoying some food and drinks to end the day.
Headed out the next day, Tuesday (03/05/2013), with Pat who recently moved to Miami from Hawaii. He told me he used to live in the Tampa area for several years before moving to Hawaii and used to fish for Tarpon on a regular basis but had not got a chance to fish for them in a long time and was dieing to catch one. So we headed out for an afternoon trip to try and feed his addiction. We first loaded up with some live bait and then made the short run to where we would be fishing. When we pulled up to our spot the water was moving good, crystal clear, and it was not long before Pat was hooked into his first Tarpon in several years. It was a nice 5o to 60 lb fish that made a jump only 10 feet away from the boat before spitting the bait and sending it flying back at us. The look of excitement on his face when that fish came out of the water was priceless and one of the main reasons why I love taking people fishing. It was not to long after that when he got his second bite which turned out to be a nice 10 lb Jack that gave him a good fight before getting it to the boat. After that we missed a few bites before he finally got hooked up with his second Tarpon and we were off. This fish never made any jumps, it just kept screaming line off the reel and we chased it around for a minute before it wore through the leader and was gone. Unfortunately we never got to see that fish and can only imagine how big it was. We fished for another our or so with out getting anymore bites before we called it a night. We fished from 3:00pm to 7:00pm and hooked two Tarpon, landed one big Jack, and missed a few other bites.
