June 12, 2014
I have been on a bit of a writing hiatus for the last month, with no
excuse other than a busy fishing schedule and some relatively slow
fishing for this time of year. While we have had to work really hard
for the fish so far this summer, our efforts have produced some great
catches with a few tarpon and some big snook coming to the boat.
This is peak tarpon season here and there are some big fish in the
area. For some reason, this year I have only had a few anglers wishing
to dedicate their trips to fishing the silver kings with most anglers
opting for action fishing for other species. We have jumped a few tarpon
and also boated a few. Most of the larger fish are now congregating
off area beaches near the numerous schools of small bait fish. The best
time to target them has been at first light and near sunset.
Snook fishing has been our main focus and my anglers have been having
success with some large fish running up to 29 inches. Live baits
(scaled sardines) are taking the largest fish but we have also had
success on the smaller snook with flies and a variety of plugs and soft
plastic baits. Incoming tides have been most productive. I have been
targeting most of the snook near the passes or just inside where they
are staging for spawning this time of year.
On Tuesday of this week, I had and angler hook up with a large snook
against the mangroves on a very high tide. The fish put up maximum
resistance against Neil making several long runs into the cover before
becoming completely entangled. Determined not to lose this prize, I
slipped into the water and waded into the entanglement of roots. I
managed to get hold of the fish and return to the boat to celebrate the
great catch before releasing the 15 lber back to the water.
My guests
snapped a photo of a determined guide!
Wednesday I fished with Jim Cober of Dallas who has been a client for
over 20 years. He brought his 14 year old grandson, Tucker along for
his first experience fishing in saltwater. We had to work hard, as we
found numerous lazy snook slapping at the baits and not connecting and
only seeming to be able to boat one fish per stop. At the fourth stop,
Tucker’s first cast was quickly consumed by a giant snook! The fish
made a long run down the shoreline and tried desperately to get into the
cover, but Tucker was able to maneuver the fish and boat it after a
long battle. The fish was released after a quick photo to remember a
great catch!
Snook and tarpon will remain the main targets for the rest of June.
Baby tarpon action should heat up once the summer rainy pattern settles
in and runoff pushes these fish out of the back country creeks into the
bays. Redfishing has been spotty, but they are large fish in the 26 to
30 inch range when we find them.
-Capt. Todd Geroy