The tarpon are starting to make their appearance as they are beginning the annual “run”. These are large fish ranging from 90 to 180 lb. monsters. They are invading the shallow bays now and can be targeted with a variety of methods. Live baits, “chunking” with cut bait are very effective as well as sight fishing with fly tackle when conditions warrant and casting with plugs are all common techniques. I am seeing plenty of free jumpers fish as well as laid up and rolling fish. These fish usually stay in the bays for the next couple of months before heading out to the gulf to begin their spawning migration.
I have also been spotting some very large lemon and bull sharks in the same areas as the tarpon. They are easy targets that provide long runs and powerful fights for my anglers. I am looking forward to fishing for both the tarpon and sharks on upcoming trips.
As waters warmed up by the middle of last week, I started having great success using live sardines for snook and redfish. Several trips enjoyed constant action releasing many snook ranging to 25 inches along with some nice redfish to 27 inches. When we don’t have a snook or redfish on the line, the jack crevalle have been filling in the gaps with countless numbers of these aggressive fighters being boated.
Steve and Linda had an all out slay fest with big redfish, snook and large jack crevalle on 3/5/2015
