This past week the fishing has been great. It all started last Sunday when the tarpon stars aligned as they only do a couple a times a year. We had a big beautiful full moon, the water temp was in the mid 70’s and a cold front blew in with the wind pumping out of the northwest Sunday morning during the rockin incoming tide. These conditions at this time of year push tarpon into rips that form in certain areas. The attraction is that schools of mullet get into these rips which attract the tarpon. I had a hunch conditions were right Sunday morning so we acted. On our third cast, casting 6″ bomber lures we hooked a 80 pounder which threw the hook on the fourth jump. The second tarpon we hooked was about 65lbs which had swiped at the plug, missed and got hooked in the dorsal fin. This pulled out after about 20 minutes and three jumps. The third tarpon that we hooked broke the leader and the fourth never really got hooked. I love throwing plugs at actively feeding tarpon, it’s like all of a sudden you are retrieving and a massively heavy fish stops the plug in it’s tracks.
The rest of this past week we’ve had some great sight fishing opportunities on fly rod but the fish in really clear shallow water are very spooky. The pompano have really moved in with some 12 and 14 fish days. Also been catching a broad variety of fish with two days this week catching ten different species including redfish, snook, lane and mangrove snapper, goliath and gag grouper, bonnet head sharks and more.
The water will hit the mid 70’s again this week and the tarpon will show in the backcountry. On calm days I love sight fishing these huge herrings in 2-4′ of water.
Give me a call for March and April fishing. Avaiability is limited. I also have a couple days open next week.
Capt. Mark Ward 239-450-9230
