The wind has certainly been a factor with gusts reaching 35 mph.
We have been doing a bit of maintenance and preparing for the
tarpon once again. The weather man is talking about the winds
dropping off this weekend, so those of you who are out of
town, I will keep you posted.
Fishing has been great when we were able to get out however so
here is the latest report.
The night time tarpon bight has been going well. The few times
that we tried we were able to jump a good number of fish. Flies,
plugs, and soft baits have been getting some nice results. This
time of the year offers a large number of smaller Tarpon 20 -
100lbs which is just fine with me. Those larger schools of
"big brutes" will be here before you know it. Things
just have to mellow out a little bit.
Permit fishing has still been good. On the warmer days they just
seem to be all over, eating little blue crabs, shrimp, or a
well placed fly. However, the wind has certainly been a factor,
making it difficult at times to get any thing close to them.

There
are still a good number of barracudas. We caught one the other day
that was just over 30 lbs. On light tackle in shallow water they
are a whole lot of fun. The fish made such a run, we had to chase
him down like a Tarpon, in fear of getting spooled. When it is
windy I throw a top water plug called a Creek Chub
Knuckle-Head from
www.Lurenet.com.
This plug will always get the big ones to come out and play.
Sure I enjoy permit, tarpon, and everything else in between. But
we have had so much fun lately catching jacks of all sizes. These
fish really fight. But sometimes before you get them to the boat,
the sharks have dialed in on them and you have a very difficult
time getting them to the boat ...if you know what I mean! We got
the tarpon gear out, put on about 6 feet of 80lb. leader, and
followed up with a couple of feet of heavy wire. Reach in the live
well for a jack that would like to go for a swim... and usually in
a very short time you better hang on, because when a 200lb. bull
shark is running away from you in 2-3 feet of water, he has a bit
of an attitude.
Good luck fishing and get out there and enjoy. The big tarpon
are right a round the corner and we still have some dates
available. As always, if you have any questions, drop us a
line. We always will make time for you.
Capt. Larry Cohen