Water is coffee... but the fish don't seem to mind. 1 for 1 tarpon tonight on short

kmagnuss

We headed out tonight not having any idea what to expect. It was my first night out since Irma. Water was brown as coffee... strong, arabica, give you a heart attack coffee. In Lemon Bay there wasn't much life... but as we got closer to Placida you could see more mullet jumping, birds working, and the shimmer of whitebait in the still water next to the mangroves. With a light North wind we made it out to Boca in no time, and quickly got some baits in the water. There was a storm building in Port Charlotte, over the harbor, but the weatherman had it staying out there and not getting too close to us. Well... the weatherman sucks. The wind went from a calm 5 knots to a steady 25 knots across the harbor from the East. Storm started getting too close so I called it and started to reel em up. Well as my guest was reeling up he got pounded... to our delight it shot out of the water and we yelled in unison "TARPON!!!!" Jumped a few more times and he got it to the boat for a quick picture and release. Then we hauled butt outta there with our heads a little higher than we expected.
Then... got back to the dock and threw the bait I had netted back into the water. I wish I wouldn't have done that. They immediately get blown up on by either some slob snook or some juvi tarpon. For about 20 minutes I sat and watched the show... tried a couple baits but no takers.

All in all a fun night... just wish we could have fished for more than 45 minutes.

-Mag

WadeFisherman

kmagnuss wrote: »

We headed out tonight not having any idea what to expect. It was my first night out since Irma. Water was brown as coffee... strong, arabica, give you a heart attack coffee. In Lemon Bay there wasn't much life... but as we got closer to Placida you could see more mullet jumping, birds working, and the shimmer of whitebait in the still water next to the mangroves. With a light North wind we made it out to Boca in no time, and quickly got some baits in the water. There was a storm building in Port Charlotte, over the harbor, but the weatherman had it staying out there and not getting too close to us. Well... the weatherman sucks. The wind went from a calm 5 knots to a steady 25 knots across the harbor from the East. Storm started getting too close so I called it and started to reel em up. Well as my guest was reeling up he got pounded... to our delight it shot out of the water and we yelled in unison "TARPON!!!!" Jumped a few more times and he got it to the boat for a quick picture and release. Then we hauled butt outta there with our heads a little higher than we expected.
Then... got back to the dock and threw the bait I had netted back into the water. I wish I wouldn't have done that. They immediately get blown up on by either some slob snook or some juvi tarpon. For about 20 minutes I sat and watched the show... tried a couple baits but no takers.

All in all a fun night... just wish we could have fished for more than 45 minutes.

-Mag

Excellent narrative, I felt like I was there. I am glad your client got one.

TimGleason

Big Snook have been chewing as well. Hooked 2 40" fish a couple of days ago. Got 1 to boat and the other wore through the leader. took me 3 years of living here to get a 40 and then hooked 2. Go figure.

Lostconch

Things are picking up in the creek around my house. Starting to see mullet and bait fish. Predators won't be far behind