Well another spring run of tarpon has came and gone here in Boca Grande/Charlotte Harbor. Overall I had a VERY good spring season. I began tarpon fishing this year right around April 10th, we had a few cold fronts move through my area early in April and although there were a few tarpon around to target I didn’t have the urge to fight mother nature that early in the season. The first week of my season was on the slower side, I was fishing for a few bites during one partiular part of the tide in one particular spot inside Charlotte Harbor. I was putting my clients on good fish however the tarpon fishing really didn’t fire off for us until around April 22nd. I’m not sure if the el neno weather pattern had any effect on the pattern of the tarpon this year but the tarpon fishing was GREAT in a area that hasn’t produced any good fishing for about the last decade, the last week of April though the first week of May I had the best tarpon fishing I had to date. I was averaging over 7 hookups and many days saw double digit hookups on the longer 10 or 12 hour charters.
I bellieve the spring tarpon fishery is somewhat back to normal due to the fact that the state took charge and banned the Boca Grande snag jig that was such a menace to the natural movement of the tarpon during May and June. The hill tides were once again on par offering some of the best fishing in May, June, and July. Once mid May rolled around I was consitentaly targeting tarpon along the beaches of Boca Grande. If you had any concerns if the Boca Grande fishery was as good as we all claim, have no worries, the fishery is fantastic!
The “here and now”! Once again July rolled around and most of the seasonal tarpon guides were gone, now August is here and ALL the seasonal and out of town tarpon guides are loooong gone and us select few tarpon guides who tarpon fish through October have this great fishery to ourselves. I have been tarpon fishing 4-5 days a week and rarely see another boat. Those that have read my blogs for awhile have heard me tarlk about the fall season being the best, this year should be no different. There are thousands of tarpon around but more importantly the food source for these late season tarpon is here and it is thick. The minnows and the ladyfish are here in great numbers, once the days get a little shorter adn the water temp drops a few degrees we will see the best tarpon fishing in Boca Grande/Charlotte Harbor that we have seen all year. If you would like to experince the closest thing to how tarpon fishing was 100 years ago you need to fish in late september and all through October, the fish are not disturbed or stressed out from the fishing pressure of modern day Florida that we see earlier in the season. I will attach a video that a client made and sent to me from a day of fishing back in May, also when I get some free time, hopefully later this week I will throw up a picture blog of some of the fish that my clients caught. I will end this blog about a gentelman that fished with me back in mid May. I fish with some really great people, I am truly blessed to have a great client base and I appreciate all my clients. Jerry Russ contacted me back in January to ask about tarpon fishing in Boca Grande in October. Jerry stated that he has done a lot of tarpon fishing in his life but never in Boca Grande, he always traveled to Costa Rica but the time had came for him to give Boca Grande a try. Jerry ended up booking 6 days of tarpon fishing for mid May. Here is why Jerry is such a special type of person. Jerry is 94 years old and served in WWII, I have never in my adult life had the pleaseure to spend time with a man from the “greatest generation”, Jerry wanted to fish and I wanted to pick his brain about his life experinces. Jerry didn’t talk about the war much as from what I understand most vets won’t but the few stories he did open up about were amazing. To see a man in his 90’s travel all the way from California to fish for the greatest sportfish on the planet for 6 days straight was mindblowing, on his first day he hooked 7 tarpon and never once did I get the impression that he was getting tired or worn out, he was one of the best anglers I have ever fished with. At the end of the trip Jerry opened up and said that more than likley he wouldn’t come back to Boca Grande, Costa Rica holds a special place in his heart but he said our tarpon fishery is world class and the fishing exceeded all his expectations, I thanked Jerry for allowing me the opportunity to guide him for 6 days and opening up about his time fighting the Germans, Jerry is you find this bog and I doubt you will you are a great man and you were on ehell of an angler. I will make sure I post pictures on my next blog of Jerry and some of his fish.
