Making sure your knot’s not a problem

April 26, 2019

After poling the boat seemingly forever searching for redfish tails wagging enticingly in the early morning sun, it looked like it wasn't going to happen. Suddenly, they appeared.After poling like mad to get in range, you make the cast, being careful not to rock the boat, placing the lure perfectly, far enough away to not spook the fish and then begin your retrieve. The lure goes by as the fish senses it, looks up, likes it and then gives chase.The shallow water swells torpedo-like behind your lure. Here comes the hit! Then - nothing, as the new Florida state record ...

Today, all the talk is about tarpon

April 19, 2019

Tarpon are certainly the talk of the fishing community, and as more swim in from the south daily, the opportunities to experience one of angling's greatest thrills increases.Look a bit offshore and you'll see small fleets anchored up waiting to jump some of the greenest, meanest fish of the year. A good place to start is off Sanibel Island, where the early season tarpon fleet usually camps out.Other classic spots for early tarpon are the Sanibel Causeway spans and for fish continuing north through San Carlos Bay and heading into lower Pine Island Sound, areas off Chino Island should be ...

It’s a good time to fish for tripletail

April 12, 2019

Catching tripletail is usually done with a live shrimp or a small baitfish drifted back to them with the tide as they hide under their crab float shelter. At times, soft plastic shrimp imitators work well, others times they are completely ignored.Finding tripletail is as simple as finding a long row of crab floats and motoring by them to look for the fish hiding under them. A channel marker, anything floating, has the potential to house a fish as big as your hand to the size of a trash can lid.As you search the row, keep the boat as far away from the floats as possible but close enough ...

Picking the right gear for tarpon fishing

April 5, 2019

It's tarpon time and many new to the sport have many questions usually starting with, what tackle do I need? The tackle needed will be defined by your style of fishing.Here is a general guide -- If you plan to intercept beach traveling tarpon and throw live baits or lures at them, an 8 to 8.5 med-hvy to heavy spinning rod and quality matching reel spooled with 50 to 60-pound braid and 60-pound test leader would be a good start. Long rods help with long casts.This same outfit can be used to throw hard lures and soft plastics to night tarpon gathering around bridges. Switching to 60- even ...

Plenty of redfish being caught inshore

March 29, 2019

Inshore redfishing is worth your time with good numbers caught and released by mangrove-edge bait anglers. Typically winter reds run smaller with one good fish over 5 pounds for every four to five rat or juvenile reds hooked. Good news is, I've had several charters these past weeks catching 20 ...

An interesting charter, plus catching reds on soft plastics

March 22, 2019

Watching $5 spoon number four sail deep into the mangroves forever lost to the unforgiving tangle, I simply smiled and handed him another ready rod ready to cast. About the same time, his 5-year-old daughter who had secretly opened one of my soft plastic tackle boxes, threw the whole thing into the air spilling half of the baits in the boat the other half to the bottom of Pine Island Sound.Moments later, his 4-year-old son who had been crying, weeping, sobbing, squirming and continually passing gas while smacking his mother's face as she held him sitting in the shade behind my console, ...