Siesta Key Having A Good Tarpon Season

Capt. Rick Grassett’s Fishing Report for 6/8 through 6/15/2008

Anglers fishing with me on the Snook Fin-Addict, out of CB’s Saltwater Outfitters on Siesta Key, had great tarpon action this week. We landed 5 out of 16 tarpon jumped for the week, including a couple jumped on flies. With the 1st quarter of the moon last Tuesday and a full moon on June 16th, tarpon were plentiful and aggressive. We saw numerous large schools of tarpon of 50 or more fish as well as singles, doubles and small schools traveling both north and south. The pattern has been to have a push of tarpon schools at first light for an hour or so and then the action slows until late morning. Once we get a good angle with sunlight, tarpon schools can be spotted crossing light colored bottom in shallow water (4’ to 10’). We also found “laid up” schools of tarpon (sitting still with tails and fins out of the water) at first light several mornings.

Cliff Ondercin, from Sarasota, FL, and his dad, Dennis Ondercin from Middleburg Heights, OH, fished their annual tarpon week from Monday through Friday with me. We had steady action all week long with lots of fish and opportunities. They landed 4 out of 12 tarpon hooked/jumped for the week. We also ran into a big school of nice jacks one day and caught one on a top water plug. Instead of eating mostly live crabs, tarpon switched their diet preference to live pinfish. We only hooked up a couple of times with live crabs and all of the rest of the bites were on live pinfish or a threadfin. Since tarpon were not always showing well on the surface, a live pinfish drifted under a float scored numerous times. Several fish that we cast to were caught or jumped in shallow water, so we got to see the fish eat! The fish landed ranged from 60 to 90-pounds.

The most memorable trip of the week was on Saturday with Hal Lutz, from Parrish, FL, his sister, Lyndi Lutz and her boyfriend, Trent DeWald, both from Dallas, TX. The main goal was to get Lyndi and Trent, who experienced their first saltwater and tarpon fishing trips that weekend, hooked up. Lyndi was first, jumping and landing a feisty 60-pounder on a live crab in about 15-minutes off Siesta Key. She also had another hook up on a live crab in the same area. With a fish under Lyndi’s belt, we headed for shallow water at about 10:30 AM to try and get Trent hooked up and Hal a fish on a fly. Hal hooked up out of a big school with a black and purple Enrico Puglisi Peanut Butter fly only to have the fish come unhooked after it ate the fly and continued to swim toward the boat.

With only 15-miutes left in our trip, Trent had expressed a desire to learn to cast a fly rod, so I gave him a short course. I stood on the bow with him and after 5 or 10-minutes had him false casting about 25 or 30 feet of line with the proper form. That’s when it happened-a single tarpon approached at 10 o’clock position to the bow giving him a perfect “head on” shot. With the fly line already in the air, I had Trent drop the fly in front of the fish and strip it (we hadn’t even covered stripping the fly yet). However, due to his watching Hal fish earlier in the day and watching “Chasing Silver” videos, he instinctively knew what to do. The fish charged the fly and ate only about 15 feet from the boat, Trent strip struck the fish, successfully cleared the line and we were tight! After a 15 or 20-minute battle including numerous jumps, the estimated 90 or 100-pound fish wore through 80-pound bite tippet with the fish only 20-feet from the boat. Awesome! They finished the day landing one out of 4 tarpon hooked/jumped, including 2 on flies.

We are having a good tarpon season so far. Tarpon have been plentiful, although not always eating. If you’ve ever tarpon fished, you know that being successful is a matter of the right presentation to the right fish. Except for a couple of weeks of west wind during the middle of May, conditions have been good and we have had good shots most days. There are more tarpon this year than I can remember recently. Tarpon action should be good as we approach next week’s full moon on Wednesday.

Tight Lines,

Capt. Rick Grassett
Snook Fin-Addict Guide Service, Inc.
FFF Certified Fly Casting Instructor
(941) 923-7799
E-mail snookfin@aol.com
http://www.blogger.com/www.flyfishingflorida.net and http://www.blogger.com/www.snookfin-addict.com


Cliff Ondercin, from Sarasota, FL, caught and released this tarpon on a live pinfish while fishing off Siesta Key with Capt. Rick Grassett.



Dennis Ondercin, from Middleburg Heights, OH, caught and released this tarpon on a live pinfish while fishing off Siesta Key with Capt. Rick Grassett.


Dennis Ondercin, from Middleburg Heights, OH, caught and released this jack on a top water plug while fishing off Lido Key with Capt. Rick Grassett.


Lyndi Lutz, from Dallas, TX, caught and released this tarpon on a live crab while fishing with Capt. Rick Grassett off Siesta Key. It was here 1st tarpon.

Hot Days Set Stage For Hot Fishing

Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Report

First, let me wish all of you dads a happy Fathers Day.

As we approach the summer solstice in the tropic of cancer, long hot days set the stage for some of the hottest fishing experienced along Florida's Indian River Lagoon Coast all year. Long hot days also signal a shift in strategy to fishing early in the morning and late in the evening and at night to beat the heat and our typical afternoon thunderstorms.

My first adventure this past week was a near-shore trip out of Port Canaveral with one of my longtime fishing buddy and best friend Mike Murray, and our plan was to target kingfish along the beach. We left the Port heading south along the beach, and we quickly located and netted pogies just south of the pier. After acquiring bait, we immediately started trolling live baits with no success. That's when we started looking instead of fishing, covering 40 miles of ocean with only one shark, one barracuda, and a 50-pound class tarpon who released itself after leader touch. As it turned out, the kingfish were staging in about 30 feet of water, one of the only locations we didn't look.



Next, it was off to Jensen Beach to attend the D.O.A. Outdoor Writers conference held at the River Palms Cottages, where I had the opportunity rub shoulders with an outstanding group of journalist while we learned and fished with D.O.A.'s newest products. Hosted by Captain Mark Nichols and his staff, the event also included two days of fishing with members of the D.O.A. Pro Staff.



On my first day of fishing, I had the pleasure of spending the day with another great friend and mentor Captain Rodney Smith as we were skippered by local angling guru Frank Caimotto. Frank's plan was to run north to Fort Pierce and fish the inside for snook, sea trout, and redfish, and then work our way out the inlet and south down the beach to the Stewart Inlet. The plan worked out great as we boated eight different species of fish all caught on D.O.A. Lures. The highlight of the day was a 5 foot sailfish that fired up on our jigs before departing in 15 foot of water right off of the beach. Frank did an excellent job putting us on fish, and it was great to fish with someone else doing all of the work.

On my second day of fishing, I was paired up with Robin Smilley of Florida Sportsman Magazine, and the legendary guide Captain Squeaky Kelly. Day two was only a four hour trip, and our plan was to target snook in the inlet and then tarpon on the beach. Once we arrived at the inlet the tide wasn't right, so we ended up working the beach south. In a matter of minutes Squeaky had us on a pod of tarpon, but they swam right into us before we could get a decent cast off. The rest of the morning we spent running the beach looking instead of catching, and that is why they call it fishing.

All in all it was a great week of fishing, and I would like to thank Captain Mark Nichols and the staff of D.O.A Lures for the great time and their assume hospitality.

As always, if you have any questions of need information, please contact me.

Good luck and good fishing,

Captain Tom Van Horn
http://www.irl-fishing.com/
407-416-1187 on the water
407-366-8085 landline

North East Florida Fishing Report 6-08

Ahoy there Anglers,

CREEKS:
The redfish bite has been improving better and better here lately but we still have those days where the fronts come in and the barometer just will not work with us. We'll always have those days though when you can only find a few reds that will bite. Well, you can't have great days every day. It's hard when you consider that everyone has tough days and then when you do this for a living each and every day it's not easy putting people on feeding fish EVERY DAY . We usually can get our limit although we did have two days this week that we've caught 18 then 14 slot reds in those two day trips so that shows me the reds are getting better about feeding. We've also have been catching a few oversized reds in the creeks too. There are millions of mullet everywhere in the creeks right now and that may have something to do with it too.
Trout in the creeks have been doing good too. We've been catching some real nice trout from 18" to 26" and I've had people catch an 8 pounder and a 7 pounder this past week and a 6 pounder this week. It's great to see these nice trout rebounding like they have. One day this week we didn't catch a lot of them but the smallest keeper we had was 19". When you can catch trout like that who needs a lot of them?
The flounder have still been offshore for the most part. Oh yeah, we're catching a few but they're still pretty small. They should've been here by the numbers back in the last part of April and at least the first half of May but the offshore Captains and Party Boats are still catching them 10 to 25 miles out. We've been catching 3 to 8 of them per trip now depending on how long we concentrate on them.
Be looking for the tarpon to show up in the creeks most anytime now.


JETTIES:
The bull reds have arrived along with the pogies. Yes, the pogies have finally showed up in the numbers we remember. Last year it was very tough to try to find enough pogies to fish with but they sure have shown back up last week with the westerly winds. When the pogies show up so do the bull redfish, (oversized reds) the tarpon, sharks of various types and the larger jacks. This is the time to really bend some rods out at the rocks. Don't forget, you can also use those same pogies up river and in the creeks too. Greenbacks or greenies have shown up and they're also a great bait for the same fish I mentioned. You have to use Sabiki Rigs for these guys to catch them.
A few black drum are still around but don't look for them to stay much longer. The water temps are rising steadily and that will drive them away. The whiting bite has picked up and hopefully they'll bite for some time now. I know they're small fish but you just can't beat whiting deep-fried in peanut oil.
Cobia have been spotted by many, including myself out at the rocks and it's looking like it's going to be a better year for these great tasting and hard fighting fish. The tarpon have shown up out at the rocks and they'll soon be up in the creeks too. We've been seeing quite a few along the jetties and I have not personally had any on the line yet but I haven't had anyone who wanted to target them yet.


Check out this 7 1/2' foot, 120 pound Bull shark. Man, can that Shakespeare Ugly Stick bend double without breaking. A graphite rod would've broke 45 minutes earlier. THAT's the ONLY rods I'll ever use are Ugly Sticks. I've used Penn's, Diawa, All Star, Hurricane Redbone, G.Loomis and with the same size and action rod they'd have all broken before this kind of pressure was required to boat this size of fish on this size of rod. No other rod made can bend like this without failing and breaking.


RIVERS:
Spotted trout are in the usual locations now in the rivers. You can slip-float fish with live shrimp for these guys or cast lures like top waters, crank baits, plastics Sure Catch Jigs and Bombers. If you use something that looks like a 'fish' then you'll probably catch larger ones.
Black drum are still around but are fading fast. The higher water temps will drive these guys away very soon.
Whiting are being caught in the sandier areas of the rivers and the yellow mouth trout are very nice size this year. Cut bait will get you the larger ones for some reason.
Jacks and ladyfish are becoming more and more common now also and there are some pretty nice croakers in the St. Johns again. They aren't like the October and November run of them but they're from 6" to 12" and the 11" to 12" ones are nice to eat. I use the 6" ones cut up for the yellow mouth. They work good. Remember, you cannot use a species of fish that has a bag limit on it for cut baits so don't get caught cutting up yellow mouths or sea bass, etc.

SURF:
The surf fishing has picked up considerably with catches of pompano, whiting, black drum and redfish. Last week there were even 4 kingfish caught right on the pier so that shows they're getting close to the beach again.


OFFSHORE:
My good friend Captain Chad Starling of TeamBuckRogers.com tells me the kingfish are what's the hottest thing going right now. Slow trolling live baits along the beach and around the wrecks will pay off from now throughout the summer. Kingfish in the upper 40's have already been caught. Sailfish can also be caught this time of the year along a strip called "sailfish alley" which runs from North to South about 12 to 16 miles off our coast.
Bottom anglers can expect to catch red snapper, Vermillion snapper, triggerfish, amberjack and grouper. He had a 25 pound red grouper last week.

Please remember to secure your trash in your boat, at the beach and on the bridges. Don't let it blow into the water and take it back with you. There are trash cans everywhere for us to use. Our precious waterways are NOT where it belongs.

You can say what you want about the South but,
you never hear of anyone retiring and moving up North,,,

Captain Vic Tison
Co-Host of WOKV's 'Just Fishing' Radio Show 6:00am to 8:00am 690 AM & 106.5 FM
United States Coast Guard Licensed Captain
International Game Fish Assoc. Certified Captain
Regional Director for the Florida Guides Assoc.
Member of the National Assoc. of Charterboat Operators
Member of The Inshore Saltwater Anglers Club
Vic2Fish & Adventures, Inc.
P O Box 28208
Jax., Fl. 32226
904-699-2285
Web Site http://vic2fish.com

Neither Captain Vic nor Vic2Fish & Adventures, Inc. claims any responsibility for any injury or loss of property arising out of any party using these Fishing Reports.

Panhandle Fishing Report 6-13-08

Report for 06/13/2008

Salt Water

MEXICO BEACH/PORT ST JOE OFFSHORE
Anglers report lots of baitfish throughout our coastal waters and report nice catches of King mackerel, Spanish mackerel, and Dolphin. Further offshore, several anglers picked up Wahoo and larger dolphin. As usual trolling is accounting for the largest bag limits but live lining hard tails is accounting for the largest sized fish. The best Grouper reports put them at 180’ of water along with the endangered red snapper. Overall, all reef species are biting well and anglers report good days on the water. Tripletails are around in good numbers around the crab buoys out in the Indian and West Passes. Always have a live shrimp ready just incase a tripletail makes and appearance. There were several cobia catches this week over wrecks and around the buoy line. Report s say they are small but larger ones have made their presence known. I would suggest keeping that cobia rod ready for a few more days.

ST JOSEPH BAY
The head of the bay remains the place to go again this week as reports of redfish and trout continue to come in. Work the area south of Blacks Island to the area around Pigs Island. Use free lined LY’s/shrimp or a live bait under a Cajun thunder and always pay special attention to the deeper holes as the day warms up. For the best action, try top water early in the morning for redfish. For those of you who like to sleep in, you are not out of luck. Reports say there is some excellent trout fishing in that last couple of hours before sunset.

PANAMA CITY OFFSHORE AND BAYS
Chicken Dolphin are all over the place offshore. Tons of weed lines and clumps are present from 3 miles out. Small jigs, spoons and cut bait work well.

King mackerel are being caught more frequently now. Several are being caught around the Whistle Buoy with some better fish taken over the hard bottom to the west. Most of the fish are being caught free-lining live baits.

The Red Snapper bite is still going strong with fish being found in all depths of water. Best baits include chunked cigar minnows, squid, live shrimp and small pinfish.

Grouper are being caught over hard bottom areas from 7 – 25 miles out with larger fish being caught from 35-45 miles off. Live bait and butterflied Spanish mackerel are the best bet.

Amberjack remain plentiful over several of the Bridge Spans with larger fish being caught farther offshore. Live bait, Williamson Jigs, and Butterfly Jigs will bring savage strikes!

ST. ANDREWS BAY SYSTEM
Trout are feeding on the flats now. Bayous with nice grass points are producing well and target the deeper grass flats with live shrimp under a popping cork for best results.

Redfish are being caught all over the bay systems. Throw a live Shrimp on a light lead head or weightless for best results. On a high tide, the redfish will be laying up in the flooded Spartina Grass. Weedless jerk baits and gold spoons will take these fish out of the grass.


Morry, Julie and Jordan from Chattanooga, TN caught these nice Spanish Mackerel with Capt. Dan on Perfect Cast Charters, 850-227-5149.

DESTIN
If you are in town make sure to make a trip to the Okaloosa pier even if you have a boat. Fishing has been great this week! Many mornings and some afternoons there have been some good King runs. Through out the day they are getting Hardtails and Spanish. But more than anything head out around 6pm and have dinner at Anglers restaurant at the pier and then enjoy a sunset walk on the pier. At dusk they are having good runs of Blues and Hardtails and the atmosphere is just electric. There are just big groups of people having a good time catching fish, having a cocktail and just enjoying the paradise we have here.

In the bay a few Trout are biting very early and at dusk. During the day expect to find a few Reds in deep holes and some Black Snapper around the bridges.

Inshore trolling is producing great King catches and a few Bonito. The Kings are close in early in the day and move offshore once it heats up.

There is a good amount of Sargasso weed showing up just offshore and lots of Chicken dolphin. Wahoo action is good near the edge and rock cliffs and out to the nipple. Some Marlin have started showing up near the nipple and spur and some very nice Swordfish near the spur.


Bottom bumping is producing very nice catches of Red, Lane and Mingo snapper and a few very good sized Black snapper in water 80-150 foot deep. Grouper and Amberjack are in deeper water where it is a little cooler.

We will be having a big sale over the 4th of July weekend. Have a great Fathers day weekend and make sure to enjoy your time here in Paradise!!

Fresh Water
Fly-fishing is the ticket for Bream. Most reports have them at Howard’s creek and Bear Man Creek. However, Bream can be caught nearly anywhere. Largemouth reports have them feeding on the shad. There were lots of nice one to two and half-pound Bass caught this week. The Channel Catfish bite is strong over drop offs and similar structure. The Apalachicola River is ripe with Flat Head Catfish and they are hitting small Bream and Stump Knockers.

Half Hitch Tackle
850-234-2621
2206 Thomas Dr
Panama City, Fl 32408
www.halfhitch.com/

Fishing Report prepared by Half Hitch Tackle Staff.

The Captains Corner Fishing Report is provided by local charter captains and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Half Hitch Tackle.

This report is dedicated to the memory of Al Hubbard.
Al Hubbard was a field editor for Florida Sportsman magazine, an outdoor writer for the News Herald and a board member of the Florida Outdoor Writer's Association.
Mr. Hubbard was also the owner of Al's Outdoors Outfitting Services.

Tresure Coast Fishing Report 6-12-08

Fishing Report

Fort Pierce - Port St Lucie - Vero Beach - Jensen Beach
June 12, 2008

INSHORE:
We have enjoyed some wonderful summer weather this week on the Indian River. There were some great days to be out fishing along the Treasure Coast. I had the pleasure of meeting some experienced anglers and a lot of fun out on the water. I love this time of year!

Parish and Chantel Murphy were down over the weekend and we hit the waters of the Indian River at first light. Parish topped off the day with a 26" trout and 26" redfish from the flats. Chantel had a huge trout hit her top water lure just beside the boat, but only left us a big wake as it left us quickly. The the week, I spent at the DOA Outdoor Writers Festival in Jensen Beach. Met some top notch anglers and writers from around the state of Florida. Scott Allgood and Spencer Hobby spent a day on the water and met the challenge of the shallow water flats. Scott boated three snook up to 26" and two redfish that were 26" and 31". Spencer showed his skills by catching a 20" gag grouper and two trout of 23" and 26" for the day. We had a short day with James Hall and Mark King and managed a few short snook and some angry jack crevalle in a few short hours on the water. We used all DOA Lures and proved they produce fish! It was a fantastic week out there!

Some large trout have been holding on the grass flats. Bear Point, Queen's Cove and Harbor Branch have been productive. Try a DOA Deadly Combo for some good trout action. Spencer worked one with a glow shrimp for his two gator trout. Parish hooked up with his on a DOA CAL jig head with a jerk bait for his gator.

There are still some small redfish schools cruising around the area. We landed two reds on top water this week. Parish had one inhale a Skitterwalk and Scott with his ever faithful DOA Bait Buster proved they would eat one also. Look in the shallows and you might see a few tailing on the flats. Stealth is a must this time of year. Soft plastics on the flats can work great this time of year.

We found some snook holding around some of the docks and mangroves this week. James nailed a couple of shorts and Scott landed three.....all on DOA Bait Busters! Remember...snook season is closed, so get a quick photo and release them safely.

Lots of mutton and lane snapper on the river. We found schools of snapper feeding on the glass minnows. You can find lots of snapper along the channel edges and all the Spanish mackerel and Bonita you want around the inlet on the incoming tides. The beaches have held tarpon around the bait schools along with mackerel, bluefish and jacks.

Tip of the Week:
Think about slowing down your ride with the price of gasoline. Running slower can save a lot of gas in a years time and will only keep you from those fishing spots for a few minutes longer. Keep your motor tuned each year and change your spark plugs several time a year to keep your engine running efficiently. The gas prices will only keep going up and you can save some money by managing your trips. Plan your trips to minimize traveling whenever you can. Slow down a little and save some money!

As always, remember, fishing is not just another hobby....it's an ADVENTURE!!

Good Fishing and Be Safe,
Captain Charlie Conner
www.fishtalescharter.com
email: captaincharlie@fishtalescharter.com
772-284-3852

(Captain Charlie Conner has been fishing the Indian River Lagoon for over twenty-five years. Specializing in light tackle fishing in Fort Pierce, Vero Beach, Jensen Beach, Stuart and Port St Lucie, Florida. His weekly South Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report gives you the latest inshore fishing information for the Treasure Coast area on the Indian River Lagoon.)