Florida Fishing Report: Florida Fishing Charters

Young Adam Thompson proudly shows off one of many redfish taken on a recent trip to Florida with his dad John. Having a 50 redfish day Adam?

Spring flats fishing ended for me about 10 days ago. Overall it was a good year with a huge school of reds providing daily hot action on the top of the flood tides for several weeks. Jumbo snook action was excellent in quality, though compared to yesteryear, fell short on the quantities. Trout continue to reap the positives of the state’s ban on gill nets in both numbers and size.

Surprisingly, the jacks that reek havoc on the flats were thin this last spring. Many of the fish remained in holes far up the rivers after the two unseasonable freezes we had in March. Unfortunately the fish stayed in the freshwater much too long and became sick with “red fin” due to the lack of salinity. Nature has an uncanny ability to balance itself and I am certain that though poor Jack gets no respect, they will be well appreciated when they adjust in a short time.

Nearshore, Spanish and king mackerel runs were strong with the abundance of bait this year. Cobia were taken over 50lbs. just offshore, and average fish in the 20lb. class were/are abundant. In spurts there was a good show of fish riding the shirt tails of southern stingray on the shallow flats. Shallow water grouper fishing fell short of expectations of the norm up to last week. I am a definite believer in the cycle of fish species---fall 2001 and spring 2002 will go down as an off cycle of grouper-at least in the shallow water

Adam Brezwietz hefts a nice "above the freeze line" snook.

Bruce Ogle displays one of the several trophy snook he caught on a string of recent days fishing with mutual friend Bob Greenwald.

With the arrival of mid April, there is a new sheriff in town. His name is Megalops Atlanitcus, the silver king, the ultimate big game, giant tarpon. As usual here in the giant tarpon capitol of the world, the fish are big and the numbers like no other in the world. On the flats the water is clear and chalk full of bait. In typical fashion, the staging areas of the passes are teaming with giant tarpon stacked on top of each other like cord wood sometimes 250 yards in diameter and 35 feet in height.

Typical 6 hour trips have seen as many as 8 fish jumped. Biggest flaw in the game plan is the ever increasing number of bull sharks making quick work of played out tarpon at the side of the boat. While the sharks are common and particularly early in the season, conservation efforts to protect the sharks and the decline in their natural food source have caused an abnormal number of the nuisances. This week the moon is full, hopefully as the moon phases out over the next week the bulls will have made there way into the backwaters to conduct their own spawning activity and leave us alone for awhile.

The natural phenomenon of the congregation of giant tarpon in this area is now full swing. The massing of fish is all part of courtship prior to spawning unique to this area. The fish are in the rut and like all wild animals with sexual reproduction in mind, eating is not always their priority. However, with these type of numbers, action on these fish is the best giant tarpon fishing in the world. Day in, day out, 24/7 you can count on it like nowhere else in the world.  On behalf of anglers across the globe in quest for giant tarpon, thank you Megalops Atlanticus for all you do.

Screaming Drags and Tired Arms!

Robert McCue