Tarpon
Beginning in April, tarpon begin their migration up the coast out of the keys and work their way towards Boca Grande Pass. At that time, I’ll start looking for some early arrivals in Pine Island Sound in hopes of finding them laid up in the sand holes off Demere Key on the eastern side of the sound. This is a good bet if the water temperature hits 75 degrees. In May, I head toward the beach and like staking out off Murdock Point just off Cayo Costa on the southern edge of Boca Grande Pass. Here, throughout the day, it’s not unusual to get shots at strings of fish moving north. This migration should go on through June.
More importantly, the upper harbor at its confluence with the Peace River outside Punta Gorda is proving to be a great fishery for small tarpon. From April to November fish from five to thirty pounds can be seen rolling from the U.S. 41 Bridge to the perimeter canals of Punta Gorda and west past Colony Point towards Ponce Park. To the west, Larger fish from 50 to 80 pounds can be found in the harbors’ deeper holes.
Early morning top water
Right now, the best time of day continues to be at first light up until about 10:a.m. Too, conditions have been slick calm providing a good setup to fish top water. Moreover, recent rain totals have helped cool and oxygenate the water helping bring some of our...
Early Snook
Typically, at first light, I like to post up along the upper east side of the harbor on the outside edge of the mangroves and just look for rolling tarpon. I’ve seen a few scattered but I believe we need some rain to bring more out of the canals and rivers. So, before...
Looking for Poons
After the long stretch of fishing trout, snook, and redfish throughout the fall, winter, and spring, I've turned my attention to hunting tarpon this summer. I'll spend some time up the Peace River as well as along the upper east side of Charlotte Harbor. Because I run...