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.
Spring Transition
Our transition from a winter to spring pattern is finally here. It was a long winter as what seemed like endless cold fronts kept pushing through the peninsula. As a result, with the end of the negative tides and water temperatures in the mid 70’s I’ve begun making my...
The eyes have it
For me, except for a couple exceptions, putting eyes on my flies can be somewhat problematic. Maybe not problematic, but time consuming for sure. So, it has kind of made me ask do they make any difference? Well, to make a long story short, yes they do. In fact, eyes...
Weedless and streamlined
Although I have an extensive fly collection, I really only throw just a few favorites. Whenever it’s applicable, anyone who has spent any time on my skiff knows how much I like the clouser. Here, It’s all about the drop and it’s very effective on many of my favorite...