Its Mid august now and the summer heat has been relentless. The tarpon season finished up very strong back in July with good numbers of fish still in our area late into the season . I was able to get the last fish of the season myself after one of my bay trips. I decided to build two new tarpon rods just before the end of the season . They take several weeks to finish , so when i finished them , i was really done with tarpon trips. So after one of my bay trips , i took a few crabs out to the beach just to make a few casts to see how the new rods cast and how they felt. The 9 foot rod cast like a dream and i was surprised to see a few single tarpon still gliding down the beach . I made a few attempts with no bites. Then i got a fish to turn on the bait and he inhaled my crab . He turned directly at me and i pulled the bait right out of his mouth! I laughed about that one and hooked up another bait. I took 20 minutes or so to see another fish , but from the tower i could see them far out as they approached me. On this attempt, i was spot on . Great cast 20 feet in front of the big single fish. The crab sunk slowly out of sight as the fish got up to it and disappeared down toward the crab. A light thump on my line , and it was on . I had a time getting out of the tower with the rod and fighting the fish with a 8 foot hammer-head shark chasing the tarpon around . I have it all on video. in fact, i have the entire build of the rod and the catch on video waiting to be edited for the web site. Should be pretty cool.
The fishing after tarpon season has been up and down . I did have a good trip offshore with some good guys in early august. We were able to get some nice grouper, mangrove and yellow tail snapper, ans big trigger fish. The bay fishing has been ok with good numbers of trout and some keeper size snapper on the deep flats. Most of the fish are small , but plenty of them . I expect the fishing to get better as the days get shorter and temperatures start to turn for the cooler. The big red fish schools should show up in our bays soon and the offshore fishing will pick up closer to shore. I’m looking forward to seeing some of my good clients here in the next few months for some of both types of trips.
As most of you have noticed , our new Top Notch fishing web site is up and operating . We are so please with the new design and hope you will like it too. Make sure to check out the gallery for our new videos. The 2014 tarpon highlights video is up with just a sample of the action from the season . The new fishing report page has entry from dad and i both . I will be taking the rest of the month off this august for a vacation to Crystal river for scolloping and a trip to the rainbow river for a chance to coool off in the 72 degree river. Tight lines from Capt. Tom jr.