More Tarpon Pics

More pictures from last weekend. I lifted these from one of the videos.

Sight Fishing Plus Bridgework

Darryl, John, and I headed out for more sight fishing on the flats. We released a half dozen bonnet head and lemon sharks on the flats. We headed back to the bridges and caught an assortment of jacks, snappers, hogfish, cero mackerel, Spanish mackerel, and grunts to round out the day. Lots of fish.

Two Tarpon Releases

Darryl, John, and I headed to the backcountry and caught two snook, tons of specks, jacks, snappers, ladyfish, and a black drum. We came back to Islamorada to fish the bridges and we were rewarded with big jacks, more snappers, and tarpon. We hooked six tarpon, breaking off four and releasing two on ten pound test and light rods. There will be a video to follow. Awesome day.

Sight Fishing Islamorada

Darryl, John, and I hit the flats around Islamorada. We were sight fishing in shallow water for sharks. We ended up catching and releasing around ten lemon and bonnet head sharks to about fifty pounds on light tackle. We then headed into the backcountry and caught more speckled trout than we could count plus a bunch of ladyfish. We headed in and ran across a mini blitz of big jacks and we pulled a ten pound jack out of that. We proceeded to the bridges from there and caught more big jacks and snappers. At sunset, we hooked a tarpon but ended up pulling the hook. It was a beautiful day with lots of nice fish.

Permit Video

Here is video of the permit. Thanks to Dusty for putting this together so quickly. Please note the part of the video when we release one permit and are hooked into another simultaneously.  Click on the link to view the video. 

http://youtu.be/N8_s71TBR14

Joe Hughes

Four Permit

Dan, Dusty, and I fished the bridges and had a great day. We caught four permit in what I dubbed a "Wide Open Permit Bite". What a great fight! The fish ran us ragged. It was pretty cool. We also had a bunch of jumbo snappers and big jacks. We also changed scenery for a while and hit the oceanside flats where Dusty scored a nice bonnet head shark on a perfect long cast. The weather was perfect. 80 degree air and 80 degree water temps. No wind. Perfect day. The middle picture is a jack. The others are permit.

Barracuda

Dan, Dusty, and I headed out in the ocean off Islamorada. We caught triggers, yellowtail, cero mackerel, grunts, and a few others. The highlight of the trip was a barracuda that was almost fifteen pounds. We headed in and finished off the day catching jacks and snappers around the bridges. At sunset, we hooked a big tarpon but it broke us off on the bridge after a good fight. Can't win them all...

Sight Fishing Sharks

Dusty, Dan, and I hit the flats of Florida Bay to sight fish in the gin clear water. We had absolutely perfect conditions. We released nine lemon and bonnet head sharks on the flats. It is awesome to be able to experience seeing the fish approach, casting to it, watching it eat, and witnessing the entire fight from beginning to end. We then moved and caught a bunch of big jacks, snappers, and even a few small grouper.

Sunday in the Keys

Fished again with Mike and Bill. We stayed close today and fished the flats close to Islamorada. We started sight fishing for sharks and had great conditions. We released three or four bonnet head sharks on the flats. We moved to the bridges and caught a bunch of big jacks, snappers, and blue runners. I also jumped a tarpon on a shrimp tipped jig. The weather was perfect.

Islamorada Weekend

Fished with Mike and Bill in the Keys this weekend. On Saturday we headed to the Everglades and caught snook and redfish. Then we moved back into Florida bay and caught a bunch of specks and ladyfish. At the end of the day we headed back home and caught some nice jacks, a really nice grouper, and a pile of snappers. At sunset, we caught and released a tarpon before heading back to he dock.