Manatee River, Tera Ceia Bay, Tampa Bay

June 26th, 2009

Tarpon Fishing Is Changing Up A Little!

The 2009 Professional Tarpon Tournament in Boca Grande, FL. is officially over. Unfortunately, we ended the tournament the same way that we started it. Another big tarpon got away! The first fish that we landed in the Tarpon Cup Championship was only roughly 75 lbs, but it was the second fish caught in the tournament. We didn’t take the 75 pounder to the weigh boat because we knew that there was bigger fish to be caught.

Each team was allowed to weight two fish during the tournament for a combined weight. After turning the small tarpon loose, we fished for approximately 45 more minutes before hooking another tarpon. The second tarpon we hooked looked to be about 130 lbs. Within 30 minutes, we had this 130 lb tarpon to the boat ready to be gaffed when the fish threw the hook. It was now our second good sized fish that got away during the PTTS. We fished on and were able to catch another tarpon, which we took to the scale. The weighed fish
was 93lbs. Unfortunately, we were not able to catch another tarpon before the tournament was called. Although we didn’t win the tournament, we had a great year! Team Myels.com/Castaway Charters, Inc. caught the most fish in the PTTS tournament.

We have caught some great snook lately, and a number of them have been in the 30 inch range. The outgoing tide was the tide to fish last week, but it really doesn’t matter this week. There has been so many fish around and they have been hungry. If you find the right bunch of snook, they will bite anytime of day. Snook are spawning this time of the year, so they are eating a lot.

Trout have been biting the best during low tides or in the early part of the morning. Some of the cloudy days have been good trout catching days too. The hardest time for trout fishing has been mid day or on mid to high tides because the fish are spread out over the flat. When the tide is low, they are forced off the edge of the bars, making them easier to catch.

It’s that time of year where the bigger schools of redfish should start showing up in the bays. On our last redfishing expedition, we caught roughly 12 fish. Some of the fish were over sized and some were in the limit. We should start seeing more and more of this mixed bag over the next couple of weeks. When smaller bait begins to show up in the Bay, the redfish begin to eat really well. Please visit www.castawaychartersinc.com and book your trip today.

Captain T.J. Stewart Cast Away Charters, Inc. 5616 41st Ave. East Bradenton, Fl. 34208 941- 737-5985
www.castawaychartersinc.com