Saturday's big storm put the stops on

Friday day Leslie and Ray Rogers fished with me. We spent a fun morning  Tarpon fishing at Channel 5 bridge. Leslie went 2 for 2 on Tarpon while Ray had a couple of "cheap shots". Not only is Les a great angler but she has great luck which is always an important part of the fishing game. We spent the afternoon fishing out in the backcountry catching plenty of Mangrove Snappers for dinners. The Bonefish Trek and Rage Ultralight rods fitted with Diablo 350 spinning reels were used for the light tackle fishing.

Leslie and Ray Rogers travel and fish all over the
world and use Fox Travel rods and reels

On the way home Ray did an excellent job of driving my boat while I threw my cast net on spooky schools of mullet. As soon as we hit the dock I was off on my sunset Tarpon trip with Mark and David Quinn of Delray beach. We had the last of an outgoing tide and fished Channel 5 again. Mark caught a Tarpon over 100lbs and did a great job getting it to the boat so I could scrape a DNA sample for research on Tarpon migrations and growth.

Mark and David Quinn each caught Tarpon on
Friday evening before the big storm

Mark Quinn puts some spirit breaking pressure on a
Tarpon using the 5 piece Fox Tarpon Spincast rod

Mark with his Tarpon release

The current let up so we headed up the keys to Teatable channel. With a nice incoming tide we were surprised with no action. I was patient though and right after the sunset the action began. We had a Tarpon leap clear out of the water with the mullet in its mouth. Mark was so excited he could hardly react and the fish threw the bait out. Next it was brother Dave's turn and he caught his 100lb Tarpon to end a successful outing. A good day of fishing.

Leslie uses the Fox 5  piece Tarpon Spincast rod and
EOS 30 Trolling reel to catch both Tarpon this morning

Leslie shows husband Ray how to catch Tarpon ha ha

Leslie Rogers with a jumping Tarpon

at the boat

 Saturday morning dawned with an incredible lightening storm and 4 inches of rain. All day long the wind blew. Ray and Les had to spend the day indoors and Mark cancelled his afternoon trip and went home.I needed a day off anyway. And we needed the rain.

On Sunday morning Ray and Les had cabin fever so off we went fishing. The wind was South west to straight west then northwest at 30 to 35mph. We ran the edges of flats to try and stay dry and fished the leesides of backcountry islands in the bay. We had a fun day of fishing light tackle. Mainly catching mangrove snappers but we saw snook and caught jacks, bonnet head sharks and ladyfish as well. We did a loop and fished 5 spots and released at least 100 fish only keeping 12 snappers for dinner. So even on a lousy windy day we had lots of fun fishing. I draw the line with lightening though...

Captain Skip Nielsen