Day of Doubles!

Peter Aiello and Chance Timms joined me today. Chance was really keen to catch something large. We headed in the the backcounty after cast netting plenty of live mullet for bait. Seeing that we had a very low slack tide I opted to spend a little time in one of the drains. All the flats were out of the water and the fish get concentrated in these small channels while waiting for the tide to come in. Using the Bonefish Trek Diablo 350 combos the boys hooked a nice double header of Redfish. It was interesting as Chance hooked up first and a bigger fish was chasing his around and all Pete had to do was drop his lure in next to the other fish and he was on. Pete's fish was a beauty.

Chance with his Redfish

Pete Aiello with his big Redfish

Pete and Chance catching a double of Redfish on
the Bonefish Trek Diablo 350 combos

Now the tide was starting in so we anchored in a nearby channel. First Chance jumped off a Tarpon, Too bad. But next he fought and landed a 6ft Lemon Shark. After a couple Blacktip Sharks and no more Tarpon I decided with the conditions that we should run back to Islamorada and fish some oceanside channels.

Upon anchoring we saw Tarpon rolling, a great sign. There were quite a few other boats fishing but no one was hooking up. With the wind at 20 mph and the water temp at 70 it is still on the cool side. Well we waited and as the tide was just about all the way our Pete hooked up a nice Tarpon, Lots of jumps. Chance did some video on his I phone which I will attach. The Sailfish Trek Diablo 750 combo performed flawlessly as usual.

Pete's Tarpon with Indian Key in background

Next Chance (ha ha) had 2 more chances and they got away. One went thru the 100lb trace and the other just came unglued. This guy wanted a Tarpon so badly, It was now 4pm and the tide was slack. Chance asked me when is your next open day. Full up I said but lets give it the first hour of the incoming. Well it worked out At 435 Chance hooked up and Pete hooked up as well. After a great battle Chance got his Tarpon and a great jumping release at the boat.

Standing Tall

Chance has his release while Pete is still doing battle.

I was able to scrape DNA samples from both Tarpon today. Pete's hookup turned out to be a big Nurse Shark.

Captain Skip Nielsen