Captain Skip's Fox Sport Fishing Blog: What is up with the weather?

6 am, As I write this it is blowing 25 and pouring down rain, Very similar to last Saturday. Steve Hanske just called me and said we are staying home today, the radar screen is totally red and green. Yesterday however it was fishable in between the rain bands and we actually could sightfish with very little glare.

We poled the oceanside early and saw 2 groups of Tarpon but they ignored the fly. Later we moved to a place called the Pocket near the Buchanan Keys. This is a famous fly spot for good reason. If you see Tarpon and get a decent cast they usually will take. Problem is fisherman just about live on this spot and very rarely is there an opening. We were lucky no one was around and there were some fish, In 3 hours we saw 4 bunches of fish.

Fox Trek Fly rod fishing at the Pocket

Tim Hanske is a guide up in Minnesota during the summer and he has great eyes and instincts, He spotted a big fish before I did and made a cast. The fly fell off to one side as a gust of wind hit, but the big Tarpon was flanked by 2 more smaller fish and Tim hooked up a very frisky 75lber, Using the Fox Trek 10-12 weight fly rod and the Cellmax fly reel Tim got 15 jumps out of his Tarpon.

Stormy Day Tarpon Fishing

Tim Hanske caught this Tarpon on a Fox Fly rod sight fishing
in the Islamorada Backcountry on a stormy day

Tim Hanske hooked up his Tarpon on Fly just before the storm

Tim's fly rod Tarpon jumped 15 times

We had another fish follow the fly to the boat. We had plans to be back out there this am but no way, this spot does not usually work until mid to late May but the reason I went there is in my opinion all the migrations are 3 weeks early this year. It really is a weird season.

Later on we moved back to channel 5 bridge. Drifting a live mullet back and doing some dredging with the fly rod Steve hooked a hundred pound Tarpon on a live mullet. Steve uses the Stu Apte technique of fighting his fish. He holds the rodtip in the water under his arm and pulls the line over the fished back and relentlessly applies pressure. The Tarpon's spirit is broken and the fish is landed in half the time the battle normally lasts.
The Fox 5 piece Tarpon Spincast rod paired with an EOS 30 Trolling reel is perfect for doing this. Steve loves how light the rod and reel are but yet so very tough.

Dr.Steve Hanske scored a Tarpon later in the day
during this stormy weather

Steve cuts his fighting time with this technique.
Tarpon Spincast rod and EOS 30 Trolling reel in action

Last night at 7pm we went back out for the outgoing tide. We fished crabs, live mullet and fly-casted, never had a bite by 10 pm. And this morning we are socked in. Hope it changes soon.

Earlier this week I had Stanley McJunkin and his good friend Douglas for 3 days of fishing. It was actually 59 degrees last Tueday morning and blowing from the north. But we made a go of it and had fun in the backcountry with light tackle action. On Wednesday afternoon we fished with live mullet from 4 pm til dark and Stan and Doug each had 2 Tarpon releases. Its a tough pick but we are still catching until last night.