JoeBass
03-03-2009, 08:42 AM
Just got back from a little island off ket west. Had sent down a spinning and fly set ups (that I use for stripers in the summer). What a blast! Took a flats boat and guide one day. He got us way back in these island mangroves. Rivers form through them when the tide comes up. We fished these with flys, live shrimp and live needle fish. We caught plenty of snapper (kept 2 for a dinner), grouper, barracuda and a shark. Hook one thing that took off, never stopped and spooled my 30 lb braid before the giuide got the anchor up. snapped off. At one point we got swept towards the mangroves and the guide got knocked off his polling platform and dissapeared under water. He caught up to us as we tried to grab limbs to slow us. He was a lttle cut up. We saw a huge permit, but wouldn't take the crab.
The real highlight was fishing off the dock at our place at night. The dock light attracted shrimp and bait fish. This brought in dozens of HUGE TARPON.We basically threw largemouth sized plugs at them. They were hard to get a hit. Maybe one hit every 2-3 hours. So frustrating because they were smashing the surface 40 feet away. Ocassionally a 6 footer would slide under the dock right at our feet. Any way, after losing 3 tremendous battles my 16 year old son landed a 35 lber the final night. What a blast.Thanks to all who gave tips before we headed down.
The real highlight was fishing off the dock at our place at night. The dock light attracted shrimp and bait fish. This brought in dozens of HUGE TARPON.We basically threw largemouth sized plugs at them. They were hard to get a hit. Maybe one hit every 2-3 hours. So frustrating because they were smashing the surface 40 feet away. Ocassionally a 6 footer would slide under the dock right at our feet. Any way, after losing 3 tremendous battles my 16 year old son landed a 35 lber the final night. What a blast.Thanks to all who gave tips before we headed down.