Tarpon, Manatees, and Mayans on Bio Lab Road

My wife and I decided to take Elmo and Odie for a ride along Bio Lab Road to see if the Tarpon I fished for yesterday were still in the same area.

Although today's trip was a scouting trip I brought along four spinning rods "just in case" anything was hitting.

Normally, I don't even bother wetting a line when air temps are in the 90s and the sun is directly overhead, but for tarpon, you can never be sure when they decide to eat.

We loaded the dogs into the truck and headed to the entrance of Bio Lab.

Along the way, we spotted a blue runner off the side of the road and a tortoise that decided on having a snack next to the highway.

When we drove into the road, I was surprised to see that the pump was still going full throttle moving water from the Mosquito Lagoon into the marsh on the other side of the road.

For a microsecond I thought about fishing but when I saw eight anglers lined up side by side tossing a variety of baits, I quickly changed my mind and continued down the road.

The scene was like opening day trout season on a Pennsylvania  trout stream.

As we drove down the road, I spotted some activity on the marsh side of the road which was enough to get me to try several lures.  At first I thought the fish were tarpon but it turned out to be ladyfish.

I missed one small lady on a soft paddle tail bait and after a few more casts decided to give it up.

We stopped a few times to fish the southern Mosquito Lagoon but I never got a hit on any of the baits I tossed to the fish.  The fish were targeting mullet but none of my lures could get a hit.

I talked Karen into trying an area close to Playalinda Beach road where some larger tarpon call home but she said that there would probably already be people there.

I drove in anyway and was surprised to find that nobody was around.

We let Elmo and Odie out to do their duty while I tossed a Creme paddletail bait around a shallow area where I spotted some juvenile tarpon.

After a few blind casts, I got a hit but missed the fish.  After several more missed I finally hooked and released this Mayan Cichlid.

The little fish put up a surprisingly good battle before giving up and I could have caught several more but I was worried about Odie around the water.  There are a couple of very large gators that could easily make him and Elmo an afternoon brunch.

As I walked back to the car, I spotted some Manatees having a good time in the shallows.  I took this short video before packing it in and calling it a day.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Bio Lab Road Tarpon

Got home from work late yesterday and decided to hit some spots this afternoon to see what the bite was like along Bio Lab Road.

Both sides of the causeway at the A. Max Brewer bridge were loaded with people having a good time swimming, jet skiing, and fishing.    

I thought about driving around Catfish Creek but nixed the idea because of the number of people fishing.  Instead I decided to hit Bio Lab road to see if any of my tarpon or snook spots were open to fish.

As I drove into the entrance to Bio Lab, I immediately noticed that the pumping station was moving tons of water from the Mosquito Lagoon into the backwater marsh areas.  The  video below gives you an idea of the amount of water that was moving.

I also noticed that the area looked like a fish hatchery for juvenile tarpon.

I pulled out one of my spinning rods and started casting on the lagoon side where the water was being pumped from.  There was a good current going but nothing taking my Creme paddletail bait so I decided to move across the road where an angler was tossing a soft bait around the fish.  

I don't usually intrude on another anglers fishing area but when there is a concentration of fish in only one area, it seemed like a good idea.

He mentioned that we might cross lines so I moved downstream from where he was fishing and timed my casts so we wouldn't get tangled.  I don't particularly like party boat fishing for the same reason.

Anyway, we talked for a bit and managed to fish the area without screwing each other up.

It turns out that Miles Howard (below) owns MPH Customs and builds custom fishing rods.

He told me that he had been fishing the spot all morning and had hooked a couple of fish earlier.  

The tarpon that were rolling in the area ranged anywhere from small juveniles to at least a hundred pounds.  Most were in the 20 to 60 pound category, and they were all super picky.

I fished the paddletail bait and had a couple of bumps but after numerous casts I decided to change baits.  

I tried a topwater SkitterWalk, a DOA Bait Buster, a large DOA TerrorEyz, and a larger Tsunami paddle tail bait that finally started producing hits.

I hooked and lost three tarpon in the 30 to 50 pound category and had hits from several fish before a larger tarpon took my lure.

When I lost that bait I switched to a large white TerrorEyze that produced a couple of brief hookups before I lost it to a tree on the other bank.

The discharge from the Mosquito Lagoon was creating an eddy close to the bank with a deeper drop off right at the bank where the fish seemed to be targeting.

Miles was also changing lures trying to "match the hatch" as we talked about the effectiveness of several baits as we fished the area.   He hooked and landed a medium size ladyfish that I would have used for bait, but he returned it to fight another day.

I took several videos of the fish action in the area before I lost all of my productive lures and decided to head up the road to another spot.

There were a lot of bank fishermen along Bio Lab Road all the way down to Playalinda Beach road and when I took the cutoff to a spot I wanted to fish, there were already four trucks parked in the area.  

One group even had a tent pitched where I wanted to fish for larger tarpon, so I turned around and called it a day.

Hopefully, the area will be cleared out during the week.

Till next time, Tight Lines.