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.