Thunderstorm Tarpon

The tarpon were still biting this afternoon, before, during, and after the thunderstorms passed across the Mosquito Lagoon.

I managed to wet a line after my Doctors appointments in the southern section of the lagoon where I picked up some fish the other day.   

When I started fishing a D.O.A. Baitbuster, the bite was so good that I never bothered to change baits.

When I pulled up to the area I planned to fish, I immediately noticed that the culverts were open and flowing into the Mosquito Lagoon and that a pod of sea manatees seemed to be having a good time in the current produced by the runoff.

The other side of the culvert was teeming with rolling tarpon of all sizes. 

Most were in the three foot category but I spotted several feeding on baitfish that were in the 80 to 100 pound class out in deeper water.

I started casting the larger baitbuster and immediately got hooked up with a good size ladyfish that I managed to land and release after several nice jumps.

On the next cast, I got hooked up with a juvenile tarpon about 3 feet long that tossed the bait after a couple of jumps.

I continued casting and managed to get at least one hit or a hookup on almost every cast I made.  On several casts, I had multiple hits from fish that missed the bait.

The water was colored from the rain and as the thunderstorm started, the water became more colored making misses from the fish the norm.

After hooking and releasing the first couple of fish, a large gator appeared and started making a nuisance of itself.   I kept fishing around the gator and still managed to get hookups.

When the rainstorm hit, the air temperature dropped, I stopped fishing and sat in the truck until the storm eventually passed by.

I started fishing again and caught a couple more fish before I had to leave the area.

They close the gate at the end of Bio Lab Road at 6:00 pm, and I had about 10 minutes to get my but out of dodge.

I managed to land a couple juvenile tarpon in the 30" category and lost at least 20 fish during the hour I was actually fishing the area.

Fishing the thunderstorms is usually productive and this afternoon was no exception.

Till next time,

Tight Lines