Tarpon In The Lagoon

It was late when I finally decided to see if the Tarpon in the lagoon were hitting.

The late afternoon rains were running south so I packed up a few rods and headed towards Bio Lab Road to see if the tarpon in the lagoon were interested in any of my offerings.

I was hoping that the pumping station was still moving water and bait into the marsh area but I wasn't too surprised to find the area void of fish and fishermen.

I tossed a topwater Chug Bug around for a bit to see if anything was interested but after several fruitless casts, I decided to continue my search.

The water levels in the backwater areas were all up and I spotted several areas where tarpon were rolling and snook were nailing baitfish along the mangrove roots.

I stopped to fish this this spot when I spotted a large snook breaking water along the mangroves after baitfish.

I tossed a Creme paddletail bait and a Chug Bug around without a hit, so I switched to a small topwater SkitterWalk and finally got a couple of fish interested enough to take swipes at the lure.

I fished the spot for about 20 minutes or so before moving on to another spot where I always find tarpon.

When I got there, nobody was around except this Blue Heron on an open culvert fishing for his dinner.

I started casting the Creme paddletail bait around and got a couple of hits without a hookup.  I noticed that some fish were nailing baits on the surface, so I started tossing the SkitterWalk around the area.

I made several casts across a point near some mangroves and coaxed a large tarpon to nail the lure.

The fish was in the 90 pound category and jumped entirely out of the water but missed the bait.

I continued tossing the lure until the fish stopped hitting and decided to switch to a black and silver D.O.A. Baitbuster that I had tied on a heavier rod that I use for snook.

It only took two casts to get a follow up and a miss from a juvenile tarpon right at the bank.  

I continued tossing the bait and finally got hooked up with this 37" tarpon,  

The fish jumped several times and put up a good fight before giving it up at the bank.

I took a couple of pics and returned the fish to the water.

I continued fishing with the D.O.A. bait and picked up another tarpon slightly larger than the first fish right at the bank.  After another jumping battle, I took this pic before sending it back home.

As a group of anglers moved into the area while I was landing and releasing the second fish, I decided to head for home.

They were also after juvenile tarpon and were using Bass Assassin paddletail baits on weighted hooks.

It was around 5:30 pm when I decided to head home.  They close the gate at 6:00 pm, and as I was driving out of the area, a fish and game truck was driving in, apparently to warn everybody out of the area.

Till next time,

Tight Lines