Sept-Oct. Fishing Report

Red HotTarpon Tournament recap Redfish Tour In my last report I made the mistake of saying the hurricanes were probably slowing down a little. That week spawned off Ivan and Jeanne wasn't far behind. To top it off last week while in Venice, Louisiana I was fishing the final tournament of the year on the Redfish Tour, when guess what arrived? Tropical Storm Matthew. This year the storms have been a little bit of a problem but I was in Louisiana Redfishing. We fished in 30 knots on Friday and had an incredible bite 30 or so fish all over 6 lbs but none over eight. We ended up with 15.07 and in 18pl for day 1. On day 2 I started out by hitting the water main in the marina and getting the truck stuck in the mud. Thanks to Jeff who runs the marina for getting the truck out, the broken water main cost us $200.00. We were a little worried, starting the day out like that and then we didn't get a bite until 9:30 oh and did I mention the tropical storm. The wind was steady at 40 and gusting around 50. It was tough but we stuck with our game plan and finally started to catch fish around 12:00, we ended up the day with 12.32 plus our 15.07 that gave us 27.39 and 25 place and a check for $560.00. Over all it was a very tough week of fishing and we were satisfied. We finished ahead of a lot of teams from Venice marina. This finish has us 16th in the Team of the Year, last year we were 51st. We will be off to Hopedale Louisiana for the Redrfish Tour Championship 11-05-04 I would like to thank the people and Sponsors that make it possible for me to fish the Pro Redfish Tour. McDonalds Corp., Mercury, Lowrance, D.O.A., Ocean Waves, Biscayne Rods,Okums reels, Gary Walker and Associates. My is partner Timmy Shabareck And I thank him for being a great partner. Flamingo The Tarpon have been very cooperative since the middle of September. In the middle of September they were west of the marina and plenty of them in East Cape Canal. 09-1704 I was fishing with Irwin Becker an excellent fly and plug caster, we fished a mullet mud at first light as they were falling off the flat. The wind was blowing straight in our face so, Irwin went with a top water plug. His first cast had a big swirl, as did his second they appeared to be Reds but could get over the top of the plug to eat it. The Snook were DESTROYING the mullet and every time the Mullet would pass over a pothole they would get knocked out of the water. The show was spectacular but we needed to actually hook one. I normally like the Rebel Jumping Minnow black orange and gold or black and silver depending on water clarity. This day they were hitting the lure but not holding on. We switched to a chartreuse Rapala Skitter walk it didn’t take long a couple big jacks first and the a couple big Snook swirls and then finally the big KABOOM! The plug reel was singing away as this big Snook just took as much line as he felt like. Irwirn being a very good angler handled the fish very smoothly, I reached down lipped the fish with the Boga grip and pulled him in the boat. The fish weighed in at a little over 10lbs. A of couple photos and a quick release and back to fishing we got pushed around a bit by storms but we ended in East Cape with a well full of finger Mullet Irwin wanted a slam no matter what tackle. It wasn’t long before we were hooked up we lost 2 very large Tarpon before we release an 80lb fish. We had a ready caught a Trout so we need a Redfish. We caught the incoming tide at Murray Key and had several shots on the fly rod but couldn’t get good shot. The Next day I fished with Irwins, Friend Steve Ratcliff and his wife Jane we were fly-fishing and we were on the Tarpon. Steve had some shots but the fish we out of range of the fly. Jane was backing him up with D.O.A. Terrorize Steve had a huge Tarpon swirl on his lure and turned and swam away. The next thing you know Janes rod is doubled over and 150lbs of unleashed rage is screaming by the time we were able to get the boat cranked and chase the fish he spooled us. He ran 151 yards and leaped because I had 150 of Power Pro and he popped the line. A Friend on another Boat was to not to far away and saw it, all he asked was did that fish spool you. That was a Great Tarpon. We move around a bit and got into Snook, Steve caught a 7lb fish. This was his wives first saltwater fishing trip so I wanted her to experience catching. We went out and played with Trout, Ladyfish and Jacks. We caught some bait and went to another area holding some Tarpon. We poled up on some big Tarpon in 1 foot of water and just sat there while they cruise around the flat. We couldn’t get the to eat so off we went. I had a few Pinfish and a Pigfish in the well. The first Pinfish didn’t last long it was picked up and what I guessed was Tarpon just ran and finally spit the bait. We ended up hooking several big Tarpon but didn’t land one. The last fish of the day a Big Bull Shark on 12lb test and Jane was up. The first run was 150 yards so we had to chase the Shark; 40 minutes late we landed the Shark. This has been the standard lately catching a little of everything. Steve Ratcliff and his son caught a few Snook and Sharks to 250lbs, Trout, Ladyfish and big Jacks. The rods were bending all day. Todd and his fiancée Amy, this was an incredible day. The weather kept us from launching until 9 a.m.. We fished a falling tide all morning the mullet schools were falling off the flat down a narrow channel. We were positioned to intercept them. The Tarpon were stacked up. We managed a Snook from there but the Tarpon were close mouth. As the tide fell we kept moving towards deeper water Amy’s reel is screaming and a big Snook is jumping only to throw the D.O.A. Terrorize a few minutes later. Todd has a medium size Tarpon on his Terrorize onto have it come off. We went a caught some bait and went fishing for Big fish Todd ended up with a 10lb Snook and lost a couple others. This is where the day got interesting, the big Tarpon showed up. We were fishing 30lb Tackle and it was a good thing. The line started to peel off the spinning rod at a remarkable rate and the surface of the water looked like we hooked e a jet ski doing donuts. The initial run consisted of a couple leaps and a few jumps. The Tarpon was HUGE! Todd held on and cranked. This Tarpon was not happy about the 8-0circle hook in his lip. Normally when a Tarpon is hooked like we had him they don’t come loose, but this one did. I don’t thing Todd was disappointed. This Tarpon was big and the show he put on was fantastic. The day wasn’t over as soon as we regrouped the other rod got hit this time 200lbs of Bull Shark thrashing as much as the Tarpon did. He ran and pulled for a while but finally broke us off. I re rigged the rods I still hadn’t got the second bait in the water when that Shark hit. We had numerous Baits get hit and scaled as I told Todd their only 2 species here that do that Snook and Tarpon. We were talking about it as the big rod goes off, 250yards of 30lb Triple fish. This fish is pealing off line really fast I thought it was a Shark! I brought in the other rods and unhooked the boat, now the spool is down to about 75 yards we have to chase this one. I have hooked a lot of Tarpon and have never had one run like that, well one time and that fish was guessed at @ 200 lbs. This fish never broke water and finally thru the bait again on a circle that had plenty of resistance against the drag. This is how I know it was a giant Tarpon the bait was scaled. Nothing else does that except Snook and if that was a Snook no one would ever believe this one. This pattern should be good the rest of the Month of October or at least until a major cold front. The seasons are changing and the waters cooling off the fish are going to be active most of the day when the tides are right. Lets go Catch em Give me a call if you are up for a challenge and some good quality entertainment, my cell is 305 333-8149 Captain Jim Hobales CaughtLookinCharters www.CaughtLookinCharters.com Select another page || Go to Home Page

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