Tide: -0.2ft at 8am
It seems that the majority of the larger tarpon have moved out of our area now. It happens every year..the water temperatures get very warm so the tarpon migrate north or head offshore. There are still some around but not in big numbers, at least where I fish. The baby tarpon (under 30lbs) are everywhere though and will be for the next month or two. Anyways..Tim, Tim's dad, and I decided to do a little change of pace fishing...hit the flats of Biscayne Bay!
I woke up at 3:25am with the Native loaded up the night before and drove to Tim's house. We loaded 2 Native's and Tim's Redfish and hit I-75 at 4:20am. Fast foward to 7:00am and we are on the water after what seemed like a heck of a long drive. We had high hopes with the glass calm conditions and strong tide flow. After paddling for 20 minutes on a flat we've never been to before I spot some finning bonefish. I hook a shrimp on and cast toward the school but fall well short. They move on and so do we. We ended up poling 3 miles south without seeing another fish. Disappointed, we start heading back to the launch.
As we get a mile away from our launch we come across a school of fish pushing wakes all over. There were 30+ fish just cruising in about 2-3' of water, fins protruding the surface every few seconds. Tim and I cast our crabs to the wakes but end up spooking them to our right. Tim's dad is also to our right so he sees the school coming his way, flips a shrimp in front and immediately is hooked up! It ends up being an 8lb bonefish. That fish was ripping some serious drag! We did the picture thing then got back to fishing.
Fifteen minutes later I spot a smaller school of fish heading straight towards my kayak. I'm already standing up so I could see they were bones again..Tossed a shrimp in their path and saw 2 fight for it. I set the hook before feeling anything and the drag started screaming, which was quite worrysome since my Quantum Catalyst was low on line to begin with..within 10 seconds I was down to my mono backing. Luckily I started palming the spool and my kayak started to get pulled toward the fish. This was my first bonefish ever after 2 unsuccessful trips down south. Measured 8lbs also, caught on 15# fluoro leader. All I can say is bonefish are my new favorite fish and I can't wait to go back again for some more. Heck, maybe even a permit will make an appearance. Lately it seems like we've been covering a lot of water for no reason..the fish seem to be near the launchsites..you just gotta wait for them to come! We made the drive back to Fort Myers at 1pm and arrived at 4pm.
