Florida Tarpon Charters is home of the 2005, 2006 and 2007 "Yamaha Team of the Year" Champions in the Professional Tarpon Tournament Series in Boca Grande, Florida
Redfish, channel mullet, red bass, spot tail, red drum and red dogs, same fish different area. One thing is for sure, we got the redfish. Our season basically runs all year with two really good peaks. During the spring and fall our central Florida flats play host to monster schools of redfish as well as to some of the largest tournament trails in the nation. Schools of redfish to twenty pounds invade the coastal flats searching for the plentiful crabs and shrimp that inhabit our bays and coastlines. During the extreme low tides the fish can be found tailing on the outside bars and flats. As the tide rises the fish push up on the grass and gorge on the now susceptible baits. Redfish are pack hunters at this stage and the catch numbers can climb well into the forties. Try a fly if you would like, these fish love to eat them. With one to two anglers only, a captain can take the clients into the back country armed with artificials such as top waters and jerk baits. what a blast.
Snook fishing may very well be the number one sought after flats fish in the state of Florida. Often compared to a largemouth on steroids, the fish relate in more ways than one. Like bass the fish are structure oriented and posses the power to take you to their house. They all relate to some kind of structure with it being mangroves, rocks, jetties, docks or springs. A 4lb Snook fights harder than a 10lb largemouth bass. Most of our Inshore fishing is done on 10 lb test braided lines with 20-40lb leaders. Some of our Snook fishing that takes place around docks and mangroves requires a little heavier tackle to pull them out of the jungle they are going to try and break you off in. Most of the season however is spent fishing the shallow bays and cuts in our region. This type of fishing is a must for the adrenalin addict. Twenty pounds of Snook next to mangroves bushes and oyster mounds in two feet of water is definitely pretty cool.
Speckled Sea Trout season is usually reserved for early spring time and winter time fishing. The big female trout move out of the deeper waters throughout the state of Florida into the shallow grass flats to get into the warmer water. The sun keeps the shallow flats warmer during the winter months, making trout fishing a blast. Most of our trout fishing is done with artificals except for the spring time which is done with live bait. In the winter time we use top water baits, jerk baits, and tubes to catch our trout that usually weigh in the 2-10 pound range. It is not uncommon to catch 50 to 100 trout along with several redfish, cobia and bluefish in day of fishing during the winter months. A few of our creeks in the spring time hold BIG GATOR TROUT, it is sometimes hard to figure out for a second or two if you ahave a snook or a big trout on.
On the right tide and an overcast day, juvenile tarpon in the 8 to 40 pound range can be caught in our residential canals year round using live bait. If your quick enough, you can usually catch the ones that are rolling around the boat.These fish on light tackle (10LB tackle) can be just as much fun to catch as a 200 pound tarpon in the Boca Grande Pass. These little guys will not hurt you as bad as the big boys will!
July and August is a fun time to catch these little guys. For the most part of the year, these little tarpon stay in our residential canals of New Port Richey. But for a couple of weeks they get in a couple of places they are not usually at making Tarpon fishing pretty exciting and easy.
