Went down to Southwest Florida with the wife and my daughter and her family for a little R&R.
Stayed 5 days in Naples at my son-in-laws parent’s condo. The beaches and water at the Gulf were absolutely beautiful and the area is a very nice place to visit.
Had lunch one day on Marco Island and feel that place is very fishy and hope to get back there again one day to check it out.
Thursday we drove down to Key West via old Rt. 41 which was cool as we stopped along the way in the everglades at National Park area to see some alligators and fish.
The bridges along the way down to Key West over open water was quite a site as well.
Friday morning Joe and I meet up with our charter Capt. Pepe Gonzalez to fish for Tarpon.
The method we used was to chunk baits very similar to the way you would for tuna.
Capt. Would cut small bait fish and throw the chunks in and we would pay out baited hooks to drift along with them.
In the AM I managed to hook 3 Tarpon and it was amazing the way these monsters would leap out of the water and put on a show.
The closest I ever got to getting one to the boat was seeing the top knot of the bimini twist and she was gone.
Capt. Offered to take us sharking during slack to kill the time waiting for the tide to change but we opted to stay with the Tarpon. So we made a quick stop at a dock for a nice Cuban sandwich and ice cold smoothie and off we went to a channel that he said should hold some fish but has also been home to a huge Bull shark for the last week or so.
As we started to chunk we got a quick view of him as he went through.
As I was reeling in one of the many small groupers and various other fish we caught that day my rod doubles over indicating he ate my catch and we quickly cut the line as there was no chance of landing him on the gear we were using.
Joe finally hooks up with a Tarpon and it makes that amazing leap into the air.
I was reeling in my line quick to give Joe a better shot at landing and my line came tight with what turned out to be a Cobia that just made the cut to the box.
As Joe was fighting the Tarpon it made another leap out and then a great thump and splash as that Bull Shark crushed his fish and we watched the water turned red from the blood of the Tarpon erasing all doubt as to what just happened.
Capt. was pissed as he said this was the 12th Tarpon killed that week.
Final tally was 4 Tarpon in the 80 to 100 lb class size hooked and dozens of various groupers, rays, and snappers, some of which were boxed.
The water in the picture from Hotel balcony is the area we fished most of the day.
