John Goode who was one of my first charter customers after the "Addictive Fishing" show. He decided to book the whole week of Oct 14-18 for him and his good friend Big John back in July after our first trip. John was a great guy to fish with on our first trip and I was looking forward to having a whole week to get them on some big fish and spend some time with him and his friend.
We left the dock Monday morning at 7a.m. and headed for a Tarpon hole where I have been seeing up to a 100 per day. I already had the bait well stocked with pinfish from the day before. As we arrived to our destination I instructed the fellas on where to look for the rolling fish. Sure enough they were there rolling all over. I went over instructions on how to set the hook and fight the fish and then handed John and Big John their rods all baited up. Within 5 minutes we had had 3 Tarpon hit our baits. Big John was the first to actually hook one and in two jumps at best the crafty Tarpon threw his hook and disappeared into the dark waters.
John was next in line and I saw the Tarpon boil on his bait and jerk Johns rod but nothing else materialized. I am begining to believe the best way to hook a Tarpon is to leave the rod in the rod holder and wait for the fish to hook itself. Both John and Big John missed two more hits and before long we all became impatient and decided to head for the sound since we were out of bait anyway.
When we arrived at one of my favorite bait spots I lowered the trolling motor and within three cast the well was loaded with Threads, Pinfish and a few whitebait. Loaded with bait we tried a grouper hole and left without a bite. Then we decided to get a bite to eat at the Waterfront Restaurant while the tide changed. I sure like the chicken fingers over there. With our bellies full we tried another grouper spot and it seemed as if they were gone too. Then we ventured into the Matlacha area and found a few hungry fish but not enough to keep us interested.
It was time to go back up the river especially since we had a live well full of bait. I knew the Tarpon would be there but was very reluctant for a good bite. I really wanted to see if we could get into some big schools of Canal Tuna. Big John said the most important thing to him was having a bend in his rod. Since these guys booked whole day trips it made it possible for us to catch the late evening bite. Sure enough as we arrived I began to chum Threads and "crash, slash, bam!! The Canal Tuna were in full force blowing up bait everywhere. I looked back at the two John's and they could not believe how ferocious these fish were. I baited both of them up and 30 seconds later fish on. Big John had a nice Canal Tuna on and it was screaming drag, he is used to bass fishing and had no clue of what he was in store for. A good five minutes later he boated this nice 6 pound Canal Tuna.
I am not sure how many we ended up with that first day but they had a great time catching them and neither one of them could wait until tommorow for a another chance to tangle with those brawlers. We all agreed for the next day we would start off at the same spot again.
At 7:30a.m off we went for our chance at the tarpon. The bite wasn't quite as quick as the day before but it did come eventually. Big John is not a real patient guy but he did a fairly good job at waiting on the tarpon and sure enough he hooked into another one and jumped it two or three times until it spit the hook. We only ended up with 4 bites or so and never got one to the boat. Unfortunately the Canal Tuna don't like the Pinfish so we did not even get one hook up on them, we did not have their favorite baits which are Threads by far. After an hour and a half we took the 12 mile run down the river to the sound for some threadfin. The Threads were not as easy as the day before. I had to throw the net a good 15 to 20 times before I finally hit the motherload. I filled all three wells with that cast. Noon had crept around and we decided to get a bite at the Waterfront again.
With our bellies full, especially Big John, they don't call him that for nothin'. He ate a plate of chicken wings, a huge hamburger, fries and a sundae. While idling out from the Waterfront we noticed some mullet working the bars right next to us. After an hour or so we had a good 25 finger mullet to use for tarpon the next day and one 3 to 4 pound mullet. Neither one of them could believe we would keep a bait that big. I told them I was sure we could find something to eat it and both of them looked at me with a "yeah right look."
I had told them about a sunken barge I knew of that was holding grouper back in May before the water got all dirty from the dumping of lake O. We anchored up on the front side of the barge and I baited both Johns up with Threads weighted with a 3/4 ounce sinker. Next I got out the 15 to 40 pound Cape Fear and baited it up with the estimated 3.5 pound mullet. It was nearly as big around as a football. John and John looked at me like I was crazy for putting that thing down. I casted it towards the barge and watched the splash shoot up about 6 feet when it hit the water. I put the clicker on and placed it in the rocket launcher. While we fished for Spainish and Grouper the big rod just sat there all nice and quiet. All of the sudden the clicker goes off. I hurry to the back of the boat and take the rod out, set the hook, and get bent over, literally it jerked me right down. When I sat the hook the fish drug me to the barge and busted me off in a couple of seconds. The two guys were in shock they could not believe something would eat that big of a bait.
After stopping at a few other spots I could tell all the fellas really wanted to do was tangle with some more Canal Tuna. We headed back up the river and as we arrived I started chumming threads again. There they were like clockwork. They began exploding on the bait popping it in the air several times while trying to eat it. We all baited up with a Thread and began tossing our baits out tail hooked looking for a slam. I found the first one and hooked into a 7 pounder then Big John tossed his bait near mine. I don't think he was ready for what was about to occur. A Canal Tuna slammed his bait and screamed off about 100 yards of Fins braid. It almost got to his backing and he surely would have lost it but we began chasing his fish while dragging mine behind the boat with the trolling motor. When we caught up to the fish I had a chance to get mine to the boat and Bogae'd. He went a hefty 7 pounds. 10 minutes into the fight with Big John's fish he was starting to wear out. No!! not the fish Big John. It took a good 5 minutes more before we finally got her on the Boga. She went a nice 13 pounds. On light tackle that is one heck of a Battle. We probably landed 8 or 9 on the day that went from 5 to 13 pounds.
That night the weather forecast called for some nasty winds and possible showers for the next day from a cold front that was sweeping down the country. I decided to head out into the sound the next morning and see if we could get on some grouper before the windy weather got to us. On our way down the river the next morning the wind was light but when we hit the sound it was blowing a good 15 to 20. We headed over to Chino to get some bait and ran into Capt. Butch Rickey. He told us he loaded up with a good 700 bait or so about 50 yards west of us. We began chumming and sure enough we loaded all three wells in 5 casts. We had ladyfish, Menahaden, whitebait, Threadfin, pinfish, butterfish, and needlefish. Off we went to some grouper spots. The bite was slow at the first one but the next one produced a good 10 fish or so. I think the fellas were busted off at least 10 times apiece trying to catch those grouper. Soon we decided to cross the sound and fish the West side of the sound. It sure was rough getting accross, especially with the hard North wind. We fished some oyster bars and Big John caught one trout and John lost a keeper snook when I handed him the rod. It was approaching noon soo we decided to go back to the Waterfront for lunch. I had the same thing I ate everyday "Chicken Fingers" traditionalist I guess. Since we had a variety of big baits I decided to try another big fish spot. We anchored up and I baited the 15 to 40 Cape Fear with a 22 inch Ladyfish. On the second toss I felt a thump. I gave the fish a little line and rammed the hook home. What a tug! I laid the wood to that fish and looked back and handed the rod over to Big John. He pumped as hard as he could and reeled down to gain line. I just knew we had a huge jewfish on. Big John began to get some line on the fish and then it began to surface about 20 feet from the boat. When it surfaced my heart started thumping!! It was the LARGEST SNOOK I HAD EVER SEEN ON THE END OF A LINE. It had to be all of 60 inches or more. Those big Snook never seem to make it out of the water they just surface and head shake and that is exactly what this one did. Big John said "whoa what a big tarpon" I said "that is not a Tarpon it is a Snook." That's about the time the Snook shook the hook from her mouth. I was truly amazed. I had never seen one that big before on a line. It was a true Monster!! Big John managed to catch a small Jewfish on one of the weighted spinner rods. Unfortunate for us the big fish didn't want to play anymore. Seeing as how that was the only Lady we had we didn't get another bite and decided to head back up the river for some Canal Tuna. The tide was not quite right for them and the bite was slow for their standards but we did manage 4 or so nice ones. I talked the guys into giving the "Chew ON This Charter" dock a shot.
Once we arrived at the dock and tied off, I chummed a few white bait and baited up a rod to give to Big John. When I tossed his bait over the side of the boat to hand it to him. While he was sitting on the dock the bait was smacked. Big John jumped out of his seat and grabbed the rod, before long he boated this nice 23 incher. They fished the dock for another 30 minutes and managed to catch a Snapper, Canal Tuna, some catfish, and a 4 pound Jewfish. Not bad for the home dock.
Then next moring John called and said they would not make it for the day. Big John was sick throwing up from food poisoning they assumed from the night before. As it turned out they ended up canceling for the rest of the week and flew back to Maryland 2 days early. I had a great time and I hope Big John is doing ok now.
Since I found myself with an unscheduled day off I decided to guess what? Yeah that's right go fishing!! This was the first day I had whitebait to fish the tarpon. I got a little later start than usual but it didn't seem to matter as I jumped 2 tarpon and landed one. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a pic because I was by myself.
In conclusion, I had a good week. John and John were a blast to fish with and I hate that they had to cut it short. I have a big fish report coming soon so stay tuned. I actually got scared and nearly went overboard this time when I latched on to a big one.
If you are urning for
some tackle busting, leader fraying, excitement then give Captain Chancey a call @ (239)540-7529
Until next time may you have line singing, leader fraying, and
tackle busting action!!!!
