This report was with Clay, Randy, and Fisher Cornell of Tennesee. I had spoken to Randy earlier in the week to give him directions from his condo on Siesta Key. He asked what type of fish we would be going after for the day. I told him the Tarpon are holed up in the hundreds and I thought we would have a good shot a getting one in the early part of the day and then we would go after snook a little later.

I arrived at the Yacht club at 7:00 in the morning to pick the Tennesse group up. I already had the bait well loaded with white bait and pinfish from the day before. Off to the Tarpon we went. I told them to pay attention as we approached this little area because the Tarpon would start rolling in front of us. Low and behold there they were just like the day before and the day before that. We anchored and they were rolling all over the place. These fish could careless that we were in the area, they would roll within two or three feet of the boat. I baited Randy's Cape Fear along with Fisher's ("Fish" for short)Cape Fear with tail hooked white bait so they would swim away from the boat. Clay brought his own rod and reel which was more than fine with me. He also rigged it with his own leader and hooks for the whole day. What a guy!!

Clay is a fly guy but at heart I think he really likes the live bait fishing. Wouldn't you know it he jumps the first Tarpon. He fought the fish for a few minutes and then handed the rod over to Fish. Fish wasn't quite sure he wanted a part of that Tarpon once he got ahold of it. However with his dad's help he was able to put some pressure on it. The Tarpon probably went somewhere in the 15 to 25 pound range. After a five to ten minutes fight the Tarpon eventually shook the hook loose and freed himself. I sure wanted a picture though. Hopefully we would get another shot.

After a couple of 8 pound Canal Tuna, Randy got in on the Tarpon action. The Tarpon was only 10 to 20 pounds but he sure put on a show jumping all over the place. Randy coaxed the fish over to the boat rather quickly but I reminded him that it surely wasn't over. Not 5 seconds later he took off on a nice little run punctuated by a jump. Two or three jumps later Larry had him near the boat when the fish decided to try and come on board with us. Fortunately he only made it halfway and bounced back into the water. Not long after that he busted loose. There went another shot at a picture. We saw Tarpon from 5 pounds to nearly a hundred. Sometimes they are just stubborn.

Soon the bite slowed so we hit another spot where I had caught some redfish recently. The water was very low and the fish had nowhere to hide, but we still managed a snapper. Next we went to the same spot where Captain Blair Wiggins of Addictive Fishing got his Tarpon. Randy tossed his bait to the Mangroves and caught a nice snook that was probably large enough to keep but too close to call. The snook had a Yo-Zuri wedged in his mouth. I thought about getting it out but figured I would do more damage than good so I released him with it still in there. Next Clay gets a fish on and the battle ensued. The fish jumped and skied into the air but Clay couldn't tell what it was. After a couple of more jumps we realized it was a Tarpon. When he finally landed it we took this great photo. What a fish, I have never seen a Tarpon that size before.

Once we finally landed the Tarpon it was time to head out in the Sound. Little did I know when we got out there all the water was gone. Every flat was dry, I mean bone empty, I have not seen it that low in many months. We tried one spot but the water was just not available to fish it. So off we went to get us a fine meal at the Waterfront restaurant hoping there would be some water when we were through eating.

When we left the restaurant the tide had risen a foot or so but it was still below a normal low tide. We gave the same spot a shot that we hit before lunch. We only managed one snook out of the Mangroves though. Next we tried for some grouper. We didn't fish it very long, but we did manage one grouper about 18 inches. Randy couldn't believe how hard that fish fought on our spinning tackle.

One of the main reasons Clay wanted to Charter me is because he read the Mogan Mansion fishing reports on cyberangler.com. I knew he wanted to give it a shot, the tide wasn't right but I figured what the heck let's do it. As soon as we put our first bait on. I believe Clay was broken off, then Randy was broken off, then I was broken off. We missed a good 7 or 8 nice fish in the first 20 minutes we were there. They put a hurting on us. Clay now understood the reason for the extra heavy tackle we have to use when fishing the Mogan Mansion.

Eventually the bite slowed so we headed to fish some mangrove points. The tide was coming in well but the boats were too. They made it quite tough to fish in the river. Clay did get one fish to bust his bait. When the fish hit, drag started screaming off of Clay's rod. He had one big fight on his hands. That fish took him all around the boat. We thought we might loose it in all of the oncoming boat traffic but Clay did a great job of turning the fish. After a good 15 minutes Clay landed this nice 12 pound Jack. I tell you those fish are the best fighters hands down. They almost never give up.

In conclusion, although we didn't land any big glamour species and the tide was fairly sorry, we still managed a good day of fishing. The Tarpon are thick, I have been seeing anywhere from a 100 to 200 per day. I haven't been able to put my finger on what exactly they are eating but I will be out there trying until I do. Thanks for a great trip the Cornell family. Fisher you can go with me anyday. What a good kid!!

If you are looking 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!!!!