Tarpon
Beginning in April, tarpon begin their migration up the coast out of the keys and work their way towards Boca Grande Pass. At that time, I’ll start looking for some early arrivals in Pine Island Sound in hopes of finding them laid up in the sand holes off Demere Key on the eastern side of the sound. This is a good bet if the water temperature hits 75 degrees. In May, I head toward the beach and like staking out off Murdock Point just off Cayo Costa on the southern edge of Boca Grande Pass. Here, throughout the day, it’s not unusual to get shots at strings of fish moving north. This migration should go on through June.
More importantly, the upper harbor at its confluence with the Peace River outside Punta Gorda is proving to be a great fishery for small tarpon. From April to November fish from five to thirty pounds can be seen rolling from the U.S. 41 Bridge to the perimeter canals of Punta Gorda and west past Colony Point towards Ponce Park. To the west, Larger fish from 50 to 80 pounds can be found in the harbors’ deeper holes.
A game of inches
Like many sports, it’s easy to look at the big picture when it comes to fishing. However, with the exception of the all important factor of finding the fish, more than not, many times it’s the little things that end up making the difference. I have to say that all my...
A few hours of Peace
It was not too long ago while bringing up the idea of looking for fish closer to home that I mentioned that one day I would like to put in some time exploring the Peace River. For me, because I live in Punta Gorda and not too far from Laishley Park, it provides lots...
Sight fishing-who see’s who
To this day, I still have vivid childhood memories of the crystal clear water between the mangroves in Key Largo loaded with snapper that would be more than happy to eat the shrimp we dropped below. In contrast, I also remember in those days walking out onto the...