Capt. Rey's Fishing Report

This area is dedicated to providing weekly fishing reports on trips
and will include information on the fishing conditions, types of fish
seen and caught, tackle used, flies that are working and other things
of interest.
I will  include special reports on upcoming events such as the TARPON , REDFISH , and SNOOK season, the best time to fish for particular species, etc. This will allow you to better plan your fishing trips to Southwest Florida. You can also visit my archive reports.   If you have any comments about my reports you can either email me or comment in my guestbook.

Week Ending ,  April 21st , 2001

Hello fellow anglers, sorry for the delay on the report, but it has been so busy! We have been fishing long days, as the fishing gets better. I have been on the water every day and so I will mention the highlights of the past two weeks. Please do not feel left out if you are not mentioned in this report. This past two weeks had been a time of transition as the tarpon started to show in fishable numbers.

We started fishing for snook the first few days of the week with some success but not like they were earlier in the month. We fly-fished some snook along sandy shorelines in Pine Island Sound and did some sight fishing for fish in the 25” to 34” range.

By the end of the week I had Tom Ferguson along with his friend Neil Mackinnon. Coach Ferguson has been a high school football coach for over 20 years and two of Neil’s kids played for Tom. We decided to give the “Poons” a try. They had been showing up early in the week on the flats so after netting some threadfins we were on our way. We got to the spot early enough so that the fish should have been in their morning happy mood. We saw fish “roll” around us for a while as we drifted our baits along the open flats. We had three or four takes with one fish in particular eating the bait as the coach was feeding line out of the reel. After a quick jump the fish was off. We also saw some small sharks and plenty of Spanish mackerels.

On Sunday I had the Abar’s. Bob, Mike and Brad. They are from Flat Rock, Michigan and were visiting Florida during their spring break. Bob, the father is the Deputy Drain Commissioner/Engineer for Monroe County and his sons, Mike, a graduate of West Point Military Academy and now stationed in Kansas, and Brad, a senior in high school are used to fishing for walleyes in Lake Erie. So, I thought a “Poon” experience was definitely in order. I have been telling them about the great Tarpon and of course they were very excited about the opportunity to catch one of these monsters and as luck was on their side, a great day was awaiting for them.

We started about 5:45am and loaded up with threadfins before heading for the “spot”. The conditions were perfect as the calm winds prevailed that morning. At first light we saw some fish roll along with a few free jumpers. We did not get a tarpon to bite because the sharks and Spanish mackerels were to busy eating our baits.

As morning progressed and the sun rose higher, I spotted lots of “free jumpers” about ¼ mile from us. We headed in that direction and were rewarded with fish rolling all around us. It was not long and Brad had the first hookup. A nice 60 lb tarpon came flying out of the water to display his acrobatic ability. Brad had never felt anything like this on a rod, so he was just smiling thru the entire experience. We finally landed his fish and after a few photos, he had a memory to take back home with him.

Bob was the next on the line, and after 10 minutes or so of fishing we were on again. This fish was not acting like a tarpon, no jumps, just fast long runs and lots of pulling. After 15 minutes she decided to show herself to us and “WOW” a true 150 lb “POON” came out of the water. I know we were on for a long fight. You see this was Bob’s first tarpon, so he did not know how much he could pull and fight with this monster. After about one hour we had the fish next to the boat. The guys were amazed at the size of this fish, and Mike helped me revive the beauty so we could release her so she could fight another day.

We ended up with 4 out of 5 tarpons, with Mike landing a nice 70 lb and Brad having 2 fish. It was a great morning and a wonderful reminder of why tarpon is my favorite fish.

After a couple of successful tarpon trips, the weather changed. A bad front came into town and pushed the fish into deeper water.

My week ended with Matt Werd, his brother Bill and nephew Billy. After a tough morning of snook fishing we went to get some bites. Billy was the first one to hookup with a nice 3 lb Seatrout. After that, we found a school of jack crevally and had action until the time ran out on us. They enjoyed the action, but the guide ego was not allowing me to enjoy it as much because I always want my clients to catch fish and have a great day out on the water. Although snook fishing was good before the front came, I almost forgot how tough it could get.