Georgia Tarpon in December
I headed down and met Rob and his family for a few days of fishing before Christmas. We were in Islamorada fishing out of Lower Metacumbe Key where a friend of ours owns a house. I hadn’t fished out of Islamorada since my dad passed away 4 years ago. He and I spent a lot of time down there fishing and enjoying many memories together. He was diabetic and we almost everyday would run to World Wide and eat lunch at Islamorada Fish Company. He would tell me about fishing in Biscayne Bay and trips he took to Cuba as a young man. How he and Capt. Joe Johanson would pole the flats in Islamorada all day to catch that 1 perfect fish.
Well times have changed and so have the Keys. I do most of my fishing down around Big Pine to get away from all the people and boats. Don’t get me wrong Islamorada is still a great place it’s just not the same with out my dad. We arrived late Saturday night and looked at the trees as we drove in. They were still like statues lining the road. Sundays forecast was for light and variable winds and we were ready to get out on the water. We started the day a little later than we had planned but isn’t that the way it always is on day 1 when you are out of town fishing. We got out and started polling the flats. They were full of lemon sharks and mullet but, the target Bone fish and permit were no where to be found. We saw a few and had a couple shots but nothing to get crazy over so we ran further into the back country. On the way we stopped and fished several cuts that ran though 9 mile bank. The first one was full of juvenile tarpon and after scaring the hell out of the first one we saw with a trio of shrimp and crabs we proceeded with more caution. As I poled further into this cut the tarpon became more and more abundant. As Rob cast a small live shrimp past a tarpon and let the current drift it back to him the fish ate. We followed the fish farther and farther into the cut we continued catching them.
Captain Scott Owens
877-605-3474
Brunswick Georgia Fishing
info@captainscottowens.com