Day 1: Aaron and I, after a morning spent dealing with lower unit issues, got out on the water at 10 AM. We began by chasing the six, looking in vain for some fish in the shallow areas that would accomodate light line capture. After a few shots at fish that didn’t appear large enough,…

Well, for those of you who have been following this report for a while, I finally got a few of the photos from Captain Chris Trosset of my trip West with Michael Hetzel, and as it turns out there were not as many great shots as I had imagined. Only one, in fact, that is…

It’s hard to fish in the wind. Coupled with a lot of cloud cover and a slower-than-average June push, fishing is straight up difficult. That said, the anglers (and, perhaps more importantly, the guides) that are putting in the time out there are drying a few off each day. Slow but sure wins the race.…

So it’s 11:14 PM, and I am just about to get to bed for another day on the water tomorrow. Our fishing today was defined by tough wind (though not as bad as the last few weeks, and slated to drop even more tomorrow) as well as cloud cover; both, it seemed, conspired to prevent…

One more, I couldn’t resist adding. Nice work, Team TAC! Photo courtesy Captain Lenny Leonard

It’s raining here, and the fishing has been difficult for those brave enough to sight fish with no visibility. Today’s (and, from what it looks like, the next few days’) weather notwithstanding, the fishing is great. Typical of July there are a fair number of smaller tarpon around, and bonefish and permit abound. Captain Lenny…

It seems that the tarpon are still hard to come by, but the wind is what’s really making life tough out there. I’ve been hearing reports all week of only a few shots; this is not a terrible thing when they’re on the chew, but an added 20 MPH of breeze can make the difference…

I’m busy and I just got these in from Aaron, so instead of a report here are some photographs for your viewing pleasure. All photographs courtesy Captain Aaron Snell Here’s what Aaron had to say: South Carolina boys Telfair Parker, Jonathan Anderson, Peter Brown and Grey Holmes on their annual tarpon trip were welcomed with…

We are starting to see the beginnings of our second push of fish on the ocean, which is great considering it felt like we were waiting a bit too long. For the tarpon we are all happily awaiting more. Remember the Smitty and Al’s Tarpon Bonanza party this Thursday 3 June at 6:30 PM at…

Odd to be writing a report about how great the bonefish and permit fishing is at the end of May, but the combination of a pause in the tarpon migration and the higher-than-normal water temperatures means that more anglers and guides are going shallow. Additionally, it looks as though there is a great number of…

The tarpon remain spread out in the lower Keys, with many anglers and guides eagerly awaiting the next push of fish. The result is, often, a day spent chasing bonefish or permit–a rather nice change for those of us who have been mutating ourselves on tarpon for the last few months. Congratulations to Thomas Rapone…

The last three days I fished with Captain Doug Kilpatrick for the 3 kg (6 lb) tippet tarpon record. Currently, this record stands at 82 pounds, 8 ounces, and was caught by Stu Apte in 1977. Over the three days we hooked 7 fish. They ranged in size from around 90 pounds to 130; every…

well, it happened. I couldn’t go last night, but the worms were out. I passed on an evening with Aaron Snell in favor of a prior commitment, and from what I hear it took off. Starting 3 days with Doug Kilpatrick tomorrow, and I’m hoping the fish go back to normal after their worm-a-thon. Best,…

The name of this fishing report reminds me of a DVD by the same name that is probably the best fishing show ever. Guests include Tom Waits, who does a great job ice fishing. Anyway, if you haven’t already seen it look for some clips on YouTube before committing: it’s humor misses the mark with…

Yesterday I was generously invited to join a friend of mine for a day fishing with Captain Doug Kilptarick. The fish were hard to find due to the cloud cover, but we managed to eke out a bite from a smaller fish to prevent pulling a blank. We found a pair of bonefish and had…

Shark fishing with Fitz was great fun, though the blacktips refused to cooperate. This is tarpon season, however, so it may indeed serve us right to have had the difficulty we did chasing the teeth. We did hook one fish on 3 kg, though broke it off soon after hooking up when the reel handle…

Yesterday was a great day on the water, though capture eluded us. We began west, and threw at a number of disinterested fish. Following that, we looked for a more willing partcipant in a bonefish; though we saw a few, we didn’t get a shot. Farther east we had a great shot at a group…

Over the weekend, Atsushi “Sush” Katagiri visited from Shimano Corp. After a few lessons and an evening spent trying to catch a few small fish in the lights, he spent a few nights fishing with Captain Aaron Snell. Check out what he got done: Nice work, Sush! In daytime fishing, the wind has been calm…

So the tarpon fishing is still going on, and the fish are here. The calm weather, however, can make the approach difficult at times. Most importantly, however, congratulations are due to Max Willard, who landed his first tarpon on fly last night. When Scott and Max come by I will try to get some photographs…

For the last few days, the wind has been 8-12 mph, a distinct change from the days earlier in the week that made for less than thrilling fishing on Sunday and Monday. Fish are still arriving, though it seems we may be in between large pushes. Of course, this may change (or have changed) today,…