Feeding Frenzy SAC

Friday is Tarpon Day

fishondude — Fri, 18 May 2012 22:04:23 +0000

I have been targeting tarpon for the last two weeks. Last Friday I was lucky to land may first two tarpons this season. The weather has not been that great the past 5 days, however, today was just about perfect. At 830 am I hooked a tarpon in the 125lbs range and had 5-6 great jumps before breaking her off at the boat 25 minutes later. Two facts have played out the season so far. The bite has not occurred before 830am and crabs are the bait of choice. Crabs can be purchased from Capt Ed at the Dockside Store at Gulf Harbor.

Shawn Maguire (LFL)

LOOKING FOR FISHING PARTNER WITH BOAT FOR OFFSHORE FISHING.

spinner — Fri, 18 May 2012 17:03:13 +0000

I WOULD LIKE TO FISH OFFSHORE 10-50 MI. I HAVE LOTS OF EXPERIENCE INCLUDING A 100 TON USCG LISC.(INACTIVE), MY OWNE GEAR INCLUDING DOWNRIGGERS, PLANERS, CHUM HOLDERS. I AM AVIALABLE MOST SUNDAYS AND MONDAYS DURING SEASON AND OTHER DAYS DURING SUMMER. I AM EARLY 60s & HEALTHY WITH A GOOD SENSE OF HUMOR. I AM WILLING TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE COST OF THE TRIPS.
CONTACT: FRANK GOODY @941-475-5460 HOME 941-474-2019 WORK
THANKS AND GOOD FISHING!!

Horrible Tarpon Day

feedingfrenzy — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:31:23 +0000

Just so everyone understands how finicky Tarpon can be, today sucked (with a capital Sucked). Found a big pod of fish right away but they were moving towards the south. Not crazy fast or greyhounding, but definately to the south. Worked the school for about 45 minutes before a guy in his 2-stroke Outboard slid in right next to us and shut everything down. Kinda blew my mind at how stupid this was because there was not another boat for miles on either side of us…

Started seeing lots of schools but they were cruising south, at a fast pace. This wound up to be the theme of the day with every fish we encountered swimming very quickly south. After three hours, we saw a big group of fish literally pushing a wake on the surface and I heaved a “Hail Mary” cast in front of the wave. Don’t knbow how it happened, but we managed to hook into a 150 Lb Poon that put on a crazy show-jumping in 360 degree backflips right off the bow. It really was an incredible sight. The fish came unbuttoned after the fourth back flip, which was perfectly fine by me , since I was on the rod.

The rest of the day was very frustrating. All of the fish were travelling like mad to the south and could have cared less about any baits we put in front of their noses.

We did have about an 8 ft Hammerhead Shark swim directly at the bow of the boat. This was kinda our early morning wake-up call. That’s another impressive critter…

That’s tarpon fishing folks. We ended up going to “Pop’s Tropi-Grille” for a beer and a cheeseburger in paradise. Perfect ending to a typical tarpon day.

See you all at the Club meeting tomorrow evening.

offshore

crazygreek — Tue, 15 May 2012 00:48:12 +0000

Caught some dinner and a nice surprise!!

Tarpon success

captnjim — Mon, 14 May 2012 23:00:35 +0000

Great day Sunday morning fishing tarpon off the beach. Joining me was Captn Glen Ballinger and Harbor Lights resident ,also from Rochester NY, Dominic DeMarco. Dominic has had a lifetime wish to catch his 1st tarpon and Sunday was it. Pics show his 90/100# trophy hooked on a large pinfish. We almost had a double as Glen hooked another in the pod on a blue crab but got off.

Dominic, an avid experienced fisherman for sure, did a masterful job only exclaiming at one point ” gee these guys are strong”.

By the way, for those who have been to or are contemplating Captn Deiter’s ” Tarpon Tactics ” seminar DO IT.

This was textbook performance as these fish were not greyhounding” but in a slow daisy chain feeding mood. We saw

them first about 1000 yards north and heading south. I set up on a best guess intercepting drift and they surfaced again in easy casting distance. Patience paid off as they were quick to pick our offerings.

Tarpon tactics worked !

Captn Jim Cassata

Great Grouper Today

feedingfrenzy — Mon, 14 May 2012 22:34:33 +0000

Fished with G2B Member Vic Weiss, Evonne and another friend today. The group had grouper on the menu for tonight so offshore we headed.

Found a lot of “cookie-cutter” 18-19″ reds in the 72′ range, with only one keeper. So we headed west and immediately started catching decent fish in 90′ of water. At one point, Vic asked me, “Hey Kev, how come we aren’t catching any gag grouper?” I responded, “because they are endangered” About 10 minutes later, Vic was releasing a 29″ gag he caught on a live grunt. Endangered, Yeah ! Vic also added a nice Mang to the box. Went through 3 boxes of sardines and two 1 lb boxes of squid with close to 100 fish caught today !

Great day on the water with great people, and best of all, their all having grouper tonight for dinner!

“SUNSPORTS TARPON FISHING” – I’M THERE LIVE!

florida1919 — Sun, 13 May 2012 17:26:42 +0000

Well folks I met Kevin on the new FeedingFrenzy Mako bay boat at 6:30 am on Saturday to see if we could hook a Tarpon or two to check off my bucket list(I have a long list) . Kevin talked about the great day he had the day before, where they landed 8 Tarpon.

As Kevin says,”every day is different” on the h2o! His new Lowrance HDS 8- Structure Scan sonar was lit up with Tarpon. You could see them on both sides of the boat when they weren’t showing on the surface.

So, so, so beautiful, rolling, surfacing for a gulp of air. Kevin must have cast 100+ times trying to get the Tarpon to bite. His Captain skills placed almost every cast in front of the Tarpon. No bites for 1 to 2 hours. Then he got one hit with a crab on …then off….try again ……fish on!!!!!! All of a sudden boats came all around us from out of nowhere trying to get in on the tarpon. No one else hooked up !

Now the dance begins, Kevin says,” stay calm. Reel in. Keep the tip of the rod bent so ya do not lose this fish!! Short fast turns of the reel…let the tarpon run….reel in now……let him run”. This went on for over one hour and I am thinking how big is this fish- will ever land it ?? I have see on fishing shows how the Tarpon snap hooks etc. That did not happen. The Tarpon was about 80lbs. What a great day and a great Captain. Went home took some advil and smiled all night long and the following day!

If you are remotely considering going on a tarpon or any fishing trip, Book Kevin for a trip ASAP, it was well worth it !!!!

Joe Mastandria

Super Moon Tarpon

Flat_Top — Sun, 13 May 2012 12:11:24 +0000

Tarpon were on fire in Boca Grande on the Super Moon last week. Over four nights the boat went 21 for 53. The land ratio was lower than we like, but we had an issue with leaders breaking. Think we got an old spool of leader that would break as soon as you put some heat on the fish. When we switched the leaders out we started to get the fish to the boat. Most fish were in the 100lb to 120lb range with a couple going around 150lb. We even had one Tarpon jump the bow of the boat just missing the person fighting it. Can’t wait for the New Moon next weekend.

Fishing Partner Sought

feedingfrenzy — Sat, 12 May 2012 22:31:04 +0000

John Manfredi is looking for someone to fish with. Here are his comments I am relaying for him:

I am looking for someone to go fishing with! I will be in Nokomis from May 1 till 12/31. I have a 18.6 Pathfinder at the Gulf Harbor Marina. I take care of my elderly dad so I am somewhat limited but can go pretty much anytime during the week. I really don’t care what kind of fishing we do just like to see the pole bend. Also if you have a offshore boat willing to share expenses. Hope to hear back from someone.

John’s E-mail is :jmanfredi@tampabay.rr.com

Great Tarpon Day, Again !!

feedingfrenzy — Sat, 12 May 2012 22:15:03 +0000

Club member Joe Mastandria came with me today in an attempt to shorten his “Bucket List”. Joe has been on several Tarpon trips attempting to check the fish off his list. Today, he checked it off after more than an hour long battle !!

I will let Joe tell the story in his own words when he can, but until then here are some pics.

The tarpon are here folks !!!!