Its been a little rough some days with a lot of moisture in the air but it has helped keep the water on the cool side for this time of year and the tarpon don t seem to mind at all. In fact they love it like that. We have seen “mega pods” consisting of hundreds or even thousands of fish just about every trip. Its just a matter of being able to get to them, pounding them with properly presented baits and the rest is history. Crabs and thread fin herring have been top baits but the key to success has been in the presentation. Often times there are 10-20 boats fishing the same huge school of fish with the same types of baits but only myself and a couple other captains are consistently hooking fish. One day last week, there were at least 15 boats on the fish and we hooked four tarpon before anyone else even hooked one! If you think its luck, think again. Its all about “the angle of the dangle”.  Because of the consistent west wind we’ve had, most of the tarpon fishing has taken place in deeper basins and channels such as areas around Egmont, Anna Maria, and the shipping channel rather than the typical beach fishing.

With the relatively cooler water temps, large gag grouper have been very active in the bay. They absolutely slam live baits and powerfully sprint for cover so heavy tackle with locked a down drag is a must to turn their heads out of the rocks. Though the season is closed for another couple weeks, these brutes are a lot of fun to catch and after july 1st it should be pretty easy to bring home some of the best fillets the gulf has to offer!

Topwater fishing first thing in the morning is excellent right now for trout, reds and a mixed bag. As it heats up I keep moving out into deeper and cooler water to stay on active fish. The night time dock light fishing is spectacular too for trout, reds, snook, snapper, grouper, ladyfish, and tarpon. Also, summer time is shark time and there will be plenty to catch for the next four or five months.

Until next time, tight lines and catch a memory. Book your trips now on the “Book your charter” page

Captain Tyler Kapela

Certain passes in my area are holding literally thousands of tarpon right now as well as they wait for the upcoming “hill tide”. This epic tidal scenario occurs around the full and new moons in May, June, and sometimes into July. The extremely strong outgoing tide flushes tens of thousands of helpless crabs out of the bay and hungry tarpon gorge themselves. The water is crystal clear especially from Egmont Key south and its not uncommon to see hundreds of fish at a time swimming by or rolling on the surface. Casting a live crab or bait in to these schools has yielded some great success in recent trips. Some of these fish are giants pushing 200lbs too.

In certain areas, while tarpon fishing, large inshore grouper have made an outstanding appearance. Even though these fish are out of season until July 1, they are an exciting fish to catch and release. Grouper absolutely pummel a live bait then quickly head for nearby structure. You have to pretty much lock the drag down and pull as hard as you can just to turn their heads and lift them away from cover or else they quickly break off. Its typical to catch a dozen grouper in less than an hour of fishing and by then my bruised and sore armed clients are ready to do something else. 32″ have been landed this week and some fish bigger than that have been lost that we simply couldn’t turn away from the rocks.

Topwater fishing for large trout has been outstanding in the early mornings. Its not uncommon to catch 40 fish before 8Am. Seeing a 20-25″ trout explode on your lure with the florida sunrise in the background is a beautiful sight.

Blacktip sharks, redfish, snook, spanish mackerel, jack crevalle, bluefish, and ladyfish are also an option right now but when the tarpon fishing is this good, unless you want some fillets, why bother with anything else?

Tight lines

Certain passes in my area are holding literally thousands of tarpon right now as well as they wait for the upcoming “hill tide”. This epic tidal scenario occurs around the full and new moons in May, June, and sometimes into July. The extremely strong outgoing tide flushes tens of thousands of helpless crabs out of the bay and hungry tarpon gorge themselves. The water is crystal clear especially from Egmont Key south and its not uncommon to see hundreds of fish at a time swimming by or rolling on the surface. Casting a live crab or bait in to these schools has yielded some great success in recent trips. Some of these fish are giants pushing 200lbs too.

In certain areas, while tarpon fishing, large inshore grouper have made an outstanding appearance. Even though these fish are out of season until July 1, they are an exciting fish to catch and release. Grouper absolutely pummel a live bait then quickly head for nearby structure. You have to pretty much lock the drag down and pull as hard as you can just to turn their heads and lift them away from cover or else they quickly break off. Its typical to catch a dozen grouper in less than an hour of fishing and by then my bruised and sore armed clients are ready to do something else. 32″ have been landed this week and some fish bigger than that have been lost that we simply couldn’t turn away from the rocks.

Topwater fishing for large trout has been outstanding in the early mornings. Its not uncommon to catch 40 fish before 8Am. Seeing a 20-25″ trout explode on your lure with the florida sunrise in the background is a beautiful sight.

Blacktip sharks, redfish, snook, spanish mackerel, jack crevalle, bluefish, and ladyfish are also an option right now but when the tarpon fishing is this good, unless you want some fillets, why bother with anything else?

Tight lines

Certain passes in my area are holding literally thousands of tarpon right now as well as they wait for the upcoming “hill tide”. This epic tidal scenario occurs around the full and new moons in May, June, and sometimes into July. The extremely strong outgoing tide flushes tens of thousands of helpless crabs out of the bay and hungry tarpon gorge themselves. The water is crystal clear especially from Egmont Key south and its not uncommon to see hundreds of fish at a time swimming by or rolling on the surface. Casting a live crab or bait in to these schools has yielded some great success in recent trips. Some of these fish are giants pushing 200lbs too.

In certain areas, while tarpon fishing, large inshore grouper have made an outstanding appearance. Even though these fish are out of season until July 1, they are an exciting fish to catch and release. Grouper absolutely pummel a live bait then quickly head for nearby structure. You have to pretty much lock the drag down and pull as hard as you can just to turn their heads and lift them away from cover or else they quickly break off. Its typical to catch a dozen grouper in less than an hour of fishing and by then my bruised and sore armed clients are ready to do something else. 32″ have been landed this week and some fish bigger than that have been lost that we simply couldn’t turn away from the rocks.

Topwater fishing for large trout has been outstanding in the early mornings. Its not uncommon to catch 40 fish before 8Am. Seeing a 20-25″ trout explode on your lure with the florida sunrise in the background is a beautiful sight.

Blacktip sharks, redfish, snook, spanish mackerel, jack crevalle, bluefish, and ladyfish are also an option right now but when the tarpon fishing is this good, unless you want some fillets, why bother with anything else?

Tight lines

Fishing in Tampa bay has been excellent over the past month. We have experienced the best inshore grouper fishing I have ever heard of with huge keeper sized monsters up to 15lbs and 32″ caught on literally every trip that we fished for them. These fish absolutely hammer baits and immediately try and rip the rod out of your hand as they flee for the rocks. We have been using 50lb tarpon tackle, and 60-80lb leader with the drag completely locked down and we still only get around 60% of the fish out. Oddly enough, most of the biggest grouper have come out of rocky areas in less than 6ft of water and can be found mixed in with some really nice bonus snook. Grouper are aggressive, incredibly fun to catch, and are some of the best eating fish on the planet.
Now through the spring in the best time to fish the flats in our area. The sea grass in the area is much shorter during this period and the water is crystal clear making redfish and trout very easy to see. Cooler temps bring huge speckled trout otherwise known as “gator trout” into warmer, protected shallows where they can be sight fished with bait, lures and even flies. Trophy sized trout from 24″-30″ are common and can be found in epic concentrations sometimes numbering in the hundreds!!! Large redfish otherwise known as “bull redfish” form large schools and can also be sight fished in the shallows. These fish are strong fighters that make long runs when hooked making them an excellent sportfish. Encountering schools of 100-300 redfish around flats, mangroves, and oysterbars is the norm right now.
Along the edges of flats, loads of redfish and trout of all sizes, as well as flounder, large bluefish, and  ladyfish keep anglers rods bent while fishing with soft plastics. Some of the best fishing actually occurs right after a cold front blows through the area. A north wind blows a lot of water right out of the bay making low tides way lower than normal. This leaves the flats bone dry and concentrates all of the fish along the edge of the flat as they wait for the tide to rise. It can be ridiculously fun and easy fishing.
All and all the fishing this time of year is great with lots of quality fish being caught along with some superb sight-fishing opportunities. During last years cold snap I was able to really hone in my wintertime fishing techniques and catch tons of nice fish when most other guides wouldn’t even bother to go out. If you want to experience the awesome fishing opportunities unique to this time of year that most others miss out on, you know who to call! Come Catch a memory.

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