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Posts: 299
| Well...what a challenge! Fished 5 days down in SW Florida for June Tarpon. My entire plans were all fly fishing until Tropical Storm Colin hit!! Ugh!! Messed up the water to chocolate milk! How can beautiful crystal torquise water become like coffee with cream? It was a nightmare the first 2 days. Fishing the Salt was not an option. 4-5' waves and destroyed water. So day 1 we tucked up into the backcountry to find some 10-12 Poons in the 20-40# size. The first 2 days we only were allowed to fish till 11am since the tide and surge would not allow us to get the boat back under bridges with the water level so high. So we had to act fast and if lucky catch fish fast!! Day 1 I had a buddy and his 11 year old son with us. I was patient and put the 11 year old boy up first. After several casts, he stuck a 40# Tarpon. His very first! What an exiciting moment! Next up was my buddy who also is a Tarpon virgin. He just couldn't make the right casts so we both missed out on several fish wanting to eat. We were back done fishing by 11am. It was killing me but we had no choice! Day 2 was a nightmare. Just nasty winds and destroyed water! We tried, tried hard until noon and caught 600# of sharks. I've never been so exhausted! Wind, waves and 3, 200#+ sharks caught and as far as I'm concenred I never need to catch another shark again! I've caught a bunch and all set on that! So here's the fun part...my buddy and his kid decide the fishing sucks, horrible and don't see it getting any better the last 3 days and they decide to leave. I understood their concerns but I also knew I had faith in Jon Sebold and Todd Hadley. So they leave after day 2 and day 3-5 I went on to crush Tarpon on Topwater!! 15 fish in the 60-120# range in the last 3 days! They were smashing WTD Topwater plugs! Fish coming 4-5 feet outta the water to crush surface plugs! It was insane! Stuff I've never experienced with Tarpon! Catching big Tarpon on Topwater is right up there with catching them on fly! Any true fisherman would kill to catch Poons on the surface. Complete insanity!! My buddy was furious...I did feel bad for him, then it all went away laughing and crushing fish! Cpt. Jon Sebold actually found a bunch of Tarpon. More like a ton of Tarpon in Tropical Storm Colin! I was blown away! Thought for sure most if not all fish left the area! Nope! Jon found them! In the very possible worst conditions anyone could ever face on the water...Cpt. Jon Sebold found them!! The week long trip that was soon to be waste ended up being an epic fishing trip! Topwater Poons! The absolute most violent surface strikes anyone could wish for! It's gonna be real tough to go chase Muskie on the surface now! I'm even more ruined!! Shout out to SFP Fishing Outfitters, Cpt. Jon Sebold and Cpt. Todd Hadley! Wow! Just wow! |
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Posts: 222
| Say you got some of the top water on your Go Pro !!! 
Darren |
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Posts: 299
| I wish...we didn't have the gopro's on that week. Everything was so brutal with weather we didn't think we'd find much action so we left them behind. Add in the constant on and off storms and rain we opted to not bring them out. Probably laziness on my part. I've got a ton of Tarpon footage I've just not taking the time to edit and format. One day I'll get it all together. Trust me....it was beyond insane action on WTD Topwater plugs. 60-130# fish in 4 feet of water coming out of water to eat a surface bait was beyond amazing! |
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Posts: 40
| Man I was thinking the same thing, that would have been epic to see that on video. Congrats though, sounds like some truly epic fishing. I fish SWFL frequently and have never caught a tarpon, though I focus on sharks from the beach. Might have to hook up with those guides one of these times! |
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