# Sarasota/Siesta compilation: (I summarized all reports & added my own))



## HOUSE

*I'm heading down to Sarasota for a week-long fishing trip June 27th, 2012 and pulled up as much information as I could online about the area. Rather than ask the same old questions over and over about the area, I just copied all of the posts and summarized them below. Hopefully this helps future OGF'ers heading down to this area. I'll include a full fishing report and pictures once I return. If anyone has any other helpful information regarding this area that I haven't included, please chime in. I greatly appreciate the help and can't wait for the trip 
Also, most of the posts I found were regarding December fishing down there. Can anyone describe the difference in fishing down there in the late June? We'll likely fish a few times on the beach for shark (which I think I've got under control) and a few nights inshore over at either Nokomis or Philipi unless otherwise directed. We have a friend offering to take us out on his boat to chase some tarpon which should be exciting, but we might also hire an off-shore charter as one of my friends really wants to experience this. Any suggestions on a guide in June? I found several names mentioned in my summaries below which Ill look into.
Thanks to all that have replied to the many questions about this area, especially Captnroger...your name came up in a lot of posts. If I've screwed up anyone's information, please let me know. Thanks again for your replies.


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## HOUSE

*Summary of all OGF Sarasota/Siesta Keys posts: ******************************
*captnroger*: (_I think I got most of your information correct. I was just wondering if most of the snook information you shared pertains to December_.)
I lived in Sarasota for 8 years, and know the area well. (December?) is the tail end of the snook season, but the jetty down in Nokomis that Cousin Al references is a fantastic spot to try for snook, especially at dusk/night. You'll want a little heavier casting tackle for that place as you never know what you'll hook into - I've caught 30+lb rays and 15lb Jacks at times. It's a good spot to fish especially in the evening/night this time of year. That is the #1 place I recommend for snook. #2 place would be to look for a place called Phillipi creek, which has bank access near Riverview High School. Cast small surface plugs around the creek and you should get some action. Sheephead you can find just about around any piers or bridges, recommend tubeworms if you can find them or sand fleas/shrimp will do. Again, you'll need good tackle to keep them out of the pilings. Do NOT waste your time surfing off the beach or the longboat key pier - wastes of time. Venice Pier is worth a shot, and if the fish aren't biting there's always Sharky's bar at the base of the pier.
*Economy Tackle is off US41, not too far from the high school mentioned above. They've got a great selection of tackle and gear. For snook get some Mirror lures and Bagley finger mullets. 
*There is a small 'park' area on the southwest side of the north drawbridge leading to siesta key. I spent lots of time fishing there.
*The public pier in Venice Beach is not bad at all, I've caught some real big fish off it. And there is a great rest/bar at the beginning of it now, so if the fish aren't biting, you can still have fun.
*Phillipi creek near Riverview High School (not far from Siesta), the snook will be hitting topwater plugs that time of year (December).
*I grew up 5 minutes from Siesta Key in Sarasota and fished everywhere with my dad growing up. You'll be there at the start of the snook bite (December?), and I recommend fishing Philipi Creek. You can park at the Riverview High school parking lot and walk down to it and fish the bank. Cast floating lures (Mirro-o-lures, finger mullet, etc..) and use a slow retrieve working it below the surface. That creek is shallow and the water will be cold. I always found something with gold in it, or the traditional red/white works best. You might even get a good fish - I've pulled a couple of 15lb'ers out of there.
-If you want to try a charter I'd suggest taking a day and driving down to Boca Grande and hiring someone inshore. I think you'd have better success there than trying to fish nearshore/offshore in Sarasota. If you do go out of Sarasota you'll probably be fishing nearshore wrecks.

*FishJunky*: Any pier will hold Sheephead. I was just down in Fort Myers and caught a lot of sheephead. Just use live or fresh shrimp right up next to pylons. The best thing for snook is Live Shrimp. Use a swivel and a two foot piece of 20# fluorocarbon for your leader. They can see steel leaders. If the surf is calm don't use a weight if it's a little ruff use a 1/2oz to 1oz slip sinker. Spanish Mackerel are fun to catch too. I use anything that is shiny with some weight to it fishing off the pier. When you go to buy bait get your live shrimp at any bait store, but if you just want dead shrimp go to the fish market. It's a lot fresher and believe me the fish no the difference. Any open faced bass combo will work with 14 to 20 pound line. My preference is 14lb line with 20lb leader... 

*Cousin Al*: I go to Sarasota every year. If you want to do some good fishing, go the Nokomis Beach on Casey Key. This is where the intercostal water meets the Gulf. There is a little bait shack where you can buy shrimp & tackle. Also if you have a dip net, you can get your own baitfish. There is a rock jetty that goes out and there are fish all around it. Good place to catch Snook & Sheephead, but you can get almost any species if the time is right. Also you will get to see dolphin, manatee, and the occasional shark.

*wackyworm*: On the Sanibel pier, when I was down there a week ago, the large majority of the sheepshead were being caught on "sand fleas". 

*husky hooker*: All great advice but if ya night fish get a gill net and fish off one of the bridges near siesta, drop your light near the water and the bait fish will come. drop your gill net down near lite and get bait. hook through the snout and lower it back down with the pack and when you see them scatter .....HANG ON HERE COMES A SNOOK!!!!!we were breaking 50 lb test like nothing when the hit. they also like to wrap the pilings, so set your drag good and have a blast from underneath, good fishing I also lived in Sarasota a year. wonder if big daddys is still out there? a nice packed bar.
*I too lived in Sarasota for a while and you have to watch the guys on the bridges and talk to them, I know when I was getting snook, we used a 2 by 2ft gill net to catch bait at night id drop my lantern down to the water and you will see the bait fish. when you have the bait, put it down with the others that are moving in a circle under the lantern. then watch your baitfish ,when they scatter.....HANG ON cause here comes a snook. if you don t watch they will wrap you on the bridge pilings, so give some drag but not too much. good luck....if you want some trout or mackerel, head north to Bradenton and go left at the light that takes you out to St. Anne Marie island there&#8217;s a pier out there and good fishing, also the bridge right before you get to the other side. Trout and many diff fish...most important is watching your tides. Had good luck with shrimp and when I ran out I used white 1/2 oz jigheads with white tails. They worked just as good. 

*Bassnpro1*: Norm(Lucky Bass) and I were able to get out for two mornings of fishing. We went to the jetty at Nokomis. The first morning Norm hooked into four fish and landed one snook on a bass tube. He had some other hookups on a DOA shrimp. I was throwing a Got-Cha plug the whole time and had one strike. The locals were all standing around waiting for some fish to move in before they started fishing, but the fish never came and they left. The next morning we Norm managed to hook into one snook and I had a ladyfish hooked up until the rocks on my plug. It was fun watching how hard the snook can pull. 

*Walleyekid*: Captain Matt is out of Ana Maria Island area. Great guide and he will tell you the straight story on what's worth fishing for. Not cheap but he is one of the best. Snook, Trout, Redfish, and offshore depending on time of year. http://www.captainmatt.com/
We fish off Longboat Key from shore - snook, pompano, small sharks, misc. Also, the Tampa skyway bridge fishing pier can be good for a wide variety - about 40 minute drive from Sarasota. Here is a video on a Tarpon he put my son on. http://www.walleyekid.com/big_fish_videos

*Ol' Whiskers*: Caught the biggest fish of my life off the beach at Longboat Key (just North of where you're headed) on Christmas Eve a few years ago. Fishing the surf with finger mullet, 7/0 O'Shaunessy hook, 30-lb mono, 2/0 swivel, 6-oz slipsinker (hey, this sounds like a flathead rig!), 60-lb shock leader and 95-lb wire leader. Fished every night for a week, and every night got spooled of 330 yards of line, straight out into the ocean without stopping. Christmas Eve, same setup, same hit & run. I ran out into the water up to my chest (sounds pretty dumb, now) as the knot showed up on the spool. After 4 long runs and about an hour&#8217;s worth of pump and reel, we had a 6-ft Blacktip Shark, estimated weight 150 to 175 lbs. Used the wave action to wash it onto the beach. Photo&#8217;d, then cut the wire and pushed it back into the surf. It swam away like nothing ever happened.
There wasn't much going on on the piers during that trip. Supposedly something to do with the tide pattern, as this was the closest the moon had come to the earth in 130 years, and it was a full moon with glass-clear nights. Middle of the night looked like daylight. Absolutely beautiful for fishing, though. We had scheduled a 6-hour trip for day-after-Christmas with Cpt. Roy on the Happy Hooker II out of Bradenton. When we arrived at the dock at 6AM the boat was sitting on the bottom at low tide. Delay was about 3 hours to get the boat free. Myself and My son Kevin, along with four other persons, had a great day bottom bouncing for Grouper (biggest was ~29 lb), drifting cigar minnows for King Mackerel (24 lb), and took a False Albacore, too. Had a great time.

*catmando*: IF you rent a boat go to the middleground area of Sarasota bay, Ringling flats or Long Bar and just cruise your boat until you see them skip thru your wake and start fishing! I guess pompano jigs and gold paddle tail grubs are doing the trick. This time of year the big snook will be hanging around the lit docks, but the locals will get pissed if you're catching them on real cold nights. I guess the survival rate on releasing a snook on a cold night is not so good! 
*Also, keep ladyfish and jacks for shark fishing off the beach at night. Use big chunks to avoid the catfish! 

*Fishman*: I stayed on the beach at Siesta Key about a month ago. The surf fishing is fantastic! Fished in it 3 days in a row and we always caught a bunch of fish. We only used Yozuri crystal minnows (floater #7's) and big casting spoons. I really like the spoons because I could cast really far. We stool in waist deep water retrieved as fast as we could. Sometimes it didn't matter which way ya casted, there were at times a lot of fish around! We caught lady fish, jack crevale, snook, and Spanish mackerels. Sunrise was probably the best time, but we caught fish at any hour honestly. I didn't go out the beach one night from being dehydrated but the guys I went with went out and used cut squid and caught a bunch of small catfish. 

*exexec*: Down at the Sanibel bridge the key is TIDE. Slack tide is no good-but either a incoming or outgoing tide is great. Look at the tide charts. I usually used shrimp with a fairly heavy weight to keep the bait near the pilings. The catch varied greatly and that became the fun of it. 

*ddd*: Here you go: http://outdoorsbest.zeroforum.com/zerothread?id=78040 (Long thread but great info about shore fishing that area.)
-" You could try the Venice inlet for snook. Sheepshead bite will be good too if you like bottom fishing."
- "Economy Tackle on 41 rents kayaks. I would concentrate around the bridges and seawalls for sheepies this time of year. Trout have been decimated by the red tide, look for trout along the deeper channels holes. "
- "For the short time you'll be here there are a few places you could "escape" to without a boat: Shell Rd, an access to Big Pass on the northern part of SK. There is also the northern humpback bridge; normally a good channel for a variety of fish if you can still get underneath it. You also have the Siesta Dr Bridge - west side public parking area; lots of water moving past it and a favorite spot of many for as long as I've been here (50 years). Have fun - usually a north wind that time of year though - need a place to hide - and good luck."
-"If you want to wade fish, try the area off Vamo Rd. (US41 south out of Sarasota. Vamo Rd. on the right, Beneva Rd. on the left at the red light). Turn onto Vamo and go to the large stone pillars on your right. Turn down that lane and it dead-ends at the ICW. You also can wade north of Blackburn Point. (US41 south to Blackburn Point Road--turn right, cross the bridge, park on the right and wade in at that access)."


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## HOUSE

Other helpful links for the Sarasota/Siesta Keys area:

*TIDES:*
*(current)*: http://tides.mobilegeographics.com/locations/5640.html
*(monthly)*: http://tides.mobilegeographics.com/calendar/month/5640.html

*Florida fish & wildlife (fishing licenses, etc):*
http://myfwc.com/

*Florida fish identification:*
http://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/fish/saltwater/

*Other Florida Fishing Websites: *
http://boatlessfishing.com/blog/
http://www.boatlessfishing.com/forum/ (forum)
http://www.gameandfishmag.com/florida/

*Tackle Shops:* 
CBS outfitters: http://www.cbsoutfitters.com/
Economy Tackle: http://www.floridakayak.com/index.php/fishing-tackle

*Fishing License information:*
Nonresident Annual Saltwater Fishing $47.00
Nonresident 3-Day Saltwater Fishing $17.00
Nonresident 7-Day Saltwater Fishing $30.00
(Snook Permit required to keep snook in season even with the Shoreline license $10.00)

*Maps of the area:*
Google Earth: https://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&q=sarasota+florida&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x88c337e69db2c22b:0xe335341d1d5715d9,Sarasota,+FL&gl=us&ei=LiHRT-iEA-Wt0AHAqIDmDw&oi=local_group&ved=0CL4BELYD
Google Search: https://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&q=sarasota+florida&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x88c337e69db2c22b:0xe335341d1d5715d9,Sarasota,+FL&gl=us&ei=LiHRT-iEA-Wt0AHAqIDmDw&oi=local_group&ved=0CL4BELYD


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## HOUSE

My Report: (post saved until after my trip).


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## M.Magis

I visit the Englewood area 2-3 times a year, just an hour south of Sarasota. The summer fishing is different than winter, for sure. The sheephead that are everywhere in late winter are gone, out on the reefs for the most part. Snook will still be on the beaches, fishing the trough on any beach at daybreak is typically the best time/place. Lots of bait choices, live shrimp and artificial shrimp like a DOA are favorites. I don&#8217;t know how the tarpon are around there. I know there are still a lot around down at Boca at that time, so there should still be plenty up there. Trout/flounder can be found in the deeper grass, deeper being 5-7 feet. I hear a lot about shark fishing at Venice, both on the beach and from Sharky&#8217;s Pier. I&#8217;d suggest using a mono leader for most fishing, wire for shark. If you catch a ladyfish, even if it gets off like most of them do, re-tie. Their mouths fray mono badly. BTW, cut ladyfish make excellent bait for shark and redfish. If going out in the morning or evening, spray down with bug spray. The no seeums will eat you alive. Be prepared for late afternoon storms, nearly every day. They won&#8217;t last but a few minutes and are very localized, but they can look scary coming at you. Oh, and don&#8217;t take long pants or long sleeve shirts. You won&#8217;t wear them, it&#8217;s HOT in late June.


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## HOUSE

M.Magis said:


> ...The summer fishing is different than winter, for sure...


Hey, thanks for the informative reply. Do you think we should just skip the inshore fishing altogether and just stick to the beaches/pier then?


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## M.Magis

No, I wouldn't skip it all together. But I love fishing the back waters. It's your best chance at redfish and trout, plus smaller sharks are plentiful and easy to catch.


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## SMBHooker

Warehouse, I'll be in Siesta the week before you. I'll try and leave some fish in the water for you. 


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## HOUSE

SMBHooker said:


> Warehouse, I'll be in Siesta the week before you. I'll try and leave some fish in the water for you.


Oh dang, we could have battled some monster blacktips together! 

*Last minute question:* I've only flown about 3 times, so what's the best way to transport three 10ft fishing rods down there? I imagine checking them as luggage would be expensive. We were thinking about mailing them down ahead of time and packing the reels in our suitcases. Might cost 20 bucks or so. My friend wants to just buy cheap Walmart rods down there (and bring our nice reels down in our luggage.) Any suggestions?


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## heidlers

I've done it a couple different ways. I finally decided just to buy a few rods and leave them at our place down there. We have a condo right across from Marina Jacks in downtown Sarasota. To answer your question about rod transport:
1) I used to pack rods in a hard plastic rod travel case that telescoped out to accommodate 7ft, 1-piece rods. I then checked them on. On 3 of the 6 trips the rods arrived on the other end broken (tips), even though I had taken care to protect them when I originally packed. Problem seemed to be the case was being opened to inspect and they were being broken when the case was closed, or they were being very roughly handled. Bottom line, it is a risk and the airlines waive responsibility for any damage or loss and will not cover you on that. You are simply SOL!!
2) I had better luck fedex-ing them down to myself. I forget what that cost, but never had an issue and you can insure them against damage when they are shipped if something unfortunate does happen. I, fortunately, had the rod tubes that they had originally been mailed in when I ordered them. Fedex won't likely have anything the size you may need. If you don't have one handy, you could probably check a few sporting goods stores to see if they would give or sell one to you?
3)If your rods break down to multiple pieces, which I assume a 10ft rod does, you might be just as well off to put them in a 3-4ft travel tube and carry it on. Ive seen guys with flyrods do this, not too mention business people with presentation materials, banners, etc.

Either way, good luck! Tight Lines!!


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## M.Magis

I agree, mailing rods ahead of time is the way to go. I take my reels in my checked bags. Those cardboard rod tubs retailers ship with are great, maybe some place like BPS would sell you a couple? If not, you can make tubes out of PVC pipe.


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## HOUSE

Okay, rods have been shipped. Fingers crossed they make it down there in one piece  I got the address in the process and it turns out we are staying in Nokomis on Dona Bay. We'll definitely hit up the jettie there and Venice Pier. Thanks again for the help.


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## M.Magis

If you go out to Nakomis beach on Sat night, you'll have live "music".  Very nice area.


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## HOUSE

Hey, thanks for the tip. My friends are looking for somethings to do down there other than fishing. A band should keep them busy for a while while I chase after jaws. We're also going to hit up the bar (Sharky's) on the Venice Pier. 

Last question and I'll stop hounding you guys. I'm bringing down a single Plano case and these are the 6 lures I'm planning on taking. Should I pack anything else? I've got circle hooks/leaders/etc for shark fishing and a few musky lures for tarpon fishing.


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## M.Magis

Well it isn&#8217;t quite a band, they have a tribal drum circle type thing every Sat night there on Nokomis beach. A lot of people hang out there, though many of them not quite my age.  It&#8217;s interesting, though after a while the drum beats get to me. It is impressive how long they can play without a break, not sure how they do it. 
As far as tackle, there&#8217;s load of lures that could be considered &#8220;go to&#8221; down there, but those 6 would be included. I grew up using nothing but a jig head with a shrimp body, and caught loads of fish. These days I find myself going to a casting spoon, like you have, whenever I struggle to catch fish. It&#8217;s rare I can&#8217;t at least catch some ladyfish on a spoon, and sometimes I just feel like catch fish no matter what they are. And I&#8217;m one of those odd balls that enjoys catching ladyfish. 
I&#8217;ve not really got into the tarpon, but those things you have pictured will probably be more productive than most musky plugs. Live bait will probably be the most productive.


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## catmando

SMBHooker said:


> Warehouse, I'll be in Siesta the week before you. I'll try and leave some fish in the water for you.
> 
> 
> Outdoor Hub mobile, the outdoor information engine


Hey Hooker, I'll be down the sametime and been going to SK since 76. If I don't bring a kayak, I'll be walking the beach every morning looking for the snook.:F


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## M.Magis

How'd it go? I hear the storm made mess with the water, but really brought the shells up. Best shelling I've ever seen was just after a hurricane went up through the Gulf.


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## "chillin"

M.Magis said:


> Well it isn


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## heidlers

Warehouse, I realize I am a little late to the dance on this one...sorry. TBH, I have been fishing down there for over 20yrs and rarely use hardbaits. I do so well with a variety of plastic jerkbaits that I never use anything else typically. DOA makes a nice line of shad tail and paddle tail plastics I use on varying size jig heads (depending on current, wind, depth, etc.) You need to be sure to have a good flouro leader though or the blues and spanish maks will tear clean through everything no matter what you are using. The only time I don't use plastics, in general, is when I am looking for snook on the beach. I use a small white Spro Prime Bucktail jig. There is a spot from around Point of Rocks southward for about 1/2mile that I usuually do really well when the snook are on the beach. Though I gotta tell you, if you really want to have fun, and challenge yourself, try fly fishing the snook at night around the lighted docks!! A BLAST!

Good luck. sorry for the late reply.


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## HOUSE

Hey guys, I'm back. I just missed your reply heidlers, thanks for the tips though. M.Magis, you were right about the shells, holy cow. I found some beauties outside of Nokomis beach as well as 3 shark teeth. I also saw your drum "band" there, LOL! They left much to be desired, but it was still fun. Anyways, here's my "official" report. I was waiting for my pictures, sorry:

*July 2012: Florida Fishing Trip (Sarasota, Florida).*

Day 1 tarpon fishing was awesome. We hit the water at 5:30am and found the water to be awfully muddy following the tropical storm. There was only 1-2ft visibility in water that is usually clear 10+ft down. For the day, we missed 8 big runs but still caught a lot of fish. Of the 8 big runs, 2 tarpon hit and jumped out of the water throwing the hook, while the other big fish pulled our boat for 15-45 minutes. One of them pulled us a half mile towards Tampa Bay before breaking off. Our guide was actually a family friend who retired down there and fishes for tarpon several times a week and he said that 2 of our hits were definitely tarpon but the rest were probably sharks or cobia. We caught a million pinfish and grunts for bait using fish finder rigs and in the process we caught a lot of interesting fish along the way. We pulled in 3 decent sharks on these rods, a few crevalle jacks, black bass, lizardfish, pompano, and a million slimy catfish ranging from 1-10 pounds. I found it amazing how many diverse fish are in the Gulf. It sure made fishing fun while we waited for tarpon to come along. 

Day 2 brought a little clearer water conditions but heavier winds. We started seeing a few more tarpon in the area, but our guide said they still were not in as great of numbers as he usually sees in the area. Fish totals for the day brought in 3 monstrous sharks (Atlantic Sharpnose and blacktips, I think), a 40 inch cobia, pompano, and a few crevalle jacks all before 9am! We were taking turns for the big rods and on my turn at 9:30am something exciting happened: I was fishing for pinfish near the back of the boat when I heard FISH ON! and I saw the rear right line go down hard, It was one of the biggest hits of the trip. I scramble to the rod and hooked into something huge. We dropped the anchor and the fish pulled us for a good 15 minutes before I was even able to pull in any line on him. 30 minutes transpired of back-and-forth progress when I finally slowed the beast down. At the 45min mark, he changed directions and went under our boat on a late run and I had to drop the rod tip into the water and scramble to the side of the boat to keep the line away from our motor. While I was running around, I ran into my friends rod and got snared by two of his freaking hooks and couldnt move! I told him to just rip them out of my shirt but realized that one of them was actually hooked pretty deep into my back! I reached back to feel it and took my left hand off the reel...slack in the line...fish turned to the surface...circle hook popped out...I cried. About 10 yards away we saw a massive flash of silver dart under the water and almost break the surface. The captain said in 7 years of tarpon fishing he's only had 1 tarpon not jump right away after being hooked. 

Days 3 and 4 brought much better fishing conditions with much clearer water and stable winds. We saw a lot more tarpon in our area, some of them very close to our boat. I wasnt sure if I could redeem myself after the one that got away, but sure enough around 10am I got a chance. I was fooling around with a topwater musky lure, (the red/white plug I posted before) when I saw a tarpon surface 30 feet off the front of our boat. I walked the dog perfectly 10 yards in front of him and sure enough... big swirl, tight line, drag screams, FISH ON! Then the 2 seconds later, the tarpon jumped, the lure went flying out of his mouth, fish off. Seriously?!? Im cursed with these things, That was the last one I would have a chance at on the trip although my friend would have one more battle.

His tarpon story was a bit more exciting than mine and definitely worth sharing here, too. On Day 4, a smaller sized tarpon (100pounds?) hit off the back left corner of our boat near our anchor. He was so close to the boat he nearly landed on my friend and the sound of him breaking the surface startled everyone on-board. Upon landing, he dove under our anchor line and I started yelling at my friend to drop the rod into the water to keep the fishing line off of the anchor line. He didnt listen and tried to rip the tarpon back...yea, right. The tarpon then jumped out a second time right over the anchor buoy and right behind him jumped a large shark trying to eat him! I wouldnt have believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes. We think the shark landed on the fishing line, as it snapped off, and both fish raced off out of sight. Very cool experience.

My friend redeemed himself later that day by landing a huge 8ft shark after an hour-long fight. I'll post the picture below. I believe it was a lemon shark although it looked like a nurse shark at first. The guide tried to knock the hook out with the gaff and it got stuck in the shark's dorsal fin and almost pulled him in. That was intense. The shark actually went on another run with the gaff stuck in his fin so we had a bit of a scramble trying to get it back. I had to finally hang over the boat and grab the shark by the dorsal fin to pry it loose. You talk about trusting your friends to not let go! 

We ended up fishing every morning on the boat so we only got to surf fish on the first night out there. From the shore we caught a lot of saltwater catfish, but not much else. I was expecting to hunt the jettie for snook, but I never found the time. I did see a few people catching them on live shrimp though. 

Here are some pictures of my favorite catches. Thanks again for everyone that helped with this trip. I'll be doing some more surf fishing in a few weeks in the Carolinas, so perhaps I can use your tips about snook/reds there instead. Tight lines!




























































and lastly, here's Siesta Keys:


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## M.Magis

Nice, looks like a great time. Just curious, where's that last pic taken? The water appears much shallower than any other beaches we've been to. It looks like a place my 2 & 3 year olds could actually get in the water. Maybe the storm did that? It's usually about knee deep within a few feet of the bank.


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## HOUSE

M.Magis said:


> Nice, looks like a great time. Just curious, where's that last pic taken? The water appears much shallower than any other beaches we've been to. It looks like a place my 2 & 3 year olds could actually get in the water. Maybe the storm did that? It's usually about knee deep within a few feet of the bank.


That was Siesta Keys and you are right in that it is very shallow. It is a great beach for little ones. There is about 100yards of white sand between the parking lot and where I was sitting. Then there's about 100yards before the first real drop off. What was cool is that it dropped off but had a sandbar right on the other side for another 50 yards. Cool beach. The sand was like flour and because it was so pure, it wasn't hot sand at all. Here is another view. I have no idea how it got centered on the girl in the bikini


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## M.Magis

Thanks for the info. Well be going back at the end of August, I think well spend a day up that way. Id love to have a beach where boys can actually get in the water. 






WAREHOUSE said:


> I have no idea how it got centered on the girl in the bikini


Thats what I tell my wife. She doesn't buy it either.


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## catmando

Today just North of Phillipi creek on a gulp 3" shrimp in new penny on a 1/16 red jig head

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## HOUSE

catmando said:


> Today just North of Phillipi creek on a gulp 3" shrimp in new penny on a 1/16 red jig head
> 
> Outdoor Hub mobile, the outdoor information engine


Nice! Thanks again for all of your advice. I applied much of it a second time in the Carolinas last week and caught a bunch of speckled trout and even my first red


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