04-26-2001, 04:43 PM
The Tarpon fishing on the flats slowed this week, but the fishing in Captiva Pass was excellent. The blame for the slower fishing on the flats can be put with Mother Nature. Last Thursday we had temps in the lower 50's with strong winds. The cooling water on the flats can make it difficult for the fly fisherman. Yesterday with a very calm morning I saw over 50 Tarpon milling around in 3 1/2 feet of water, and that was more Tarpon than I saw all last week on the flats. The fish were not in the feeding mood. Bill Cole had numerous shots at the fish on the fly rod, but we couldn't get them to strike the fly. Captiva Pass was another story, the fish were thick in the pass, and could be seen rolling all over the surface. Most of the fish were caught on live Pin Fish or Threadfins while drifting through the pass. The boats were hooking up at least 4 fish on one tide. The time when most anglers feel that Tarpon season is really here is when they show up in Boca Grande Pass. Will they have! Capt. Harvey gave me a report that the fish were so thick that his depth finder only read 30', when he knew he was in 80' of water. <br>The redfish haven't been showing themselves quite like the Tarpon have. I did manage to land 5 yesterday, but all were on plastics and with a fair amount of work. The fish that I had Bill Cole throwing to on the fly were very unresponsive. They would look at the fly and then slowly move away. After several fly changes we switched to plastics, which the readily ate. I have also heard of reports of Snook moving to the passes and the beach, I will look for some of them this week and keep you posted.<br><br><br>