    
Capt. John Sackett
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 | | Posted on Monday, April 23, 2001 - 11:29 pm: | |
Subject: The latest from www.AnglingAdventure.com
Here we go again with my apologies…
This time the delay in my getting this report out was as much a technical thing as it was a too busy kind of thing. Anyway you look at it though, I apologize to my faithful visitors who have had to wait waaaaaay too long for this up to date report! Over the last several weeks, I managed to kill one outboard engine (very mysteriously I might add), one desktop computer system (can you say my right arm?) and even my laptop (so much for back-up systems eh?!). Anyhow after all that adventure, I’m glad to say that I’m now operating a brand new Sony system (thanks to that 18 months with no interest type of thing), and that the fishing is great!
Where do I start?
I guess when it’s been weeks since my last report the best angle I can take with this report is to just give you a paragraph of overview type stuff, and then do some bullet points for you on the action being reported “guide by guide”. In terms of overviews, the most difficulty you’ll probably have in planning a day on the water right now, is probably going to be what type of fish to target! If you want to experience some of the best snookin’ of the year, right now’s the time to get out and do it. Want some terrific kingfish action, do it soon! How about really big permit? Right now is the time to get after them too. Oh yeah, if you want a shot at a whole bunch of truly GIANT tarpon you better have your plans made right now too! Now this is still called “fishing”, and not “catching” so some days will undoubtedly be a lot more productive than others, but the odds are good right now that you’ll have action that you won’t soon forget. Needless to say, with all that kind of stuff to report on, I’m going to get right to the action as it’s being reported up and down the gulf coast right now.
Take your pick…
Capt. Jason Ramsey out of Palmetto is doing some pretty incredible snookin’ right now in terms of both quantity and quality. The most surprising aspect of his recent success on the linesiders has to be the fact that he’s been able to devote just part time effort to them. You see his clients seem to enjoy hooking triple digit tarpon too (this week he put Scott Hesaltine on his first silver king, then Randall Sakai and Ann Robbins were next), so who can blame them for missing out on the snookin’?! Seriously though, he had one afternoon last week when he landed four fish in row that went at and above 30 inches. It was a matter of camping out for a little while on a pod of fish that he could see from the tower of his Hydra-Sports and just waiting for the bite to turn on. Sure enough, patience paid off, the tide switched around and SLAM! They had their first big snook on, then their second, then their third… Well, you get the idea. Palmetto’s Capt. Steve Barron has been busy hunting snook too, and may have offered evidence of the big fishes willingness to eat when one of is clients hooked one of the first 40 plus inchers of the season. Unfortunately, just as Steve was reaching for the fish at boatside, you guessed it, the hook pulled free. That’s okay, I know Steve, and he know where the 40 incchers live as well as any guide I know. I’ll let you know when he lands another. Whether you are looking for quality, or quantity, the snook bite is pretty strong right now!
Kingfish action has been a little on and off, but when it’s on, it’s really on! The kingfish action being reported has come from my 34 foot Baja, Capt. Sam Kimball’s 26 foot Parker and Capt. Chris Seger’s big 32 foot Sportfish too. The action can be a little hit and miss in terms of when it happens, and it seems like more often than not, a really hot morning bite is followed by a relatively slow afternoon one and vice versa. But it seems as if patience almost always pays off right now. Now each of us has his own preferred techniques and locations, but the common denominator has to be the enjoyment we get from our anglers when they see just how fast a reel can spin backwards with a decent kingfish on the end of their line! If you want to see the best example around of pure speed on the water, a kingfish will definitely show you a thing or two. Match you tackle to fish your finding and just have a ball! A good example of doing so had to be last Sunday when I had the opportunity to fish with Jerry from up in the Syracuse, NY area for the first time. Jerry and I had just hooked over one of the biggest kings I’ve fought over the last couple of weeks when we hooked-up while trolling around a giant baitpod just a mile or so off the beaches that day, but upon receiving a call on the radio from Capt. Sam I decided to change techniques and anchor-up right out in his neighborhood. Well, as I pulled near Sam’s boat to position myself, I could see that the action he was reporting was certainly accurate. Just picture 3 of Crowder Rods’ finest spinning rods doubled over simultaneously under the stress of 3 kings at a time! We anchored up a hundred yards or so away, but the laughter could be clearly heard from on boat to another, as Sam’s customers continued hooking fish at a torrid pace. We paid our dues, got our own chumslick going and after about 45 minutes our rods finally started feeling the same sort of strain. You may catch bigger fish trolling in close to the beaches, but chumming up fish in the 8-18 pound bracket and casting to them with light spinning gear is something that you’ve just got to try! Just do us a favor and try to hang onto your rod when they slam it (right Jerry?)!
Aside from all that kingfish kind of stuff, Capt. Sam and Capt. Chris have also been two of the busiest guides I know of when it comes to tackling trophy permit too! While our inshore and nearshore trips are still producing relatively few glimpses of the permit that are yet to come, the boys working offshore are well on their way to having one heck of a permit year. Needless to say, it’s a rare day right now when either of those guys pulls away from the dock without a livewell loaded with enough crustaceans to entertain their clients. In fact Capt. Chris’ only complaint is that on those days when the fish are “tailing” in 90 feet of water, it just so darned hard to get a bait to the “big” fish without the “little” ones from beating them to their offerings. While it may not come as too much of surprise to anyone that has enjoyed a good permit bite with us in the past that 12 baits can easily result in 12 fish, the fact that the “little” fish in Chris’ case are 20-30 pounds and that the “big” ones are between 40 and 50 pounds is truly impressive! If you want in on some of this action, I’d recommend a little weight lifting in preparation!
Okay, accuse me of saving the best for last if you must, but as an admitted “tarpon addict” there is nothing quite like the start of tarpon season. In our case we were fortunate to start our season back at the end of February, but now Capt. Mike Wise down in the Boca Grande area is getting in on the action too. While his snook and redfish normally get going sooner than ours, tarpon season starts just a little later there than it does here in the Tampa Bay area. When it comes to shear numbers of fish though (and more huge sharks than you can imagine!), Mike’s back yard can be an incredible place to fish! If you are looking to experience the best action Boca Grande has to offer, Capt. Mike’s 20 foot Lake and Bay flats boat is a heck of way to see it, and Mike is just the guy to show it to you.
Right here in Tampa Bay, Capt. Jason and myself have both been doing a decent job on our early season silver king pattern for weeks now, but Capt. T.J. Stewart, one of our newest partners has been absolutely on fire. Take last Friday for example, Jason landed the first fish of the morning aboard his boat, but then T.J.’s clients managed to hook just about every fish in the county. At least it seemed that way. In the end, both guides had their clients doing “Kodak moments” with huge fish, but the scorecard on T.J.’s Honda powered skiff was out of this world with at least 10 fish hooked, and three boated for pictures! Add to all that some terrific snook action in the afternoon and you’ve got a really cool kind of day. Now take into consideration the fact that the sightcasting season for these awesome fish is just beginning, and we’ve got more to look forward to over the next couple of months than I can even imagine! If you’ve never done the “tarpon dance” get in touch with us real soon.
Well, I hope that gives you some idea of the world-class action we’ve got going on right now. If you’d like to book a trip that you’ll not soon forget come and visit my website http://www.AnglingAdventure.com and I’ll get you hooked-up!
Like my friend Capt. Mark always said,
Catch ‘em up!
Capt. John Sackett
(941) 920-4891
|
