Our weather has been simply crazy so this year but I’m hoping it will settle out for June fishing. Tarpon are plentiful and cooperate as we are able to comfortable get outside to them. Fish have been moving up and down the coast for over a month and this migration will continue well into July. The secret is to slowly approach happy schools of giant tarpon and present your baitfish in front of the target. If they are eating you’ll get a bite. Then the trick is to hold your rod still as you rapidly reel your string tight and then set the hook after you feel the fish pulling! This allows your hook to slide into a sweet spot then dig in when you set up. Try to maintain some control as your silver king explodes into the blue sky because you need to bow your rod relaxing the pressure while it’s airborne. Let the big fish run, hold on tight and enjoy the battle. Just stay aware of fish’s actions; the edge here is learning to anticipate your trophies next move. If the line is coming up fast, raise your rod tip because a jump is usually coming and you can’t bow if the rod tip is not up!. When your fish pulls right carefully reverse your pressure to make it turn around, then you reverse again! Keep it confused and turned around this wears it down faster. Save your strength, pull back while your fish attempts to rest; rest while it works!  Experienced, educated anglers land big fish faster and save their strength to do it again.

Tarpon are awesome and never fail to hook any fisherman wanting big game fish action. But we also have some great snook action right now. It is catch and release but still stimulating. These fish will run from about twenty inches to forty and the big mommas will test your metal. We use fifteen pound spinning gear and let em run, jump and tear the water up. Live minnows tease the big ones into biting when everything else fails.

Sometimes we can mix up the trips in one day. Usually the tarpon day break bite is not to be missed.  Schools are happy and laid up waiting for us. But if it’s windy like we have been dealing with; snook, trout, and reds can make our trip successful and memorable. I have shared some remarkable memories on about twenty snook trips last month. It’s so much fun to see folks grin ear to ear, as big snook burn line off my Quantum 40s. We have seen almost twenty pound monsters jump against the green mangroves, dancing on the clear blue green waters. I’ll have several new photos on the web site ASAP! This has been like to good old days so far. Fish catching is all about avoiding the pressure on us and the fish.

Baitfish will continue to get harder to catch as many move away. We always manage to cast net a few to play with. Lures by God, aka live minnows, are hard to beat! Yes, it is getting warm outside but that T Top helps and we start out early anyway. If you want the trip of a lifetime make your reservations soon because I can’t hold Father Time down much longer and time passes rapidly.  The snook bite can be perfect for the family trips because we usually get plenty of action. Let’s go Fishin’ soon. Captain Van Hubbard <www.captvan.com>