The Tarpon and Permit bites are both still on fire down here in Boca Grande. Billy and I have both had a tremendous week of fishing. The usual Tarpon frenzy is in full gear. The jig bite is very good first thing in the morning with the fish moving up on the hill by mid morning and the bite switching to crabs and threadfin herring being the baits of choice. Low light conditions or cloudy days they seem to favor the threadfins as I believe they are a little easier for them to see as they have a lot more flash to them. The boat traffic is fairly heavy with everyone wanting to take a shot at the Silver King but patience and a slow quite approach works best. The bite was so good this week that even my good friend Terry Collins from Pepin Distributing landed a nice Tarpon by 7:30 in the morning on Wednesday. We also had a solid afternoon of Permit fishing on Tuesday with Patrick Catone and the boys from Buffalo Wild Wings scoring some nice slot sized Permit. We found a nice school of about a hundred or so fish working the swash channel right along the beach in front of Cayo Costa. Every crab we could get in them got ate immediately. Few fish put up the shallow water light tackle fight of a permit. I use 30lb Ultracast Invisabraid with a 20 or 25lb flourocarbon leader max. Permit have quite keen eye sight and in shallow water can get a little spooked if your tackle is to heavy. Small pass or blue crabs are the ticket to catching these feisty fish.
The bite on Tampa Bay is also going strong with Tarpon stacked up heavy at the Sunshine Skyway pier. The crew from TA Mahoney Co. reports steady action from dust till dawn as long as the water is moving.
Check out more of Capt. Michael Anderson and Capt. Billy Nobles every Saturday morning at 6:30am and Sundays at 11:00am for The Reel Animals Fishing Show or catch them on the radio every Sunday morning 8:00 to 10:00am for Reel Animals Radio. To book a charter call 1866GAMEFISH
