What a red hot month for fishing. Whether it be tarpon, snook, or redfish, fishing is at its best. Higer water and warmer days, have fish of all kinds on the move and on the feed. With the influx of baitfish throughout the harbor, there are numerous applications of fishing to take place. One of the hot bites this month will be redfish, big redfish. They can be caught under the mangroves using cut or live bait in the upper slot range, as well as finding them in large schools on the flats. A lot of these fish will be over the slot limit. It doesn't really matter what time of day as long as the tide is moving. On a recent charter, Capt. Jason Dill guided this lady angler to a monster redfish.........
If you want numbers, go for the linesiders. Snook are very prevelant right now. With enough live bait, they can be caught left and right. They can also be caught using cut dead bait, particularly cut chunks of threadfins. A hard moving outgoing tide, or the last of an incoming will be your best bet. On a recent trip with Capt. Tim White, Boston Ken caught 32 snook in a few hours of fishing with cut bait.
A lot of the snook are in the 21-27 inch range, but a few fish have been caught mixed in at 12 pounds and 34 inches long.
Cobia are roaming the upper reaches of the harbor. Find the big schools of threadfins with diving birds, and there will be cobia near. Also check out random markers throughout the harbor, you never know when one of these brown race machines will be lurking.
On a bigger note, the summer has proven to be an outstanding tarpon bite as usual. Big fish entered Boca Grande Pass late and were caught with ease. Pods of tarpon are in the harbor as well as the beaches. Capt. Tim caught his biggest tarpon to date at 190 pounds while fishing with fellow guide and friend Capt. Jay Withers. The fish broke the reel almost breaking Capt. Tim's wrist as you can see in the photos below.....
A hammerhead shark was lingering by the boat, so the fish was gaffed to ensure there wasn't a premature release before the big girl was revived and ready to go and it was far away from the shark.
In tournament news, the 2007 Professional Tarpon Tournament Series has come to an end. Capt. Tim of CHO and Team Maverick(Jon Hoke, Capt. Jay Withers, and Lee Crosby) placed in the top five again in the last tournament of the series with a 144 pound fish......
Another CHO guide who faired well was Capt. Chuck. He and Team Sign Zoo captained by Capt. Rob McCue won the 2007 PTTS championship.....
Congrats guys on a great year! Well, that about sums it up for July. The fishing is outstanding. Be careful with the weather patterns this time of year, don't stay out if lightning is present. Be safe and have fun.
Tight Lines from the CHO Guides
