June was one of the best Tarpon months in years. Every morning glistening silver could be seen, sometimes for hundreds of yards from the boat, and sometimes as close as 10 feet. During the month we jumped quite a few fish on fly, but not nearly as many as normal.. The fish were nervous and acutely aware of their surroundings and anything in the water that wasn’t normal… There was an influx of sharks this year which had something to do with their demeanor. These sharks were not the common everyday bulls, hammerheads and sandsharks, these were bigger and more predacious than usual. There were instances in the pass of Bull sharks actually attacking Hammerheads! Many instances of sharks at the boat were common. We encountered the largest bull I have ever seen in these waters while we fought a triple digit Tarpon…The massive beast was at least 400lbs and 10 feet in length. He charged our tarpon which was about 30 yards from us. We backed off the drag on the fly reel and our fish eluded him somehow. We brought the fish to boat which was about 110lbs and released her and she swam away in good shape….Lots of fish on the beach usually means that fish have evacuated the pass generally caused by turbid or dirty water caused by high winds… if the Tarpon can’t see the sharks, they will leave for cleaner water for survival….Tarpon are at the top of the animal kingdom vision- wise.
We didn’t fish a lot of backwater but when we did had great days catching snook, redfish and seatrout along with some nice Jacks. It is difficult for some people to get interested in fishing for smaller fish when there are 100lb plus fish 5 minutes away!
Larry Rector and his sons Fisher and Raymond all did well in backcountry with Larry and Fisher getting their first snook on fly Raymond caught at least 50 different fish including seatrout and snook. Fisher got a backwater slam with his first snook, redfish and seatrout on fly. The Rectors also caught 5 tarpon while night fishing…..They tore it up!
Sam Adams from Maine had really good shots at Tarpon on the beach and had a couple of follows but no eats. He is an excellent caster and was able to put the fly where it needed to be even in heavy winds….We also saw many sharks that day.
June was an exciting month just wish the fish were as excited! After 18 years of guiding here in the Boca Grande arena, I have never encountered this Tarpon behavior and having talked with 30 other guides and comparing notes, we all agreed that these fish were on-guard most of the time…. We will figure it out in advance of next year…!!!!
Thanks for checking out the fish report and hope to see you soon,
Capt. Al White
Boca on the Fly
