This is my favorite time of the year...no crowds, cooler weather, and big bonefish. Rich Reynolds from Miami had a day to remember while sight-fishing the flats off of Marathon...he hooked 7 bonefish, landing 5. Three of the bones were double digit specimens, with the largest going 12 pounds. All were caught on 10 pound spinning tackle using live shrimp attached to a pink Buddy Bug.

Bob Sutherland of Plattsburgh, NY enjoyed an active morning of targeting big tailing bonefish with a fly rod. His largest bone broke the 10 pound mark on a boga-grip scale. 

Bill and Jacqueline Stitt from Summit, NJ. enjoyed a mixed bag on the flats. In a couple of trips, Bill got a bonefish, a 25 pound permit, and on the final afternoon,  the husband and wife team got into a nice school of small, frisky tarpon. Out of 15 bites, they put 13 tarpon  in the air, landing 3 of them (15-30 pounds).

Not all of the tarpon we encountered this fall were little guys. Fishing the waters of Everglades National Park, George Jazombek and Helen Altamonte of Abingdon, MD. landed several tarpon in the 60-80 pound range and one that went well over 100 pounds.

We enjoyed several active days out on the reef, targeting the tasty yellowtail snapper on light tackle. Tarpon fishing at night continued to remain good; we averaged about 6 to 8 hookups a night, usually landing about half that number. Though they ranged in the 20 to 40 pound class, they were lots of fun on light tackle. They weren't all small however. Just ask Tiffany Irvin of Roswell, Georgia. She landed a 90 plus pounder (her first tarpon) while her husband Jason landed a pair of 25 pounders.

Moose and Tina Watsen came all the way from Arizona and enjoyed great variety in both techniques and fish landed. At the end of 4 days they had tallied 28 different species (29 if you count the lobsters they caught while snorkeling). Some of the highlights included 8 tarpon releases, a great haul of yellowtail snapper, numerous blacktip sharks (up to 40 pounds) caught in shallow water on light tackle, and a 35 pound African pompano caught on a deep wreck. They are already planning next year's trip back here. If you're into munching, give Moose and Tina a call at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory out there in Flagstaff.

With school being out, I fished a number of family groups who were basically looking for action and some fish to eat. Florida Bay came through for us in a big way, providing some very good fishing for big seatrout and keeper-size mangrove snapper.

Jim and Anne Moynihan of Chesterfield, VA brought their grandchildren (Dylan and Devon... ages 6 and 7) on board for an afternoon of nonstop action with snapper, small groupers, jacks and small sharks (2-3 footers). I'm pretty sure when the kids got back home they informed their father that there would be no more fishing trips without them.

What with fishing two trips a day six days a week, this spring was a real blur of activity. This is the time of year that offers anglers great opportunities to catch tarpon, bonefish, and permit. Having shots at all three species in a day is quite common at this time.

The tarpon and bonefishing stayed pretty predictable. As always, our best permit fishing was in and around the full and new moon period. It was our best spring ever for sight fishing tarpon on the flats with both fly rod and spinning gear. This spring also produced some very memorable trips, several of which are described in the following paragraphs.

Hooked on Fishing...Sometimes fishing trips don't always turn out as planned. Mark and Lisa Hughey from Concordia, KS were enjoying some pretty decent tarpon fishing, landing several nice fish via sight casting on the flats and live baiting at the bridge. Late in the evening trip Mark hooked another pretty nice tarpon. We threw the anchor buoy and chased after the fish as usual. Mark survived all of the jumps, runs, and the bulldogging from this strong fish, and after about 45 minutes we had the tarpon at the boat. I grabbed the leader at boatside and took a wrap around a gloved hand, ensuring at least a qualified release for my angler.

Suddenly, the magnificent fish exploded out of the water and stood on its tail, illuminated in the dark by the search light that Lisa had on it. The fish just seem to hang there for a moment in the air, then started violently shaking its head. The 8 foot leader of 100 pound mono stretched to the max, and suddenly the hook shot back at me as if fired from a rifle. It hit me square in the upper lip, opening up a large gash. Luckily, Lisa was a registered EMT and got me patched up enough to get the boat back to the marina. Helen met us at the dock and whisked Capt Buddy off to the emergency room. Fifteen stitches later, I was good to go for the following evening.

Somebody Find Us a Marriage Counselor!!!  The evening following our "Hooked on Fishing" experience, I fished Eric Worley and friend from Kentwood Michigan. Both anglers were trying for their first tarpon; they had shared the same dream for years of catching a Silver King.

Lodging in Key West, they told their wives they'd be out fishing from 5 to 9, and that they'd be back in Key West in time to spend the rest of the evening with their families. Seemed simple enough.

By 9 PM we had hooked several tarpon, but had yet to land one. Afraid my anglers were going to go manic depressive on me, I gave them a little extra time, hoping one of them would hook up (hey, I wasn't going to be the one in trouble for being late).

At 9:28 we hooked a large tarpon that was fighting like a fish twice its' size. For over an hour we followed this fish without even being able to so much as turn it. Even two hours into the fight our tarpon still had plenty of energy, and jumped again to prove it (a form of tarpon profanity). At the two and a half hour mark we finally got the fish to the boat for photos, and the mystery of why it fought so hard finally became apparent. We were looking at a 100 pound fish that was foul hooked in the side; no wonder we couldn't turn its head! We got some photos, plucked two scales as memorabilia, and released the still feisty tarpon into the night.

However, the real fight hadn't even begun yet. We finally got back to the dock at 12:30 AM, whereupon my stalwart anglers called their hopefully understanding spouses on my cell phone to explain why they weren't in Key West yet. The ladies were quite unimpressed with the epic "man vs. beast" spiel, nor did the, "Honey I just caught the fish of my dreams" line seem to draw much sympathy. Though I was trying to stand a polite distance away, I could clearly hear both ends of the conversation. Seems there were questions about their true whereabouts, as well as statements regarding each mans' lineage. It wasn't pretty.

Being an optimist, I reminded the guys that they not only had photos, but each man had a large tarpon scale for conclusive proof of their whereabouts. But in Eric's words, "It's going to take more than a tarpon scales to fix this. I imagine my weary anglers' "plastic" took a big hit in Key West the following day.

A Cowboy in Paradise Pete Cathcart, a bona fide rancher from Carpenter,WY enjoyed several days of action-packed tarpon fishing. We started by successfully targeting smaller ones, but I knew he wanted a shot a bigger fish. What I didn't know was that Pete routinely took medication for his heart.

Soon we were hooked up to a big, active fish.   Pete fought the fish valiantly, as it charged back and forth through the bridge pilings. We were hooked to a real "slalom runner", a challenge for both angler and boat handler alike.

After about 10 minutes, I noticed Pete lowering his rod and fumbling in his pocket for something. A camera? A stick of gum? "Pete, what's happening up there"? A prescription bottle! Oh, this is not good. I bolted from the helm to the fighting deck with the sole intention of cutting the fish loose and whisking my angler to the nearest marina.

"No problem, Captain," says my panting angler. "This happens whenever I get too excited. Just give the pills a minute...and I'll be alright." Hmmm.

I didn't leave Pete's side until that rod went back up in the air and he began pumping the fish back in. He landed it too, a solid 6 footer that I estimated at just under 100 pounds. Man, these cowboys are TOUGH!!!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Captain Buddy LaPointe, has over 20 years of experience charter fishing in the Florida Keys.  A cum laude graduate of Pensacola Christian College, Captain Buddy is professional, courteous, and dedicated to showing his clients a great time on the water!  Captain LaPointe has been featured in Florida Sportsman, the Miami Herald, and on Mark Sosin's Saltwater Journal, (seen weekly on national television). In addition, Capt. Buddy has written numerous articles for Sport Fishing Magazine, Saltwater Sportsman, Boating Magazine, Fishing the Florida Keys and the Florida Keys Keynoter.