Tarpon fishing report

It's still tarpon seson in Southwest Florida. We did have a 10 day period of slow fishing the first week of August I believe due to hot surface water but since then the fishing has been some of the best of the year. The fish are harder to find this time of year but when you do it "game on" because these fish are here to feed. Some days we have been finding the tarpon crashing schools of ladyfish and other days we have found them slurping small shrimp and crabs off the surface. There have been all sizes of fish. On any given cast you can hook into a 30 pounder or one well over 100 pounds. Our best luck has been with large swim baits in either either gold or sardine color. In addition to the swim baits we have hooked at least one tarpon each of the last five days on Cajun thunder gold spoons. If the tarpon are feeding heavily on ladyfish schools its been best to try to catch a few live ladyfish and drift them behind the boat. There is alot of by catch around the ladyfish schools and it hard to get the lures to the tarpon. Other than the tarpon, snapper fishing is out of control. You can catch snapper just about anywhere in our area. Shrimp or small sardines are the best baits. Try them in the passes, on the flats and in the mangroves. Find moving water and you'll find the snapper. Its been that easy. Good luck, Capt Scott Hughes Blackwater Charters 941-628-4247 cell www.blackwatercharters.com