Tarpon will turn on when this wind backs off. Recent strong West winds have hampered our ability to get out in the Gulf and pursue the big tarpon. We are getting a few but it's been tough in rough waters. Winds are down right now but I had to get some service on my outboard this AM. Ingman Marine at Placida was very helpful and they ordered the parts and kept me going until parts arrive. With the holiday weekend we can expect lots pf boaters for the next few days and I may just take the time off for R&R. Tarpon fishing will explode as soon as it calms down in the near shore Gulf waters. Snook fishing has improved and we got several nice trophy fish this week. Everything is set for awesome action when seas calm down. John and Keith flew in for a couple of days of our famous tarpon catching. Winds held us inside Wednesday AM and they each caught big snook from 37 – 44 inches. John had a real twenty pound prize to photograph. We decided to chase tarpon the rest of our time and found plenty of fish but they mostly teased us. The big fish were hungry but hard to get in front of with the wind and seas. Thursday we concentrated on the silver kings and finally got a solid hook up. Keith battled a 130 pounder to boat side and enjoyed several impressive jumps before it shook free next to us. He only had six feet of leader hanging from his rod tip and we got a good splash since the big fish was so close. Again we found thousands of tarpon but it was challenging to get our baits in front of constantly moving fish in rough seas. They are excited about a return engagement with better weather conditions. Gas prices are hurting us but we may have less other boats so maybe there is a bright side to this challenge too. Let's Go Fishin' soon. Captain Van Hubbard www.captvan.com .