04/20/2026
We get a lot of weird looks from long-established anglers and guides when they notice that we’re dangling large soft-plastic swimbaits and flare hawks instead of crabs while drifting over tarpon schools. I presume that comes from the stigma associated with the despicable snag jigging “fishery” that existed here years ago. If so, that’s perfectly understandable.
I’d put myself at the top of the list of people who are outraged that someone would set out to intentionally snag a hundred pound fish and drag it to the boat. The mere thought of that is absolutely asinine. I wasn’t born here and I didn’t grow up fishing the same way that the locals do, but that doesn’t mean I don’t view these amazing creatures or this fishery with the same reverence. I’ve been careful to isolate my artificial trips to non-peak season and off-peak times of day to avoid interfering with the guys who do it the traditional way. I’m very cognizant about staying out of their way both in terms of how I schedule and with how I conduct myself and direct my anglers when we’re on the water. To put it simply, we yield 100% of the time.
As for the fish, it’s been just over 5 years since a friend and I discovered we could apply techniques from the mid-Atlantic striper fishery to catch numerous tarpon per tide on artificials, day or night. In that time, we’ve never snagged a fish anywhere in the body and labout 85% of the time, they’re hooked right in the button, inside-out. My artificial lure anglers tend to lose more fish on the jumps than we do when fishing a crab on a circle hook and that’s ok with them.
With our early season fishing in Boca Grande drawing to a close for 2026, I look forward to prime time on the beaches of Sarasota county in the weeks to come. We jumped many, caught a bunch, fought them hard and did our very best to release them green, most often without handling them at all.
See ya on the beach. 🦀
