Anna Maria Island: Unforgettable Fishing Charters
In this blog, I will share a few of my recent fishing charters; Anna Maria Island offers some of the best light tackle sport fishing in the world, and this blog will prove it! Fall Redfish Frenzy
During the fall months, all I can think about are big schools of giant redfish cruising around our grass flats. It’s one of my favorite species to target for many reasons. They fight hard, come up to the surface to crush baits, making a huge splash, and they’re delicious table fare. Finding these fish and getting them to sit still behind the boat can be challenging at times, but that’s part of the fun for me. It’s also good to know that these fish take effort to find, get to bite, and stay on, or everyone would be able to do it!
An Unforgettable Family Fishing Trip
On September 27th, I had an awesome family hire me to show them what Anna Maria Island fishing is all about. I caught bait early that morning, and I knew it was going to be a great day with the rainy weather and forecast. The family consisted of six people, only three of whom spoke English, so I knew it would be a fun and educational trip where I could learn some Spanish that morning. We set out to my first fishing spot, where I have been doing very well. I was up in my tower, about six and a half feet off the ground, giving me a huge advantage when looking for fish. I saw a ton of mullet moving around and decided that this would be the spot to stop. I climbed down, set the anchor, and started chumming… almost immediately, I saw big splashes and boils and knew I chose the right spot. At first, we caught a lot of nice snook, jack crevalle, and seatrout. It was nonstop action for an hour, and I knew redfish had to be around and would show up soon… and they did! A large school of redfish appeared right behind the boat, and we caught them for another hour or so, inviting a couple of my good captain friends to join in on the fun. There had to be at least 100 redfish in the school, with big snook mixed in, making for an epic start to the trip.
Tarpon Triumph
We then decided to let that school of fish go and moved to the next spot. The tide was very low, which is one of my favorite times to fish in that area, and I knew exactly where to go next. The first bait we cast at the new spot was a beautiful, healthy 30-inch snook that put up an incredible fight, and the young boy was so excited. We stayed there a few more minutes, catching many jack crevalle and snook. The young boy then asked if there was a chance we could catch a tarpon, as he’s been watching many YouTube videos of people catching them. I told him I had a nearby spot to check and explained how we catch, approach, and what we’d do when we hook a tarpon. We headed over to the tarpon spot, with light rain falling, and I knew there was a great chance to make an already amazing day even better. I cruised into the spot, shut off the engine, and used the trolling motor, scanning for fish “rolls.” I explained to the young boy our plan (he was the reason the family booked the charter… He was the fisherman of the family). The boy and I fished hard for about 20 minutes when suddenly I heard his drag start to scream (meaning we had hooked a big tarpon). We fought the fish for about seven minutes, landed it by the boat, took a few great pictures, and released it healthy. This trip was one for the books and truly the best shallow-water sport fishing anyone can experience. I’ve chartered many trips like this, and I feel so lucky to fish in such an incredible fishery. My true passion is helping families experience moments like this.
