Shell key/ Ft. Desoto Area

Hello Everyone, Tarpon fishing in the area has continued to be fantastic, especially sight fishing on the beach. Fish ranging from 50-180lbs were caught on nearly every trip in the past couple weeks though the average size was roughly about 100lbs. The number of pods of tarpon off the beach has been amazing most days. Seeing at least a thousand fish per trip is common place right now though not all of them want to eat. I have been nailing them with beautiful sized blue crabs that seem to be extremely numerous on the outgoing tide. Simply look for fish rolling, large dark spots in the water, or slicks on the surface and put a crab in front of them to get bit. Tide and even the time of day doesn’t seem to matter right now. Its all about finding clean water and going from pod to pod until you find some “happy fish” that want to eat. Trout fishing in the mornings is decent with gator trout up to 24″ caught this week though there is already a load of floating grass that can hinder the bite depending on the wind. Bluefish, Large mackerel, pompano, ladies and blacktips can be found in and around area passes with lures and live bait. Catch and release grouper fishing is solid on deeper structure in the bay with live bait and trolled plugs. Offshore a few miles there is a load of big macks and sharks, a few kings, cobia, bonita, and even some permit. Being a sportfisherman though, its tough to do anything else but tarpon fish as good as it is right now. Catch a memory. Capt Tyler Kapela