Well I’m back from Colorado and out on the island. After resolving some last minute upgrades to the new boat I finally got out to ‘bloody the decks’. I’m pretty sure when people use that expression they mean fish blood, not mine! I got a late start, but the Tarpon were absolutely EVERYWHERE. I don’t think I went more than 3/4 mile from little pass before I was sitting between two pods fishing pushing 100-120lbs. With all the boats around, none were pressuring these pods yet and they looked hungry. I went down the beach a bit to pick up a few threadfins (I was by myself so I didn’t bother to catch bait early in the AM).
I found a school, got the net out, and went to remove the rear seat back that resides over the center livewell. Well my hand slipped and my right index finger hit the bottom of the rod holder on the back of the seat. It split my knuckle wide open right to the bone. I let it sit in the water for a couple minutes, pulled it out and watched it “spurt” a few times. Time to call the wife and hit the first aid kit.
I got bandaged up, went to lunch with Jennifer and Mason (my wife and son) and headed back out. With the finger splinted i didn’t feel much like dealing with poons so I hit a nice little flat. Spent an hour or so checking out some holes and was rewarded with 3 over slot trout all over 22″ and 1 over slot red that was pushing 31″. No pictures, as it was difficult enough to fish (and type) without that all important finger. Everything caught on a 1/8 gold Johnson sprite because it was all I could work effectively considering the circumstances…and its one of the best fish-finding lures around
I should be fully back into the swing of things by Tuesday, and from the looks of it there should be no doubt that tarpon will come to the boat in short order.

Take care
Capt. Tom McLaughlin