Tuesday, April 26, 2022. Tarpon fishing, not catching
Jack, Dave and Ben got up early and met Captain Teddy Naftal at his boat at the Rose Marina. The boat has an interesting history. It began its life as a drug smuggling boat in the 1980’s with an 800 gallon fuel tank down the center line and a small steering console in the stern just ahead of the motor well. It was owned by a nephew of Teddy’s, but after a few close encounters with law enforcement, the boat eventually began a second career when one of Teddy’s uncles acquired it and converted it by removing the giant gas tank, and installing a center console. Teddy then acquired it in the 1990’s and has been using for guiding and crabbing ever since. It is about 24’ with an 9’-6” beam with a foldable Bimini top.
It is powered by a single Yamaha 250HP 4 stroke, which seems to provide adequate power. We didn’t really get it up much beyond planing speed because we ended up fishing very close in to the Marina in just 3-4’ of water. We motored just a little bit more than 2 miles total. One place where we anchored was within casting distance of a dock in front of Condominiums on Marco Island.
We had perfect weather for a day of fishing. The temperatures started close to 80˚F, and by noon it was 92˚F, but there was a light wind, and the Bimini top provided adequate shade.
The gear was very simple. Just a 7’ boat rod, medium capacity lever drag Shimano reels spooled with 300yds of 30# mono and terminal tackle consisting of a 1/2oz egg sinker slipped over the main line with a barrel swivel tied to a 32” coated wire 160# test leader with a 7-0 single barbed hook. The bait was some kind of local cat fish with the heads and pectoral fins cut off, leaving a body through which the hook and leader were threaded using a wire from tail to the body cavity. The hook was left curled around the open body cavity.
The technique was very simple as well. Captain Teddy simply cast the lines a short distance from the stern of the boat in a fan, set the drags on minimum with the clickers on, and set in the rod holders. The theory was once a Tarpon took the bait, the clickers would scream to let us know the fish was running. We were then to pick up the rod, turn off the clicker, and slide the drag forward with the rod held vertically. Once the fish had taken all the slack out, we were then supposed to set the hook and then be ready for a big and long fight.
Well, that was the theory. We got on the water at 7am with a 2.6’ tidal exchange with high tide at 10:30am. We went less than 1/2 mile to a shoal just outside the marina adjacent to Stingaree Island where the tarpon were known to frequent. We were surrounded by crab pots for commercial blue crab fishermen. After setting anchor in 3.5’ of water and casting out the lines, we waited. And waited. And waited. After over an hour, one of the reels started clicking, and it looked like there was a fish on.
Jack went to pick up the rod, but just as he lifted it to a vertical orientation, the line simply went limp. Reeling it in revealed a slight curl at the end of the line, indicating failure of the knot to the barrel swivel.
After another hour with not so much as one nibble, we moved a half mile closer to the harbor entrance and did the same thing, but with no action. We then went another half mile out along the channel near the “12” day marker, but no action in over an hour. We were surprised with the kind of bait that was being used not to have had a small shark or skate ever take the bait.
We then motored 3/4 mile to near a partially sunken sail boat wreck off Coconut Island. We saw bottle nose dolphins here, who came very close to check us out.
One of the reels began to sound like we might have had another fish on, but as soon as Jack turned to pick the rod up out of the rod holder, the line went limp. This time, the bait was intact, but looked to Teddy as it had been picked up by a Tarpon, but avoided the hook. Tarpon apparently don’t have teeth like sharks, so a Tarpon strike may bruise the bait, but not shred it.
We did see a huge flock of white pelicans slowly ascending a thermal before heading off on their migration while brown pelicans were diving on bait near by. There are also a few Frigate birds soaring in the area. They apparently hunt on one side of the island, but nest on the opposite side. But as far as any fishing action, it was non-existent. We didn’t have so much as a single nibble over the next several hours. We called it quits at 3pm as we had gone a full 2 hours past the peak of the tide change.
After we got off the boat in Rose Marina, we could see several enormous Tarpon milling about in the open slips between Captain Teddy’s slip and the marina bar. They were hanging around with a bunch of brown pelicans hoping to feed on leftover bait.
We hope that’s not closest sighting of Tarpon we will have on this 3 day charter.
Captain Teddy Naftal’s boat has no frills, so we had to stand in the motor well to urinate. It was essential to not need to attend to a #2 if anyone books a charter on this boat.
We got home hot and ready for naps.
While the boys were fishing, Janet, Sharon and Bonnie explored the Marco Island Museum and historical sites around Naples and Marco Island. The Marco Island Cat is perhaps the most famous artifact from Marco Island.
The museum had a wealth of information regarding the indigenous peoples of Marco Island in the pre-Spaniard and post-Spaniard times. Those who managed to survive small pox and other European diseases ended up as slave labor in Cuba.
The girls managed to find a historically protected out house and an example of architectural use of shells in their explorations.
Everyone got together to have dinner at the Tin City neighborhood of Naples, which were a cannery site at one point in time.
We had dinner at The Riverside, which was another example of an expensive mediocre Naples area restaurant catering towards tourists. After dinner, Ben, Janet and Bonnie got to see the sunset on the beach in Naples while Dave sat in the running get-away car double parked in the “residential permit only” parking at the beach access.
Tomorrow, the boys return to Captain Teddy Naftal’s boat for another day of tarpon fishing while the girls have signed up for a scenic cruise, so everyone will be getting up early tomorrow.
