​Thursday morning proved to be the best kickoff to the striped bass season in many years. I was part of a four boat outing for folks from Sunday River Ski Resort. We had fish busting on the surface for two solid hours. Mostly schoolies but we managed to get two nice 8-10 pounders too. There's tons of small and medium sized river herring around for the bass right now. We caught them on light tackle using MirroLure twitch baits, sluggos, and bucktails. Video coming soon. I've got June dates available - lets go get em! 

The Dept. of Commerce just released its 2014 Socio - Economic Report on Saltwater Fishing.  NOAA's press release stated: "Saltwater angling sales increased 4 percent from 2013, generating $61 billion in 2014 and supporting 439,000 jobs. This year's report includes improvements in data collection and analysis methods for the recreational sector, which helped NOAA scientists gain a more accurate view of the industry's economic landscape." 

Saltwater angling is big business across America. 68 million fishing trips took place in 2014. With this, goes a huge responsibility to utilize our marine resources wisely. Those of us who make our living from these resources must do all we can to protect our oceans and the fish along with advocating for our businesses. Great organizations like the National Assn. of Charterboat Operators, the Maine Assn. of Charterboat Captains and the Florida Guides Assn. provide strong voices on fisheries issues. I'm proud to be a member of all three.   Read the entire report

Jerry Jamison from Bath, Maine hooks and brings this nice tarpon boat-side using spin fishing gear and a live crab. Great Job Jerry!

The tarpon have returned to the beaches of Boca Grande, Captiva and Sanibel Islands after last week's back to back cold fonts pushed them offshore.

​Last week's back to back cold fronts are behind us. The tarpon have returned to the beaches of Boca Grande and Captiva. Jerry did a great job hooking and getting his 75 pound tarpon to the boat on a live crab. Click read more for additional pictures. Video coming soon.  

​We saw this redfish rush the fly and eat in 12" of water. Paul caught it on a 9wt. Orvis Helios H2 rod and one of my whitebait flies.