tarpon fishing Archives

Best Fisherman on Tampabay

February 6, 2010 By Clay Eavenson

Best Fisherman on Tampabay

You ask your self from the title “Best Fisherman on Tampabay” man this guide is ring his bell but it’s not me. It is an Osprey that flew around us staking the redfish just like me.

Best Fisherman on Tampabay

I was so surprised that this Osprey was on the same school of over slot Redfish that I was. I told my client on the bow to throw at 1clock 30 feet and at the same time this Osprey starts to dive down at the same time my client missed a fish and so did the Osprey I jumped down off the platform and grabbed my Nikon camera and the Osprey came down on a another fish and nailed it

Best Fisherman on Tampabay

as I was snapping away the Osprey could not get out of the water because the fish was to big. He finally started to fly off with this big redfish in his talons and the tail of the redfish dragging in the water.

Best Fisherman on Tampabay

It was one of my greatest things I have seen in all my years of guiding and yes we did boat 2 big redfish that day.

Guides Day Off Redfish Trip on Fly

February 6, 2010 By Clay Eavenson

I got a call from a friend of mine about a nice herd of non molested Redfish in the Tampabay area so I made a phone call to my buddy Capt. Clay said when was the last time you picked up a fly rod. Well I told him to meet me at the ramp at 7:00AM and I’ll give you a few lessons. He said great and I was in the water at 7:00AM and a little while latter we pulled up on the flat with no one around and it just looked to good so I got out my 8wt G Loomis with my Islander Reel and handed it to Clay and said start casting and let me see what I’m in for. I was surprised he did pretty good so I gave him a few pointers so I grabbed the push pole got up on the platform and said get ready we poled up on the flat around a 100 yards and said it looks like my friend was right it looked like about 6 nice schools of Redfish. We got a little closer and got set up for a few cast and I said to him cast to the outside fish what ever you do don’t cast in the herd will you know what happens when you see all those redfish coming at you will he got buck fever and landed in the middle of them we chased them around for 20mins with a few more shots just no takers so we moved on to find those other herds will we didn’t have to go to far and it looked like a few of those Redfish schools joined up so I got set up on them and it looked like around 200 fish and told Clay don’t screw this up and he made a perfect cast right in front of the lead fish and striped it a few time and he got ate fish on will about 10 seconds later he came unbuttoned o-will. The good thing the school moved 50 feet to the left and took one more shot at them and had a few followers and no takers but I guess it was just not Clay’s day for his first Redfish on fly. I asked him how many Redfish he saw he turned to me and said their must be around 300 and I must have had 50 shots at them but I just sucked today so we poled off the flat before we got busted by a passer by so I asked him if he wanted to check a few more spots on the way back to the ramp he said sure so we made a few stops but they all had a few boats on them so we just called it a day and went back to the ramp.
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Tagged as: fishing report, fly fishing redfish, Fly Fishing Tampa, fly fishing tampa guide, Redfish, tampa charter fishing

Kyle Lemke Tampabay Redfish on Artificial

Redfishing on Artificials

February 4, 2010 By Clay Eavenson

I had the pleasure of fishing a old client and friend Brain Harmon. We talked on the phone of what he would like to try to do on his charter. He wants to learn to fly fish for Redfish. I told him no problem I’ll pick you up at the restaurant that he owns G Peppers at 6:30am. In the morning I pulled up with the Maverick be hind the truck for a quick stop of supplies and off to the ramp we went. When we got to the ramp just as the sun was coming up

Brain Harmon 29 inch Redfish

and the big wolf full moon was setting with a light 5 kt north east wind. I told Brain it should be a great morning as we headed to the flat we wanted to fish. I told him to jump up on the bow and we would pole up to where the school of redfish should be sitting when the tide got out some more. We poled up to where I wanted to stake out and grabbed the long rod and started to show brain a few lessons on just keeping the line up and he did good job. I started to show brain how to double haul and a few redfish came by I told brain throw out in front of them and start stripping. The redfish had nothing to do with it so he picked up a spinning rod with a white jerk bait on it and it landed perfect just out in front of the fish and started to work it and bam Brain is on after a 4 minute fight a nice 29 inch redfish comes over the side for a quick photo op and back in the water it went. I got up on the platform and started to look around for the school and it looked like it moved down about 100yards. I started to pole down to them and saw a few singles but no takers as we stopped just up current of the redfish school brain took a shot on the outside fish with no success after a few more shots a big red came out of the school and tracked that jerk bait and ate it hard. I jumped down from the platform and staked out and landed that redfish and moved it to the tape for a quick measurement and it taped out at 32 inches wow what a great fish as we released it. As we sat there talking about what was going on and a osprey came out of no where and hit the water next to us and came up empty so I grabbed the camera and got some photos

Ospray with a Redfish

of him diving down next to us and this time he nailed what looked like a nice redfish and he could not pick the fish up because he was so heavy and finally got up out of the water and started to

Osprey dragging a Redfish

drag the fish up to the flat that was dry and started his feast. I asked Brain if he wanted to hit a Trout hole real quick and he said sure as we powered up for the short run and set up for a drift and as soon as the jig hit the water brain was on after a few more drifts and 25 trout later he said its time for him to get back to his restaurant G Peppers so we head back to the ramp and headed home.

Tampa Fly Fishing Charters & Fishing Charters

December 23, 2009 By Clay Eavenson

My name is Captain Jim Lemke. I am a U.S.C.G. licensed Captain with more than 25 years of fly fishing experience as a full time guide in the waters in and around the Tampa Bay area. I specialize in Light Tackle Fly Fishing Charters for Snook, Redfish, Trout, Tarpon, Permit, and Bass. I guide on the inshore waters of Tampa Bay, Clearwater, Tarpon Springs, St. Petersburg, and everywhere in between.

Just picture yourself being poled down some of the most pristine grass flats in all of Florida. The beautiful Beaches have crystal clear water for sight casting to Tarpon, the mighty Silver King and Permit. The mangrove shore lines and brackish creeks hold wily Snook and the expansive grass flats harbor tailing monster Redfish. Great scenes for your fly fishing experience.

Tampa Bay is the secret fishing hole for tarpon. It’s like Las Vegas, it turns on at night, and night fishing for tarpon under the bridges around Tampa really turns on through late spring, summer and fall. This is without a doubt your best chance to catch your first tarpon, or a trophy silver king to remember for a lifetime. Period. Fish over 100lbs are common- see the photo gallery on this site. And remember, we measure these fish here in feet, not inches.