Key West Tarpon Strike Out

On April 3rd, 4th, and 5th I headed south to Key West, Florida for a weekend of Tarpon fishing. I had envisioned the Tarpon migration would be close to full swing, but as all fishermen know the game plan does not always work out. I booked three days of guided fishing with my brother and father and although we didn't boat any Tarpon, we could not complain about a trip where we caught our fill of Blacktip Sharks, Nurse Sharks, Jack's, Mutton Snapper, Gag Grouper, among others. Day 1: Key West Pro Guides After landing around midnight we shook off the cobwebs and got to the dock by 7:30am. After buying a case of beer at Hurricane Hole Marina we found our guide. "How's the Tarpon bite been Captain?" I ask. After reading the reports and forecast on my flight down I knew what he was going to say. "Slow" he says. "The full moon has them eating at night, if that's what you want to look for it will be a slow day". Well F that then... we decided to catch some bait and start a chum slick for sharks cruising the flats and around the deep shipping channels. After a quick 20 minute run we position between two islands with a mangrove lined channel about 150 yards wide and 10-15 feet deep. Tarpon are rolling everywhere... everywhere! Reaching into the live well we rigged up three pinfish to drift behind the boat. Not long after hitting the water the pinfish are getting nervous, darting around the end of the line, but no eats.. This went on for the first hour as pods and pods of poon's just rolled by without a care in the world. After losing patience we decide that we needed to get some blood on the deck to start the weekend. Repositioning the boat we see a school of big jacks cruising the mangroves about 30 yards away. Sight casting a lively pinfish about 10 yards ahead of them was immediately consumed as soon as it hit the water. As soon as I set the hook we have a triple header of 8-10lbs Jacks. Over the next hour we had numerous triple hook ups totaling out at 30 Jacks up to 20lbs, two big Mutton Snapper and a Gag Grouper. During one triple hookup a curious 8-9ft Hammerhead Shark started harassing our hooked fish and chasing them to the boat. We quickly twisted up a wire leader and free lined a wounded Jack, but the hammer never returned.Now we have our chum and it's time to look for sharks. We made a run to the edge of nearby shipping channel where the cruise ships and large vessels begin their entrance to port from deeper water. We quickly filet three or so jacks and begin our slick. It does not take long for the Stingrays to show up first, then the Nurse Sharks, then the Blacktips. Non-stop shark action for the next hour including a foul hooked blacktip that put on quite an acrobatic show during the 35 minute fight. The day comes to an end and we hit the bars to complete a successful first day. Day 2: Following a late night at the bars we had no choice but to sleep in to nurse the hangovers. We headed back to Hurricane Hole Marina to meet our guide for day two. We decided we would head offshore to look for Permit spawning over the wrecks. Little did we know it would be an uneventful yet interesting day. After running about 40 minutes in a rain storm we pull up to the first coordinates above a wreck in about 90 feet of water. As the rain passes and the sun appears I look over the boat and see a huge school of Permit hovering above the wreck about 40ft down. We each rig up a crab and lower it down above the wreck. I can see the Permit checking it out but very cautiously. i start slowly reeling up to entice a bite and as soon as the Permit start to follow they turn and vanish back to the wreck and we don't see them rise again.Time to change locations. In the distance I can make out something fairly large white and blue floating on the surface. "What is that?", I think to myself. "Cuba Raft!", my brother yells. Selfishly I think to myself that the day is ruined because we have to give these Cuban refugees all our water while we call the Coast Guard and wait hours to have them picked up. Thankfully for everyone potentially involved the raft was empty and had orange spray paid depicting the letters "ok", meaning that the Coast Guard had already found the raft and it didn't need to be reported. After inspecting the raft from above I decided it was safe to board for a picture opportunity... so glad that happened. The raft was constructed out of a metal table frame, two car tires, a buoy and a tarp... i have to say it was impressively sea worthy to make it as far as it did. Our guide said that it was the second worst raft he has seen with the first being a couch sitting on top of six car tires. After no luck with the Permit we decided to head to shore to find the rolling Tarpon, and we found them alright. Pods of Tarpon were popping up left and right but they were not eating. We had one pick up and run that felt like a tarpon but it shook the hook before we ever saw it.... I guess the hours of beer drinking numbed our awareness to a rod bouncing viciously. Feeling defeated after getting shutout by the home team it was time to head home for dinner and a night out. Around 1:30AM at the bar we decide we should grab out gear and hit the sea walls and docks for micro Tarpon to 35lbs hanging out under the lights. On our walk home the night before we saw them, but tonight was a different story. We sight casted a 20lb Barracuda for 30 minutes with the big guy not showing any interest for topwater, metal spoons, swimbait, and chunks of pilchards. We headed out to the dock in the marina of our hotel after making friends with the security guard... still no hookups. its 3:00 am after a day in the sun and we have to be up early so we decide to hit the sack. Day 3: Dreamcatcher Charters It's the last day and we are hungry for poons. The Tarpon have eluded us for too long, its felt like years since any of us have jumped one. We show up to the dock around 7:30am to a different Marina. We ask the Captain.. "Any chance we are hooking into Tarpon today?", "The daytime bite is tough right now, if you want to fish all day for a chance to hook one fish we can look for Tarpon". If i was by myself I would have waiting all day for that one Tarpon, however there were three of us and after a day of getting skunked we all wanted in on the action. We opted to catch some chum and look for more sharks. Tide is falling quickly and we head out to the edge of a flat where we quickly fill the live well bouncing bucktails for Jacks, Blue Runners, and Ladyfish. After a quick run we reposition the boat on the edge of a huge hole about 18 feet deep and a couple hundred yards wide with shallow water surrounding the edges. We start our slick and a half hour later I am hooked up with a 4.5ft Blacktip Shark. After a safe release all went quiet for some time. Eventually we see a fin breach the surface in our slick and it is a huge lemon shark about 8ft long. The fin disappears and the boat goes silent waiting for the reel to start screaming, but after a few minutes the big girl never picked up the bait. After this encounter we hooked up with one more Blacktip to end our morning.. time to head to the airport. Overall it was a successful weekend for my first Key West experience and I cannot wait for a return trip to settle the score with the Tarpon