What a day to end the tarpon season. It's been a fantastic season and as I switch gears from tarpon, gag grouper season opens tomorrow. I had Joe on board for the day and we found some great schools of fish. Once again they were random rolling fish, so DOA bait busters were the baits of choice. He and I jumped several fish and brought two to the boat. An unbelievable day and I can't thank you enough for the great time. Here's Joe with the first silver king of the day... Capt. Dan

I want to send a big thank you to everyone for voting my charter business the Best of the Best for the 2014 Citrus County Chronicle contest. It's a great honor and with many of the other guides I work with, we all work as one big team out there. I look forward to every charter and making great memories with all my clients. Thank you again and I'll see you on the big pond soon.... Capt. Dan

These last two days have been great spending it with Don and Patsy and their tarpon determination paid off. Tarpon season is winding down and usually by July fourth, it's pretty much over; except for some river fish. We checked several different areas the last couple days and saw tarpon on all of them. The fish weren't  congregated, but rather rolling here and there. DOA bait busters presented ahead of the fish work outstanding for artificials and we also landed one on a live mullet. I had a fun time spending four days with you both and I can only hope we can do it again next year. Here's Don with a beautiful tarpon released to fight another day... Capt. Dan

A great group on board from the Villages and Norm, Buck, Larry and Lenny did great. We began today's trip running offshore and dragging MirrOlure Lil' Johns on the grass patches in 10ft of water. The trout action was excellent and some mixed bag species of sea bass, grouper, lady fish and sharks were keeping us busy as well. We were only able to make one good drift before a heavy thunder storm chased us inshore and I hated to leave the great trout bite. Safety always comes first and we made the safe call. After dodging the storm, the team and I hit the back country looking for a high tide red fish, but the red fish Gods were not with us today. The guys still had a fine catch and I than you all for the fun time... Capt. Dan

Another fantastic day with Don from Montana on board and we chased down the tarpon again. It was a very slow start to the day for us with not much happening. We check several places, but with the strong incoming tide, the poons didn't want to pop up. Finally around 2pm, the tide started dropping out and the tarpon began rolling and we had some shots. We presented a DOA bait buster perfect to a rolling fish and we were hooked up. A good 30 minute fight and we brought the fish to the boat before the hook pulled; but we had a great fight. A great time and here's Don in the heat of the battle with a Nature Coast tarpon... Capt. Dan

A fun day with a great husband and wife team from Montana on board and Don and Patsy were in tarpon mode. Don has caught a couple tarpon in the past, but he wanted to experience a Nature Coast heavy weight. We left the dock just after seven and made our way out. The choppy conditions weren't the best to see rolling fish, but every once in a while one would pop up. Around the tide change, conditions improved and the fish got happy. We were able to jump a nice fish and had a couple others interested in our DOA bait busters. A really good time and it was a pleasure to have you both on board... Capt. Dan

I had the pleasure of spending the day with Capt. Jonathan Hamilton we made a trek south in search of tarpon. I'm always trying to learn new water and he took me down towards Pine Island and we fished the famed Oklahoma flats or "The Sand". The afternoon tide was absolutely perfect and we encountered several schools of tarpon. I was able to put one in the air with the fly rod, but one jump and she spit the fly. This area is the closest to fishing the keys as we have to offer and it was a great day. Here's a picture I took and any tarpon fisherman dreams about; a head on shot with a school of approaching silver kings... Capt. Dan

Day three with Rich and Matt and for today's trip, they requested trying to tackle a Goliath grouper as well as some tarpon fishing. I said "oh yea, we can do that" and I loaded up the big rod. To be honest, I haven't caught on in a while and I was just as excited as they were. Goliath grouper love live jacks for bait , so we got out the plugs and caught a couple to put in the live well. With a couple frisky jacks ready to go, we ran offshore and dropped on some rock piles and ledges. The first couple of stops didn't produce, but dropping on one of my favorite under cut ledges was the spot. We sent down the jack and "wham"..... The guys were in the battle of their first Goliath grouper and with a hard tug of war, brought it boat side. I took some great pictures and with another jack in the live well, I said "lets do it again". In just a matter of minutes the rod doubled over and the battle was on. This fish was considerably larger and the first fish was well over 200lbs. Into the fight, the rod breaks and I had to hand line in a 300lb Goliath grouper - it was quite a sight. Two really large fish and some great memories of a hard fight. I can't thank you both enough for a fun couple of days and I look forward to seeing you next year to do it again... Capt. Dan

Back to the tarpon flats for another really good day and Rich and Matt did it again. The team put a couple more tarpon in the air and I was even able to jump one myself. The calm conditions couldn't have been any better and it was truly a beautiful day. I've been using Gloomis and Sage 12wt fly rods and Billy Pate tarpon fly reels for the tarpon tackle. When targeting these fish, a super smooth drag is a must, as well as a stout rod to do battle with these unbelievable hard fighting fish. A great day in the books and another great tarpon shot. I'm looking forward to day three with you guys and thank you for a great one today... Capt. Dan

Today was day one of a three day fishing adventure with Rich and Matt from Maine. The guys came down to do battle with tarpon on a fly rod and they did great. The June full moon is upon us and this is one of the best times to target these great game fish. We hit the tarpon grounds and had several eats, jumps and even brought one in for a leader touch. Black, brown and grizzly colored flies were the ticket and both of them really did well. I'm looking forward to tomorrow and here's a great shot of a tarpon going airborne... Capt. Dan