Laguna Kiani Tarpon

This is New Jersey angler Pete Rubino wading crotch deep into the murky depths of a crocodile infested creek near Laguna Kiani, just to catch a ten pound tarpon.

This tidal creek was loaded with bait as well as dozens of juvenile tarpon and some really big snook. Every few seconds we'd see a shower of minnows and then a serious bust right at the surface. Pete hooked two tarpon and his buddies also caught a few nice snook in the short time we fished there.

Not many anglers think of Puerto Rico as a tarpon and snook hotspot but it is. The creeks and lagoons surrounding San Juan are loaded with these fish year round and there are several guides on the big island that can almost guarantee you a hook-up, especially using live bait.

The tarpon and snook here on Vieques are not a constant presence and nowhere near as predictable, but when the do show up they'll eat anything you throw at them, just like they were in the Kiani creek for a while yesterday morning.

P.S. I was just joking about the crocodiles, there aren't any here on Vieques. But Pete didn't know that at the time and he still went in there anyway, which makes it just as ballsy. Way to go, Pete.

And yes, the tarpon was released unharmed right after I shut off the camera.

Stuff I Like: The Nauticle Mile

The Nautical Mile is a great monthly newspaper centered on Pine Island and distributed throughout a good part of Southwest Florida. It's full of terrific information about fishing the waters all around Pine Island and Matlacha, including Boca Grande, Sanibel, Captiva, and Ft. Myers Beach. Every month publisher Jim Griffiths puts out almost fifty pages that contain everything from tide charts to seafood recipies. Of course there are a lot of fishing reports and advice from a stable of twenty local captains and writers, and starting this month I'll be joining their ranks. Best of all, it's free and available to download at http://www.nauticalmileenterprises.com/. You can check out my first article for the paper by clicking here: http://nauticalmileenterprises.com/captgregg.html#may09.

Adopt This Dog, Part 3

Last Thursday I was driving down to launch my boat at Blue Beach and right before I got to the ramp this tiny puppy came running out of the mangroves. Someone had just abandoned her down there that morning. I knew that's what happend since she was totally clean and didn't even have dirty paws. If she was born wild she would have been filthy and covered with fleas. This was totally heartbreaking. I scooped her up off the road and told my anglers that we'd be having an extra passenger on our charter that morning. She drank half a bottle of water and fell asleep under my boat's steering console. She didn't wake up again until we got back to the beach five hours later.

What really drives me crazy is that someone chose to drive this dog down a five mile dirt road and leave it at a beach when they could have drove her down a two mile paved road and left her at the Humane Society instead. I will never understand the mentality of some people.

When I did take her to the shelter later that day, Aleida, the manager, told me that they really didn't have room for her. They're overwhelmed down here with puppies right now. I couldn't keep her since I'm already watching another rescue dog until his owner moves in next month and I'm out of the house for much of the day. At least the dog I'm currently fostering is housebroken. When I brought this little girl home she immediatly peed on my kitchen floor, as most six-week old puppies will do. That's not something I can deal with right now.

My Plan B was simple. I'd hit the bars with her for a few nights and someone will eventually fall in love. I figured I'd be the center of attention for a while, maybe get some drinks bought for me since I had a cute puppy, and I'd find a tourist that would take her home by the weekend. My Happy Hour plan lasted exactly three minutes.

I walked into Al's Mar Azul and the wonderful Kristin, who had just moved to Vieques from Boston, came right over and wanted to hold her for a little while. Done! Instant love at first sight and a happy ending for a dog that was abandoned just that morning. God Bless Kristen and her new baby girl.

Unfortunately, this is the exception, and not the rule down here. No one can resist a helpless puppy. An older dog, maybe needing a little medical attention, is a different story. Those situations almost never end well, especially on small islands in the Caribbean. Fortunately, Vieques is different.

Our stray animals, at least the ones that get to the shelter, are beyond fortunate. They actually have a chance at life thanks to a few underpaid staff and angelic volunteers. The Vieques Humane Society does so much with so little, and if you're coming to the island for a visit, please stop in and see them. Give them a donation, or better yet take a dog home, and I'll give you a free fishing trip.

Kayak Fishing On The Flats, Pine Island, Florida

The April issue of Kayak Angler Magazine had a short but very good article about fishing the waters of Pine Island, Florida. It got me thinking about how excellent this area is for any angler looking for an easy trip for light tackle fishing in salt water.

Pine Island and Matlacha have been a second home to me for over nine years now and I'm thrilled to be spending the entire 2010 tarpon season up here. After ten years of fighting the crowds in Key West and four years of only hooking twenty pounders on Vieques, the monsters of Pine Island Sound will be a welcome challenge next year and a chance to return my big tackle back into the fight.

This is the only place in all of Florida that rivals the Keys for the sheer amount of shallow water fly fishing opportunities, not just for tarpon but snook, redfish, and trout, too. On top of all that, getting to Pine Island is far less expensive and it's accommodations are a fraction of the cost of Key West's.

My schedule is wide open for tarpon fishing in the spring and summer or great redfish this fall, so feel free to give me a call at (787)435-4833 and we'll talk about booking a trip in this excellent and affordable part of Florida. Or check out my redesigned website at: http://www.wildflycharters.com/

The Tarpon Are Back!

And it's about time. After several months of getting no respect from the local bonefish population, a welcome push of Springtime tarpon have started crusing through the shallows here on Vieques. The northwestern flats near Green Beach have been the gathering point for several schools of these fish each morning. We're not seeing the same size of tarpon that you'd expect this time of year in the Keys or West Florida, but thirty pound fish are big for Vieques and perfect for the light tackle and fly rods that my anglers prefer.

The tarpon pictured here was caught by Tom Biziorek of Michigan on an 8-weight Sage fly rod casting a Black Death pattern. This is only a ten pound fish but Tom had a quite a few shots at tarpon three to four times this size. Every time we got in range of these bigger tarpon a small cloud would blot out our daylight and the fly would drop on the wrong end of the fish. Very frustrating. This baby tarpon was one of a school of fifty that finally swam right up to us and impaled itself on the 1/0 Owner hook.

When I first moved to Vieques almost five years ago the tarpon fishing was very consistent on the north end of the island. This slowed down a season later and I havn't chased them consistently for quite some time. Tarpon are not a food species and there is absolutely no pressure on them here on Puerto Rico. For whatever reason, the Vieques tarpon migration is back for the time being. If you're lucky enough to be here this week you'll get to experience a little Key's style tarpon fishing the way it used to be.