CFLFR STAFF TAKES A FISHIN ADVENTURE WITH CAPTAIN TIM MILLS ON THE DHATLDOITA few month's ago, I decided to start planning a fishin' mission to the south west coast of Florida. Stories and video of the Tarpon rolling in Bocca Grande Pass, as well as the renowned Redfish and Snook in the mangroves around Lemon Bay have been calling to me for years.
I immediately emailed Capt. Tim Mills to find out if he would be available for Memorial Day weekend. We planned on fishing all day on Saturday, Reds and Snook in the morning and then play the Tarpon herd dance in the afternoon. Having not fished that area of Florida too much, I was ready to go weeks in advance. So Friday after work, Mike, Terry, Aren and I (Justin) headed out for a couple hour drive south.
In the morning we met Capt. Tim at the dock, 6:45 am sharp. In minutes, the Dhat-l-doit was underway. The weather was beautiful enough to forget about slight wind and chop in the harbor. After a short ride, the Capt. pulled into a nice quiet channel and set anchor. Another guy in a small aluminum jon boat, trolled by trying to coax a snook onto his hook. He had the grouper face of a man that has been doing too much fishing and not enough catching.
As soon as he trolled past, Capt Tim had the gear ready and cast into what turned out to be a honey pot of Snook. Aren had a fish on within a couple seconds of hitting the water. I reeled in 2 nice ones and so did Mike. After that spectacular start we hit up some other sweet spots around the flats, landing good fish at each.
With the sun climbing higher in the late morning, Capt. Tim took us out in the bay to see what the trout were up to. Setting anchor at the right spot just off a sandbar, got us on the bite for some keepers for a couple hours. I nabbed 2 nice long ones and it seemed like one of us constantly had a fish on at all times. When the wind started to pick up, we headed back into the mangrove channels for a check on yet another honey pot of snook, reds, jacks and even a nice grouper reeled in by Aren, although not quite a keeper, he sure was pretty.
By now the time was right to head over the Bocca Grande Pass for some Tarpon craziness. On the way, Capt. Tim explained how we would setup and fish for these glorious monsters. He would set the boat ahead of the school and they would swim right under us, while we set our lines directly under the boat. He would maintain position to keep our lines vertical and let us know when to reel our lines, fast to move the boat, faster than you have ever reeled for a fish on! I was amazed at the 50 to 60 boats, all jostling to stay out of everyone else's way and stay with the fish at the same time. The giant Tarpons were surfacing all around the boats, which in itself is a site to see, grabbing some air and then diving back to the bottom in search of food. During the 3 or so hours we were out there, we only saw 2 or 3 anglers hooked up, they just weren't biting like they should have been. We had a couple of nibbles and false alarms on the rocky bottom and the good Capt. was on top of everything the whole time, like he's done this a million times. Although we didn't hook up, in a way we were kinda glad, the idea of fighting a lunker for over an hour was tiring in itself after already being on the water for over 8 hours. The experience was awesome and I can't wait until next year and try again.
On the way back to the dock, we hit yet another spot for good measure. It was late in the day, we and the fish were exhausted, so after a good 20 minutes of the one more cast game, we headed in.
Back at the dock, Capt. Tim filleted our catch while we searched for the car keys, forgotten in the water safe under the console. We had an awesome day on the water and thanks to Capt. Tim Mills, we did not just fish, we caught. |
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09/22/07: Better Feeds 06/06/07: CFLFR STAFF TAKES A FISHIN ADVENTURE WITH CAPTAIN TIM MILLS ON THE DHATLDOIT 12/29/06: 2007 Fishing Tournament Dates Posted 10/14/06: CFLFR Launch Party 09/02/06: Better Profile Addresses 08/17/06: New Custom Shirt Design From CFLFR 08/09/06: Fishing Gear Store Open For Business! 07/02/06: Live Tide Data Added To CFLFR 06/02/06: CFLFR Official Apparel Now Available 05/20/06: Off We Go! |
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