Wildfly Charters
Capt. Gregg Mckee
Welcome to February. Unfortunately, I'm writing this as a mid-January cold front is barreling towards us and about to drop our morning temps into Falling Iguana territory once again. If you watch the local news or read my daughter Sophie's articles in this paper, you'll know what I'm talking about. These cold snaps always seem to happen right after a stretch of weather they call "False Spring." We had a solid two weeks of that right after Christmas and it was fantastic.
Average January water temps in Southwest Florida usually hover around the upper 60's. Our two-week False Spring bumped those numbers up to the magic mid-70 zone and that brought an influx of big tarpon into Charlotte Harbor.
For those of you who might be new readers, this is the one species that brings anglers from all over the world to our area as these huge fish migrate through in the spring and summer. Getting to cast at some possible two hundred pounders in the first week of January was a rare event on our inshore waters.
Hopefully, by the time you're reading this, our mornings in the low-40s will be a thing of the past and an early tarpon season will be back underway. If the chill decides to hang around, it's still a great time to gear up for the next few months. If you're hoping to scratch a tarpon off your bucket list, booking a guide asap should be your first priority right now. My schedule for March to the end of June is already tight but I still have some free weekdays if you'd like to talk.
If you're a die-hard fly angler, I can't recommend by buddy and fellow writer Capt. Alex Moran enough. He's a phenomenal fly caster and the most entertaining person you'll ever spend time with on a boat. There are plenty of other great tarpon guides in our area, so finding the right one shouldn't be a problem.
If you've never booked a guide for any kind of fishing trip, not just tarpon, my best advice is to do something a little unusual these days. Pick up the phone and call them. Having an actual conversation with the person you plan on spending a decent amount of money and several hours on a small boat with is always a great idea. If a guide is short and impatient with you on the phone, that's a good indication of how they might be out on the water. You should not feel intimidated when you hire someone to take you fishing.
I'm happy to report that the days of bad-tempered guides who are part Capt. Bligh, part Marine Corps drill instructor are mostly in the past. There is more than enough competition out there and in the age of Google Reviews, that style of guiding just doesn't work anymore.
Characters like Punta Gorda's infamous Brock Horner are actually quite rare these days. (Go ahead and Google him if you're not already familiar.) The handful of captains that I know personally in the Pine Island area, and all the guides contributing to this paper, are folks I'd gladly recommend to anyone.
Back when I was living in Key West, there were a few charter boats that had a no-fish, no-pay guarantee, and a couple of them even offered that for tarpon. These guys were exclusively bait fishing at night around the bridges, and the guarantee only applied to peak season, but that's a lot of confidence in your operation. I don't offer that since I'm mostly a fly/artificial guide, and I only fish in the daytime when the tarpon are easy to spot but more challenging. If you're on my skiff from May to the end of July, I'll come close to guaranteeing you'll get a few shots at these fish. Making them eat and fighting them to the boat is between you and the tarpon.
There's obviously a whole lot more to this topic but I'm running out of keyboard energy for this month. I'm anticipating a great season so you'll probably be reading about tarpon for the next few months. If you have any questions or just want to talk fishing, feel free to give me a call sometime. I'm usually a captive audience at home after 5PM. Hope this helps and best of luck out there.
Capt. Gregg Mckee
Wildfly Fishing Charters
Matlacha, Florida
