Lobster and sharks!

Captain Chad • August 21, 2014

[VIDEO] Janet and Kevin were married in Key West and every year the make the pilgrimage back to celebrate their anniversary. For the past three years I have been lucky enough to get them out on the water with me. Last year we talked about lobster diving and I suggested if they wanted to give it a try we could do a longer trip and both fish and try to catch a few lobsters. That’s exactly what they decided to do this year. We got out on the water bright and early a hit a couple of my best spots to try and tickle a few “bugs” into our nets. Read more The post Lobster and sharks! appeared first on Tarpon Diem | A Key West Flats Tarpon Fishing Charter.

[VIDEO]

Janet and Kevin were married in Key West and every year the make the pilgrimage back to celebrate their anniversary. For the past three years I have been lucky enough to get them out on the water with me. Last year we talked about lobster diving and I suggested if they wanted to give it a try we could do a longer trip and both fish and try to catch a few lobsters. That’s exactly what they decided to do this year. We got out on the water bright and early a hit a couple of my best spots to try and tickle a few “bugs” into our nets. We managed to get just on lobster short of their limit of twelve. Then we made a run down to the west where were able to stake out on some gorgeous white bottom next to a picturesque mangrove island where we were able to get the sharks chummed up. While there were circling the boat we managed to play with a couple before hand feeding them the remainder of the bonito and making the trip back to Key West in time for a lobster lunch. Another great Key West back country charter!

Action! Action! Action!

By Captain Chad • March 4, 2017
Winter tarpon are few and far in between, but there is plenty of other fish to be caught. Daryl and Tina are a couple of my favorite repeat charters they came back to Key West to tie the knot and took time out of their busy week to get out on the water with me. The just love the non-stop action in the basins and they were not disappointed this time. The action was just unbelievable we caught tons of lady fish and jacks as well as some trout and snapper for dinner and Tina’s  hard fought black tip shark. Don’t forget feeding the tarpon at the dock which is Read more The post Action! Action! Action! appeared first on Tarpon Diem | A Key West Flats Tarpon Fishing Charter.

TARPON! [video]

By Captain Chad • February 14, 2017
While the snow piles up in the north the weather is absolutely perfect down here in Key West. Mark booked a half day charter we left the dock at 8:00 am and took a quick look around the harbor but it didn’t look like there was going to be a tarpon bite so we went to the back country to find some sharks. We anchored on the edge of a flat and soon had the sharks swimming around the boat which is a pretty cool experience in itself. It didn’t take long for us to do battle with two nice lemon sharks. Mark thought that was about all he could Read more The post TARPON! [video] appeared first on Tarpon Diem | A Key West Flats Tarpon Fishing Charter.

Holy Shark! Video Footage!

By Captain Chad • January 10, 2017
  [VIDEO]There have been some very large bull sharks in the Key West Bight and Key West Harbor. You don’t have to go far along the Harbor Walk before you hear the locals discussing the very large and intimidating visitors. They have been making appearances at the fillet stations around the charter boats and eating the scraps usually earmarked for the tarpon. The divers whose occupation is to keep the bottoms of many of the boats in the marinas are understandably nervous as the slip on their gear and go to work. Of course I am not so apprehensive about playing with our new visitors. John and Carl were certainly Read more The post Holy Shark! Video Footage! appeared first on Tarpon Diem | A Key West Flats Tarpon Fishing Charter.

Dodging storms and catching tarpon and sharks

By Captain Chad • September 28, 2014
The weather man says there is an 80% chance of rain tomorrow. Should we cancel? That’s exactly what Dale and Anne faced? I assured them that I would enjoy fishing in the rain even less than they would and told them that would see the morning brings. After a rather rainy night we awoke to clear radar an albeit cloudy  sky. We left the dock as the sun was just beginning to make an appearance. We pulled the bait traps and set up to do some tarpon fishing. It wasn’t long before Anne was battling a nice tarpon. We caught a couple black nose sharks and small nurse sharks and Read more The post Dodging storms and catching tarpon and sharks appeared first on Tarpon Diem | A Key West Flats Tarpon Fishing Charter.

Still a few tarpon as well as plenty of sharks.

By Captain Chad • September 17, 2014
Tourist season winds down for Key west in September but the fish are still here. Father son trips are always one of my favorites whether the kids are young or adult as in this case. Fishing is one of those things that bring people together and will create a memory that lasts a lifetime and I considerate it a privilege to be able to facilitate these memories. Steve brought his son fishing. It was a beautiful Key West morning. We decided to start out the charter by tarpon fishing. We caught a nice tarpon, a black nose shark, a little mutton snapper and we lost a nice barracuda. The we Read more The post Still a few tarpon as well as plenty of sharks. appeared first on Tarpon Diem | A Key West Flats Tarpon Fishing Charter.

Larger Party? Take two boats!

By Captain Chad • July 12, 2014
[VIDEO] When a trip comes along that is too large for a single boat my good friend John of Shadowcaster Charters and I often use each other for the second boat. Whoever I use you can be sure that I will get you another owner operated boat with an experienced captain that I trust. Brad wanted to take his family for a full day combo trip of tarpon and shark so he booked a multi-boat charter through John. We started out catching a couple tarpon before heading down to the west to do some shallow water shark fishing. We anchored up in shallow water and rafted off to each other Read more The post Larger Party? Take two boats! appeared first on Tarpon Diem | A Key West Flats Tarpon Fishing Charter.

New Angler in the Will Family

By Captain Chad • July 4, 2014
Those of you who read my blogs regularly (probably just my Mom) will have noticed a lack of activity on my part. The reason is two fold. The first and probably least important it that I have been fortunate enough to be booked nearly every day for the past several months. Thanks to everyone with whom I have had the great pleasure to have out fishing this season. The second and most important reason for my lack of blogging is the new addition to my family. My wife Hollie son Quin and myself are proud to introduce Scarlet Linda to the Will family. She was born at 9:01 pm on Read more The post New Angler in the Will Family appeared first on Tarpon Diem | A Key West Flats Tarpon Fishing Charter.

Nice Sharks in the Back Country

By Captain Chad • April 21, 2014
[VIDEO] Scott always wanted to get into the back country of Key West. So when he planned a trip to Key West for a long weekend he of course booked a six hour flats fishing charter. Scott and Tammy got to the boat at 7:00 and we shoved off for another back country adventure. We pulled the pin fish tarps and anchored up in a channel where we had marked some fish on the bottom machine. There were fish rolling around the boat but the wind was switching around as a cold front was passing through and so the fish had lock jaw and just wouldn’t bite. We finished up Read more The post Nice Sharks in the Back Country appeared first on Tarpon Diem | A Key West Flats Tarpon Fishing Charter.

Monster Key West Tarpon!

By Captain Chad • April 15, 2014
[VIDEO] Danny and Carey Beth chartered the boat for a morning half day of Tarpon fishing. We shoved off as the sun was just beginning to peak of the horizon. We headed to the north end of the harbor to pull my traps and load up the live well  with pin fish. As we were pulling the traps and rebaiting them we noticed some tarpon rolling at the mouth of a channel. We pulled up and dropped anchor. There were tarpon breaking water all around the boat as we settled on the anchor. I put a bait on the hook and cast it behind the boat and it had no Read more The post Monster Key West Tarpon! appeared first on Tarpon Diem | A Key West Flats Tarpon Fishing Charter.

A Well-Earned Tarpon!

By Captain Chad • March 29, 2014
[VIDEO] Steve booked the boat for a Key West flats fishing tarpon trip. It is still early in the migration but there are tarpon around. We pulled the traps and anchored up in the harbor with the live baits and began chunking for the silver kings. It took about an hour to get our first bite. The tarpon jumped and we dropped off the anchor and began the chase. Unfortunately the fish got into a submerged line and got away. We set up again and caught a nice jack. After letting the jack go we waited for quite a while before we rewarded with a second tarpon bite. This one Read more The post A Well-Earned Tarpon! appeared first on Tarpon Diem | A Key West Flats Tarpon Fishing Charter.