Florida tarpon/ snook

[fishinpox]

Had the chance to go out fishing with one of mikes( owner of marshworks of Florida) guide he sponsors and his tourney partner . We left the docks in a 20 ft custom built Low Tide flats tower boat rigged with a new 250 SHO at 6 am to catch bait ( green backs and threadfin) that dude can slang the crap outta cast net! Once we caught bait off to boca grande pass we head in stiff 20-25 mph winds it got pretty sloppy in the pass ( I though my gf would have no part of it but she handled the rough seas like a champ ). For the big lake guys who complain about 2-3 boats Rollin up in em on a reef I do not advise fishing this pass , we were met by probally 150-200 boats in a 1/2-3/4 mile square!! Talk about potlickin!!! Lol so the traditional way to tarpon fish this pass is live bait but there is a new breed of guys who vertical jig plastic but it is looked down upon by the old school guys due to snagging fish and the run n gun actions these jig boats have . We started throwin live crab at pods of 100+ 100-150 lb tarpon when they would roll. Eventually it got so rough to stay with the gang of boats we drifted on our own , with Tom on the 12" sonar he would locate pods of fish n would say "they are gonna surface to the left 25 yards out cast there " .... Like clock work they would. Like fishing everywhere some days it's live bait they want somedays it's plastic , well yesterday it was plastic . I managed to hook up to 2 tarpon estimated at 130-145 lbs but both threw the hook . We fished the pass for over 8 hours gettin pounded by swells , we saw maybe 3-5 boats hooked up n jump a tarpon out of 100+ boats so it was a tough day for everyone. Around 3 we ran to boca to eat lunch and decided we had enough of the pass so we headed in to snook fish . Kori ( my gf) hooked up 1st with a 20" snook but from what they say that's a dink ! Tom they guy who took us out said his PB is 52"!!!!!! Anyways we caught probally 10 snook 20-26" . I forgot to mention I also caught 2 small grouper in the pass . I shot some video I'll post when I get home n some pics of tarpon Rollin we probally saw 1000 BIG tarpon Rollin n hittin top!! That 250SHO is a beast 75 mph in 8" of water runnin the mangroves !