Ron had to cancel his tarpon charter last year due to medical issues. This year he got to go and he invited his neighbor Rob. Ron called me the night before and said he would like Rob to catch the first fish and that's how it went. Ron and Rob went 6 for 8 on tarpon on the St. Johns River. Ron shares the same passion for tarpon fishing as me. He had stories of fish he caught in Miami and a Monster he caught on Fernandina Beach and hasn't got to tarpon fish in years. It was special that he got to relive these memories aboard Blue Cyclone on the St. Johns River..

Good News: Blue Cyclone has been refurbished again and she has been repowered with a **hidden content**HP Mercury Pro-XS. Vance Meyer wanted to get some fishing in with his son Noah while he was home from college. I’m pretty sure we sent Noah back to school with a bad case of “Tarpon Fever”. Noah caught his first ever Tarpon on his very first cast. A few minutes later Noah hooked into another tarpon. He got some beautiful jumps from this fish. These St. Johns River Brackish Water Tarpon have a unique gold tint to them. Noah’s 2nd fish got wrapped around something on the bottom and broke the line but we were able to capture some great action on GoPro. The tide turned and next thing you know Noah is hooked into a huge bull red. Needless-to-say, Noah had the hot hand. Vance got in on the action with a bull redfish which is something he told me he always wanted to catch. Vance holds the record for the most spots on a redfish (53) caught on a charter aboard Blue Cyclone on a previous trip. The fish were still biting but it was getting hot so we decided a boat ride would help cool us off. We ventured north of downtown where Vance caught a Gator Trout drifting a live shrimp drifted beneath a Bomber Paradise Popping float. We also caught some mangrove snapper on this stop. We continued North and made a stop in one of my favorite childhood fishing holes: Jacksonville’s most pristine flat: Mill Cove. Vance and Noah caught Jack Crevalle cast after cast in this little honey-hole. They also caught a rather large ladyfish and a few hardhead catfish. Noah wanted to finish the day chasing tarpon which was fine by me because I was thinking the exact same thing. We finished our day within sight of the Jacksonville Jaguars Football Stadium where we landed another tarpon and jumped a few others. The tarpon are running smaller than normal this year but in my opinion these 15 to 50 lb. fish are the most fun anyway. We are expecting some bigger fish to show soon. Our annual Mullet Run will be kicking in soon. This years St. Johns River Shrimp run has been spectacular which is the reason our bite is currently so phenomenal. 2022 fish will be a year to remember on the St. Johns River.

Stefan Fourie's son Grant was in town from the University of North Carolina. We went out for a short 4 hour afternoon trip. 20 knot winds made for a challenging day. We casted lures Downtown Jacksonville. We caught a few spotted seatrout and ladyfish early on. We opted to fish some St. Johns River brackish water tributaries in an effort to escape the wind. Stefan ended up catching the Snook-of-a-Lifetime on a Cotton Cordel Redfin. The fish was 1 ounce shy of 15 lbs.

As we approached a spot known for giving up trophy class spotted seatrout I explained to Norm that he had a good opportunity at catching a really big seatrout. The trout are currently spawning and we have some Giant fish here in Jacksonville this time of year. Big Seatrout are one of my specialties as well. Norm hooked up immediately with a 7 lb. Trout. The fish hit a Heddon SpitNimage plug. Norm caught several more trout and we then headed for the backwaters where we went 1 for 4 on redfish. Sometimes fish get away. Not a bad day considering the 15 knot winds we had on this day.

George Sneller booked a trip to spend a day with his brother fishing. Our goal was to catch some Jacksonville Snook. Snook are traditionally rare in Jacksonville but currently our population is as good as it's ever been. I accepted the challenge. We caught several redfish while targeting snook. We had 2 opportunities at snook but both snapped our lines. Since the snook weren't cooperating we switched over to Spotted Seatrout. We caught several spotted seatrout on artificial lures including the fat one depicted.

Brittany booked a trip to celebrate her husband Tate's Birthday. We fished the St. Johns River casting artificial lures in search of spotted seatrout. After catching our share of spotted seatrout we headed to the backwaters in Clapboard Creek where we caught several nice upper slot redfish in inches of water.