Lake Tarpon (2/25/2014)

Weather forecast was perfect, so I picked up dad and headed up to Lake Tarpon! Made a quick stop at Dicks so he could pick up a spool of 4# Trilene XL (only line he will use).

At the ramp a couple of boats coming in told us they hadn't caught anything - but a day on the water is better one off the water, so we ran over to just north of Pasture Fence Point and started trolling south in 12 - 13 feet. Trolling a 1/8 ounce road runner head with a green/yellow slider grub, the bluegill started hitting hard right away. I managed to land a good size shell cracker and a bluegill in short order. Dad hooked up with a nice crappie, then the bite slowed.

We made a second pass and I trolled a second rod with a pair of 1/32 jigs, one with an electric chicken Garland shad, the other with a brown/yellow Slider panfish grub about 60 feet back. It didn't get bit all day! Dad trolled one of his white hair jigs in 1/16 and caught several more crappie.

Near the end of the day we trolled from Piney Point down to Wall Point and picked up a few more crappie mid-lake.

It was a really nice day on the lake with dad and he's only going to be here a couple more weeks before he goes back home to St. Louis. I sincerely hope to get him back out on the water few more times before then!

GREAT report! Nothing will EVER beat a day fishing with Dad :)

Nice...

I loved my old J16, so easy to clean up...., and when fishing the flats, as long as I had ankle deep water, I could pull it anywhere on a dropping tide.

Another great report & pictures of your dad - keep it coming !!:highfive

My father is my primary fishing partner too and I love fishing with him. The only problem is...just like your dad, mine continues to out-fish me!!!

Nice pics, never use 1/8 oz in that water level, especially a road runner does that get you near the bottom in 12 feet. I always use 1/16 in that water level.

go with the 32nd roadrunner (willow leaf or double 0 blade (gold)blue belly & yellow
flambau tail. Tarpon like this change to black/chart southern pro after 11:30am to
1:30 then go with black head/red collar & yellow tail and/or southern pro - orange with
white belly pencil body.

Yep - taking notes fellers! I have to believe the 1/8 RR was near the bottom since the shellcracker and bluegills were hitting the baits. The two 1/32 ounce jigs were probably running about 8 feet down, but they never got hit!

The several more crappie your dad caught were they of size ? and he was using 1/16th
oz white hair jig ?
RR are not always the answers in Tarpon. Beetle spins with gold 00 blades with
black/chart curley tails work well. Inline spinners (gold) with black/blue tails are also
good. 1/8 oz is a little too heavy in my estimation - Tarpon is a color orientated lake.
Febr. 17th, i fished it before going to Okeechobee took 38 keepers over 11 inches -
1 lb - 4 - 1 lb 7, threw back 29 little guys. We were pushing 8 -(16's - 14's out front
and pulling 6 - 6 & 8 footers out back, all loaded with 1/2 oz wgt and various colored
hand made & ron'z zips. When bite quit around 1:30 switched to long-ling old stand
by chart/blue/gold tail style road runner at 1 mi per hr - evened out day catching
8 more 12 -13" spec's threw back 5 more little guys. Lake is excellant fishery

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fishin813

The several more crappie your dad caught were they of size ? and he was using 1/16th
oz white hair jig ?

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The largest crappie measured at 13", the rest between 10 and 12. The jig he likes to use is a 1/16 ball head painted hot pink, white craft fur and a few strands of Krystal Flash. The other rod he was using had a white RR head (probably 1/8) with a white curly tail grub. He caught most of the crappie on the jig.

I kept with the heavier RR after catching the shellcracker and added a 1/32 chaser jig with a small slider panfish grub because I wanted to catch more of them! I trolled the second rod with a pair of 1/32 jigs, trying various distances behind the boat without any success.

I have to kind of limit how I fish with dad - he has his own way of doing things and doesn't like to change! He likes to troll and to cast, sometimes with a bobber, because that's how he always did it. He really turns up his nose at minnows, spider rigging, etc. If he tries something new, it has to work immediately or he will pretty quickly change back to his old standards.

Me? I'm just happy to have him out in the boat!

Your last statement is "What it is all about" being out with DAD and having a good
time..................You can never replace those times and each day life becomes
shorter............