So went back out to the same spot with the every thing I remembered and got squat. The wind is howling, the tide was high and outgoing and it should have been perfect. We got a few nurse sharks snd bonnet head.

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"One of the reasons why propaganda tries to get you to hate government is because it's the one existing institution in which people can participate to some extent and constrain tyrannical unaccountable power." Noam Chomsky.

different moon maybe? Fish are funny like that I have yet to find a way to use the moon to my advantage but sure do find ways to blame my bad days on it LOL

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I troll 2L.com to be a better person in real life

Many Tarpon migrate north to south in cooler months and south to north in warmer. Some of them do the offshore to beach/inshore circuit as well, especially around spawn. You are always going to find local fish in south florida and the keys that don't move around as much, but they are a bit more finicky eaters than the ones making the migrations.

I've also found they tend to feed at night all the way to mid morning more, with big bursts of activity around bait pods happening from first light to an hour or so after sunrise. Around the pods, match the hatch is the safest bet, keeping your live bait on the edge of the pods or just below them so they look like stragglers. You can also do pretty good by using some of the other predators feeding on the bait, like lady fish, lizard fish, etc. or of you know threadfins are flashing around the area, you can never go wrong sabiki-ing a few of those up to free-line. Night time on out going tide you can do pretty good with crabs and even shrimp. They will sit around the passes letting meal come to them.

When it is cold, murky like during the winter months, you can do pretty good down south sinking mullet, whiting, ladyfish on the bottom ...preferably live, but dead works too if you can avoid catfish and the like. Providing of course you know they are around. If it has been cold for a few days, the water dark or chocolate brown from a good blow, and there is no bait around most of the Tarpon will have moved offshore.

Just my .02

The wind was howling and I had boat issues. We managed one good sized fish that threw the hook (circle) after wrapping a crab pot. The normal nightly sharks were none existent and the reef was as slow as I've ever seen it, dolphin fishing as well - the local charter guys were coming in with a handful of peanuts and I wasn't running all over hell and back for them with gas $4.30 at our marina. Snapper once again saved the day and we caught enough for several dinners, but they were nothing special. It was the slowest I've ever seen the Florida Keys.

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I was right.