HOOTERS COMPETES - TARPON FISHING TOURNAMENT

 MAY 28, 2012

We left about 8AM from Anna Maria Island, we headed straight out & offshore.  Traveling the ICW has its benefits but there is nothing like the open water.  

SPANISH MACKEREL ON THE LINE

I passed the morning napping while Rod was at the helm.  I was rudely interrupted by the whine of Rod’s fishing pole.  He grabbed the pole & I grabbed the camera, it was his first fish of the trip.  We took a picture of the nice size Spanish mackerel & released him.  No fish for dinner.



At about 3PM we decided to anchor for the night at Boca Grande. As it turns out we were in for a big surprise!  As we turned into the channel we were immediately surrounded by fishing boats.  The Annual Tarpon Tournament was going on.  Even HOOTERS had a boat entered in the tournament.

HOOTERS BOAT HEADING OUT
 

AT THE START LINE
 

Has everyone seen the movie JAWS?  It looked like they were filming the scene where all the boats were leaving to catch him.  There must have been 300 boats in a very small area, going every which way.   We had to wind our way through to get into the ICW going south & search for a place for the night.  The anchorage is not the ideal location, Rod will be on anchor watch tonight.  The holding is good & the sun goes down while we have a great meal in the cockpit.

After catching 2 more mackerel we turned in, we will leave early for Naples.