Fishing Charter Report: Redfish, Snook, Tarpon and More
- Sep 18, 2025
- 2 min read
Those of you that follow my fishing charter and fishing career know that I have had a long enduring friendship
with Legendary Angler Flip Pallot. If you are unaware, Flip passed away on August 26th, due to complications during surgery. I am heartbroken over this and it is still difficult to think about. In time, I will provide my tribute to one of my mentors and my dear friend. Until that time, I will cherish my memories and do my part to keep his legacy alive.
September and October are bringing King Tides to Florida, which means higher than normal water conditions. While we have avoided any direct impacts from a hurricane, thus far, King Tides are providing their own difficulties in fishing. While areas like St Augustine have some perfect conditions for flood tide fishing, the Central Florida area is different. Where they have tidal zones of Spartina Grass, which provides some unique fishing opportunities, our main structure in the tidal areas is mangroves. As the tidal waters rise, pushing deeper water into the mangrove shorelines, the fish use the mangroves for cover and as an opportunity to ambush all of the prey that try to use the same mangroves for concealment. While we typically fish the edges of mangroves for redfish, snook, tarpon, snapper, and more, these higher water conditions makes it extremely difficult to reach the fish way underneath their branches and root systems. So, a change of tactics is required.
During the next couple of months, my anglers will be spending a lot of time "combat fishing". One of the reason I originally bought my Gordon Boatworks Waterman 16 was because of its ability to enter extremely shallow water. During the King Tides, I use this to my advantage and get into those areas where others cannot. This means we will be targeting ditches and bays that may normally be dry or at least too shallow for typical fishing. Fishing in these conditions requires fast, accurate casting. The good news is, they will typically be shorter casts. Anglers should be prepared to make casts in the 30-40 foot range; fly anglers need to be able to do this with minimal false casts and it helps a lot if you can sidearm cast. I refer this fishing as combat fishing because the battle takes place in close quarters and the fight is all about keeping them out of the structure. It takes applying maximum pressure and putting the fight into the butt of the rod, where it should be. As my friend Lefty Kreh used to say, down and dirty for fighting fish is the way to go.
Right now, all of the following fish are around: redfish, black drum, snook, tarpon, lady fish, jacks, and seatrout. It's a perfect time to get your Slam or Grand Slam. I still have some days open, so give me a call and let's get out on the water.
-Captain John Tarr
(386) 314-5998
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