Ding Darling & Doc Ford’s Tarpon Tournament

My fishing charter company was hired to fish the Ding Darling & Doc Ford’s Tarpon Tournament last weekend. In spite of very tough conditions, we found the fish! The wind was blowing 25mph+ from the northwest so we had to find fish in the back country.

Tarpon Fishing Tournament Results Despite Bad Conditions

Only 8 tarpon total were caught all day. For the local, Sanibel area, that is abysmal. Especially in light of the fact that there were 45 boats that participated in the tarpon fishing tournament.

We hunted for tarpon and fortunately caught a nice one. My fishing charter crew, Team Music City, placed 3rd out of 45 boats in the tarpon tournament. Though I would prefer to have come in 1st place in the fishing tournament, considering the challenges we faced was pleased with 3rd prize.

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We have been catching a lot of snook, seatrout and a few redfish at night in the dock lights. Dock light fishing is best done with a fly rod. We use an 8 weight fly rod, floating lines and a shrimp or glass minnow fly. Catches of over 50 fish per night are not uncommon.

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