LUNKERBLOG

Pilchard Run all over South Florida

2011-08-14T23:31:00.003-04:00

The reason this blog hasnt been updated in a while is because we have been too busy catching lunkers in peoples faces. If you are serious about catching Lunker Snook and big Tarpon then head over to My Official YouTube Channel

More Beach Snook

2011-08-13T11:04:00.002-04:00

Beach fishing improved at the end of the week. Pilchard were thick for miles, and you didn't need a cast net to get em. Just a simple Sabiki Rig. Ok, so bait is easy to get, but the Snooks were still being stubborn. Its the old rule, if you can see the snooks, they can see you. So you can try stuff like wearing blue shirts and try to keep your shadow off of the fish. Drew was able to have some limited success. Let us know how you are doing out there.

Follow On Twitter: TheMulletRun

Worlds Biggest Snook Reel

2011-02-21T23:37:00.000-05:00

Youtube

Monster Tarpon Inshore Fishing (video)

2011-02-20T23:05:00.002-05:00

Fort Lauderdale - You have heard it before you will hear it again. You wanna catch big fish, you gotta fish for big fish. Thats what Fort Lauderdale fishing is all about. Big Tarpon, Huge Barracudas right in the waterways. Right behind somebodies house.

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How Big Is This Tarpon? Guess Size

2011-02-16T01:07:00.003-05:00

PARTS UNKNOWN - Ok, I'll fess up. Its South Florida, but thats not the point. How big do you reckon this tarpon is? Go to youtube and leave your answer in the comments. I post the best answers on Twitter.

Big Fish Almost Pulls Kid In The River! - Watch more Funny Videos

Main YouTube Channel

Follow on Twitter @BetterDuck

Corona and Mullet Spoof Video

2010-12-08T01:55:00.003-05:00

When it gets cold here in South Florida we totally wuss out and don't fish. When that happens we do shit like this. Big Bursaman is the king of Island dog style fashion world with his Potcake Collar line of dog collars. We collaborated to make this spoof we hope you enjoy it.

Tech: Nikon D3100, Nikkor 35mm 1.8, Zoom H1, Zoom H2

How To Get Mullet - Relax

2010-12-06T01:27:00.002-05:00

The email box gets flooded every year right after Happy Bait. Guys are still struggling to get bait. What else is new? You see them around the ramps and the fishing spots. Boat all lit up, and one guy on the bow with a headlamp and a cast net, and its 10:30pm. Listen all you boat ramp All Americans. Get your bait in the afternoon. Seriously.

Custom Wahoo Rigs Lunkerdog Style

2010-12-06T00:44:00.002-05:00

You know we aint paying retail for lures and artificials. They are crazy with wahoo lures going for 80 bucks, we had to get creative with the chinese kickoff Islander lures, we added skirts and leaders and hooks and saved a whole bunch of money. Enough that we are giving them out to ourselves as stocking stuffers. Beats a mullet. Looking Forward to Christmas Bait. Bring it on!

Watch the freshest fishing videos at the Official Captain Jeff Youtube Channel. There is only one!

Get Out My Face | Video Rewind

2010-11-03T12:31:00.002-04:00

Fishing is tough out there right now, so I have been digging through the old video tapes and cames across this footage of Captain Jeff and Fresh Water Rob fighting a decent river tarpon on Tarpon bend in Fort Lauderdale. Its a pretty nice fish that jumps a few times but the real highlight is the two guys that can be heard just off camera making commentary about Jeff and Rob and the fish. These guys were funny, and they were just fishing the seawall for snappers and jacks and they weren't having too much luck. Dont Steal Spots.

Snook Fishing Mystery Lights

2010-07-04T00:07:00.002-04:00

By Lamont Jones

I was curious to see if the local Fort Lauderdale snook survived the 2009 cold fronts. The Iguanas sure didn't, and I was a little afraid that maybe the snook took some casualties as well. We went lazy and took a few dozen leftover live Pilchards out for a late afternoon early evening session. Throw a few baits around the bridges and docks, and then fish a few lights. Stay out a couple hours.

I haven't really done any pilchard fishing and I have been using hogleg mullet for 25 years. Since it was pilchard we went pretty light with 12lb spin tackle Fin-Nor reels on Ugly Sticks and Star Rods. I ended up catching one small snook outside the lights, and then lost a big snook slow trolling the pilchards next to a seawall. I got spooled and broke the line cupping the spool to keep the snook out of a dock.

Her just a quick video I did with the Flip Video.

Bill Dance Tarpon

2010-05-15T00:39:00.001-04:00

Lunkerdog
Originally uploaded by Oranse Taylor

What can I see. An incredible experience of fishing for 2 days with the legend himself Bill Dance. Fishing in Fort Lauderdale for big tarpon.

Kid Vs. Mega Tarpon

2010-05-09T00:49:00.000-04:00

Live Stream Boatramp Report

2010-01-05T16:36:00.002-05:00

This is a test report for some new stuff we are gonna be doing on Youtube, the blogs and all the social media.This is a live streaming report. If you are serious about catching fish and you are hooked up with services like Qik and Twitter then you got an update in a real time. This is just a quick blog about this and I will fill in more details later.

LUNKERBLOG THEATER - Guides Day Off

2010-01-04T00:14:00.002-05:00

Remember how cool it was when you had that loser teacher that liked to show films all the time. One nerd would man the projector and you either watched a cool National Geographic documentary or you fell asleep. Since all of you out there watch these videos between 9 and 5, I try and find the good stuff. Cause watching fishing videos beats working and you might actually learn something about catching fish.

This feature presentation you are about to watch I stumbled upon on Twitter and I'm glad I did. Its a B-Roll film, kinda reminds me of the old surf films we used to watch in hotels. Its called Guides Day off and its a collection of fine video work around the lower keys. Enjoy, and dont smoke weed. Seriously.

LUNKERBLOG THEATER - Fishing Florida Bay

2009-12-27T11:58:00.004-05:00

YOUTUBE - I stumbled across this series called FISHING FLORIDA BAY. Great visuals and use of old stock footage oif Old Timey Tarpon kills. The guides do a decent job of framing the time and context. Its preachy, but rightfully so.

If Hollywood remade The Lunker Report

2009-12-20T00:46:00.003-05:00

Youtube - Short film about fishing. Typical, Hollywood did the same thing when they tried to make a Kung Fu movie, and ended up making The Karate Kid. This land Captain cant even a chunk a proper bait. Its a short film I stumbled across on Youtube. The contest is called Tropfest. I say we should win Tropfest with our fishing videos. What say you?

FLASHBACK VIDEO Spot Stealing Video

2009-12-15T00:26:00.003-05:00

The Summer of 2008 was a haven for spot creepers. They were literally memorizing the locations and tides on the vids and they were squatting on spots. Advancements in technology (photoshop) enabled fisherman to continue showing trophy fish while minimizing the location data in the backgrounds. In other words, stop creeping spots.

Real Reports over at Reel Reports

2009-12-14T22:27:00.004-05:00

WEB - Amongst the hundreds if not thousands of fishing report aggregators I have found one I really like, its called Reel Reports. One of the reasons I like it is because it has a simple and clean UI and its not trying to be a million other things. Reel Reports is a collection of reports from real captains and expert anglers and the info you are looking for is laid out very effectively. Traditional media forums are starting to fail fast for several reasons and its gonna be fun watching where the real fisherman flock to share stories and seek the advice of the pros. Old media, especially the forums under control of magazines and traditional retailers want a closed sandbox and have been discouraging captains and other boat ramp superstars from actually connecting with the readers. Reel Reports is about fishing reports from captains and bloggers and there doesn't seem to be any dirt secrets like the old flat forums.

RANT - Im not even gonna dignify these fishing forums by calling them out by name but we all know who they are, we have all been there. Some of us may have even been kicked out of a few of them for posting the wrong thing or breaking their 1994 terms of service. Those days are almost over. No longer do you need a magazine to connect eager fisherman with the experts that have answers to their questions. Captains are blogging, they are on Twitter, doing Youtube videos, Ustreams, Podcasting and everything else. And that is significant because now you can simply ask a captain a question on Twitter or in the comments of a Youtube video. Its never been easier to find somebody catching the fish that you want to catch, and simply ask em for a tip. A good place to start would be at a guide directory or fishing report collection like Reel Reports. Know of another good site that fisherman need to be visiting, link to it in the comments of this post.

VIDEO | NEW HULL GETS POPPED!

2009-12-13T00:15:00.002-05:00

FORT LAUDERDALE - Just a quick update on the new fishing machine Capt Jeff is custom building. Its a 46' Wesmac and they build these things up in Maine. We plan to document alot of the construction and customization. Check it out.

CONGRATS: MITCHELL VITALE

2009-10-21T00:16:00.001-04:00

Mitchell Vitalle (Right) swept the Fort Lauderdale Inshore Snook and Tarpon Tournament. Biggest Snook. Biggest Tarpon. Most Snook. Most Tarpon. Thats a serious win and we are all proud of him. Seriously.

Nice Lunkers Are Showing Up

2009-08-22T00:15:00.004-04:00

PARTS UNKNOWN - The Mullet Run is almost here, and the big fish are active. There are alot of big fish being caught, but nobody is willing to give up their bait info. Good Luck

SHARK ON A BEACH

2009-07-20T10:55:00.006-04:00

SHARK VIDEO EXCLUSIVE

FORT LAUDERDALE - So I get call from Sharkman Drew Vacin that he's puting together a late afternoon shark trip down on the beach, from Land. So we bust out a couple of whooping sticks, and head down to the spot around 6:30. Drew has a couple buckets filled with barracudas and stinky king mackerels and starts cutting the fish up into large chunkable pieces. Drew slaps a piece of bait about half the size of your forearm onto a hook, and with a running start whip casts that thing about 60 yards out into the surf. It took about an hour, but one of the rod bends over in the rod holder and line starts flying off the reel. Drew gives the pole to Mike, and Miami has to run down the beach to get some of his line back. Its a major fight, and Mike is doing pretty well, you can tell the shark is large, and a crowd starts to gather on Fort Lauderdale Beach. Twenty minutes later the sun has set and its dark, but we can make out the large dark shape in the water. Drew runs into the surf grabs the leader, and pulls out about 50lb Spinner shark. A truly remarkable creature. We took a couple photos, and Drew gets the fish pointed the right way and its a clean release. I was surprised that Drew made it back with all of his fingers and toes, but he did. We don't hi-five but we congratulated Mike on a fish well fought, and thanked Drew for inviting us to see something you dont get to see everyday.

BIG SNOOK CAUGHT

2009-06-08T10:18:00.002-04:00

PARTS UNKNOWN - Rumor has it that these two ladies met each other at the Jupiter Inlet, but that has not been confirmed. What has been confirmed is that there are some really big snook to be caught and released. Captain Jeff was tight lipped about when and where they hooked this big fish, and he mumbled something along the lines of "I'll post about in August when they are gone" Good luck out there, and dont be afraid to try a glow in the dark D.O.A. shrimp.

Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus (Trailer)

2009-05-31T11:03:00.003-04:00

The Asylum strikes again. And yes thats Debbie Gibson.

Big Urban Snook

2009-05-29T10:09:00.005-04:00

PARTS UNKNOWN - Rene AKA Onemullet over on the FS Forums is building quite a local legacy for himself. The snook weighed 35lbs and was landed with a net a released safely.

Tred Barta Paralyzed

2009-05-22T00:20:00.002-04:00

NEWS - The news is reporting that Tred Barta was in some kind of a freak accident while on location and now he is paralyzed. Send positive energy to Tred. We all remember Kevin Everett and how he and his doctors turned tragedy into joy. Barta is crazy and is a major inspiration to us. Barta You The Man.

Run That Dog Now!

2009-05-10T00:49:00.000-04:00

LUNKER MAHI ON THE NV

2009-05-03T21:55:00.005-04:00

Fort Lauderdale - Another Big Mahi weekend. Turtle caught this nice sized bull while trolling for Blue Marlin. May is gonna be insane.

200 SUBSCRIBERS ON YOUTUBE

2009-05-03T01:37:00.003-04:00

YOUTUBE - The Captain Jeff Show Video Channel on Youtube just reached 200 subscribers. THis is a major milestone and we are gonna celebrate hard and they can't stop us. We thank all of you that watch and enjoy the videos, we have alot of fun making them and plan on making alot more. If you haven't subscribed to the feed click the link. Now we party like its slack tide.

MIAMI LUNKER REPORT

2009-05-02T00:17:00.004-04:00

BISCAYNE BAY - Miami has stolen the crown back late after coming through with one of the best Tarpon seasons in years. If you have been following this blog you know that the big tarpon are back, and they are eating everything. Crabs, Shrimp. Pinfish, Pilchard and even Ballyhoo. All the local captains are living high on the hog and you can see the results if you visit any of the good blogs pr forums. Everybody is booked solid through May, so if you haven't reserved a charter or booked a guide this season do yourself a big favor and mark the calendar for next year. APRIL - MIAMI. You can scroll done and see the multiple hundred pounders that were caught and these are just a small sample of the fish that were caught. Taking a quality photograph of a 150lb tarpon aint exactly paramount on the mind when you are dealing with a fish like that on the end of a line.

LUNKER REPORT VIDEO

2009-04-27T00:49:00.001-04:00

Captain Jeff Lunkerdog Report 04 25 09

Marlin Report

2009-04-22T00:43:00.006-04:00

Fort Lauderdale - The Florida Sportsman forums just put up a major fence by changing their severs or something, but try to navigate on over to this post about a Marlin trip with Captain Jeff. The original poster is bemoaning the ratio of Marlin caught, he probably forgets that we are all fans of Papa Hemmingway and know the the Old Man Santiago goes something like 86 trips without getting one. So lets just turn that entitlement right down from a 12 to a 7 on the scale from 1 to 11. Anyway, the Lunkerdog All Stars did manage to raise and hook a blue marlin. Gear broke, and they still raised that 40 pound water chicken in the photo.

Tarponator

2009-04-15T04:12:00.004-04:00

PARTS UNKNOWN - Jose aka Tarponator is one of the guys that gets trophy tarpon every season. He's spreading the word that hes been using Blue Runners for bait, and that would be pretty funny, if you only really knew.

FS FORUMS

Tarpon

2009-04-10T00:02:00.003-04:00

Go Ahead and guess the weight?

Multiple Big Tarpon Caught

2009-04-09T12:38:00.002-04:00

MIAMI - Tarpon time. Reports are coming in quietly that Captain Jeff's clients have been catching and releasing as many as 6 of the monster Tarpon on the late afternoon trips. The wind has been blowing steady 20 mph and even a cold front could not slow down the eating habits of these big tarpon.

HT: Captain Jeff

TARPON FISHING IS ON FIRE

2009-03-30T11:25:00.003-04:00

Fort Lauderdale - Miami | Reports are coming in just about everynight on big tarpon being caught from North Fort Lauderdale (which means around the Sunrise Blvd, Bridge) all the way down to Key Biscayne. Captain Jeff's clients leadered about 20 this week alone. Most of the fish are between 80 and 100lbs and some of the bigger tarpon are 150lbs and up. Its tricky bouncing back and forth betwen Fort Lauderdale and Miami cause they are two totally different bodies of water which means you have got to be versatile with your presentation as well as having a wide variety of baits.

MANATEE HUNTING ON 30 ROCK

2009-03-27T23:47:00.003-04:00

NBC HULU - Jack Donaghy brags to Liz Lemon about hunting and killing a manatee. There is even a trophy photo.

MONSTER MAKO SHARK CAUGHT

2009-03-15T11:30:00.003-04:00

FORT LAUDERDALE FL - The Lunkerblog usually get tips and the occasional photo from hard core Snook and Tarpon fisherman, and once in a while we get some news about a big Tuna or a Marlin, but early Sunday morning my phone started blowing up with reports coming in that there had been a big Mako Shark caught off of Fort Lauderdale. I was surprised, until I heard that it was Captain Mike Johnson of Local Knowledge Fishing Charters. Mike is a great captain and has been doing it the right way in Fort Lauderdale for years.

As of this Update, I only have the photo that was taken on an iPhone. I have no idea how much the fish weighs or any other specifics like bait or how long it took to catch. Got an idea on the weight? Post it in the comments, and check back for updates.

Hat Tip - Brad Ashlin

BIG TARPON ARE MOVING FURTHER SOUTH

2009-03-11T23:20:00.005-04:00

BISCAYNE BAY - The photo might be a little weird but thats a decent sized tarpon, and they are all down south. At least the photo protects the spot. The guy that posted this on the Florida Sportsmen Forums is currently under attack for posting a snap shot like this on the message forums. Whatever. All Im interested in is the fish and the bait, and I about half believe that the dude caught him on a dead pilchard. But he could have. When these things eat they eat. You could throw out a dirty diaper filled with fish hooks and probably hook a tarpon, but getting it to the boat is another thing.

Get The Plugs Out!?

2009-03-06T00:57:00.007-05:00

BAIT - All the bait is gone. Its all gone. Sure you can spend a few hours tossing a 15lb net and pick off a few single mullets until you get a dozen or worse, lower your standards and fish with Pilchards. Im ready for this bait recession and have a small select group of plugs that I think actually work for Tarpon. Do they really work? I don't know. I'll be frank and admit upfront that I have never caught a tarpon on an artificial but that may change this year, but I doubt it. I'm not really gonna fish with plugs. I would just assume wait out this hogleg recession, and leave my plugs where they belong. On the shelf. We gotta a new test system for long term live bait storage. Stay tuned to the Lunkerblog for What's Updates.

How Do You Say Snook in French?

2009-03-05T11:36:00.003-05:00

SOUTH FLORIDA - I don't know if its the economy or something else that has caused the Shrimp Wars to escalate but its gotten worse. Bait shops are redefining the meaning of dozens, while families that used to fish live dozens together are being forced to fish with cut bait. In other words, its never been better to break out the hogleg mullet! No more bubblers and bait pails, its the return of the five gallon bucket.

Gil came all the way from Paris, France to catch a Tarpon and was surprised to learn that we use bait the size of baguettes. Thats how we roll. Get it? Well Gil got it good, he cause a tarpon just under the 100lb mark, and lost another one well over 120lbs after about a 30 minute tussle on 20lb gear. The night wasn't over yet. after moving spots to avoid the miserable shrimpers Gil got this bonus snook. All in all a remarkable trip for a guy that flew all the way to Miami from Paris to fish with Captain Jeff.

Certified Viral Video - Lunkerdog Monster Seawall Snook

Ballyhoo

2009-02-27T00:07:00.003-05:00

BIG TARPON ARE DOWN SOUTH - MIAMI

2009-02-26T12:28:00.003-05:00

MIAMI - Break out those whooping sticks and get your best knots tied tight cause the big tarpon are here, and when I say big I'm talking monster tarpon well over 100lbs. Last week we went 8 for about 30 on big tarpon and this included several fish between the 125lb to 150lb range. I'm not gonna give the particular tide that these fish are chosing to eat, but I will say that you have to fight it out with the shrimpers for the best spots and that can get hairy. Thats the only clue Im gonna give you on what bait to use.

Speaking of bait, we had a piss poor experience with a local bait shop dicking us around on our shrimp. We called around the shops asking if we any of them could sell us (5) Dozen "good shrimp." Most of the shops were upfront and honest and told us what they had and what the condition of the shrimp were. So we took a car ride to pick up the dozens and were lied to and shorted on our dozens. And to make it worse, the shop owner tried to lecture us on how we cant hand-pick select shrimp out of the tamk. Thats fine, I spared the energy on lecturing him on how to count to a dozen.

Check Out CLASSIC TARPON VIDEOS

HOGLEG SIGHTING

2009-02-17T22:15:00.002-05:00

PARTS UNKNOWN - Big Dubb Deezy is already a legend at his own boat ramp, now he's going global. Hes finding hoglegs and doing work. Getting out there and catching his lunkers and puting them up online. He says hes got some video reports in the works.

FISHING FORUM REPORT

2009-02-07T00:29:00.003-05:00

SPORTFISHERMEN.COM - Everybody really liked the Bill Dance Episode on his Outdoor Channel Saltwater Show. The forums are all a fire about how bad Mr. Dance got schooled by the tarpon and that he wasn't so adept at using a circle hook. Whatver, Im not gonna hate-on Bill Dance for not having the sharpest Tarpon skills as I have seen enough anglers humbled by the Silver Dinosaur to know better than to think anybody should be downgrading anybody elses Tarpon skills cause we have all had our asses kicked and we are just lucky there weren't cameras rolling. In the end Mr. Dance ended up with a big tarpon, we are all real proud of him. Post your tarpon pics. Links.

STILL TOO COLD TO FISH

2009-02-05T10:52:00.002-05:00

FORT LAUDERDALE - Its 46 right now and thats too cold to fish. Oh, believe me, I know we could layer up on outerwear and brave it but for what? The snook and tarpon just aren't going to bite in this climate. They are still there but they just aren't active. This front will be gone in a few days (we hope) and then it will be back to usual. Catching Lunkers in peoples faces. Check out the all new Lunkerdog.com site, we made some huge changes.

REMOTE COVERAGE - FS FISHING EXPO

2009-02-01T22:50:00.005-05:00

FISHING EXPO - Somebody at Florida Sportsman had a great idea - Lets throw a Fishing Expo on Super Bowl Sunday. You know, World Dude Day. The day that guys only get up off the couch for 3 things, and one of them ain't going to a fishing show. But we are hardcore so we went anyway. It was at Fort Lauderdale's War Memorial Auditorium located in Holiday Park, very close to the Lunkerdog Headquarters. We got there a little after noon and it was sad. It was sad that they were charging to park, and even sadder that they were still charging an admission fee, when there was nobody there. Even sadder is the state of brick and mortar publishing that needs to have events like this. I need to pay the vendors so they can pitch their products at me? I dont think so. This aint the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. This thing was held in a dusty wrestling hall.

Enough of the bitching, we did see some familiar faces. We ran into Dave McKenzie of FISHNORTHBAY.COM, and he introduced us to the boys at the FINS booth. We checked out a few minutes of the shallow water seminar by some dude that was claiming people lose fingers to snook. Moving right along... Next up, outside on the mulch was another dude wearing a Janet Jackson microphone and talking about must have items for the boat. Stuff like Windex wipes for you glasses. Then came the Kingfish seminar (see photo).

We had a good time, but we probably should have went fishing before the Super Bowl. The boatramps were empty, and all the Spot Stealers were home listening to Jaworski talk about progressions.

SNOOK ARE BACK

2009-02-01T00:16:00.002-05:00

PARTS UNKNOWN - DELAYED REPORT The non stop cold fronts have pushed the Snook down south. We have been playing with tarpon for the past month but there have been some snook caught in the mix. From the looks of those hides they arent residents, they look they have been in the ocean for a while. Is anybody buying any of this? I didn't think so. But the snook are here, so check back often cause we will be photographing some lunkers. As always.

BEFORE SUPER BOWL SUNDAY

2009-01-31T01:00:00.004-05:00

OUTDOOR CHANNEL - BILL DANCE SALWATER SERIES: URBAN TARPON - FEATURING CAPTAIN JEFF. Before you start getting you Bud Light-on get infront a television that gets the Outdoor Channel, it may be tough and might just have to go down to your local sports bar and demand that they put it in. Bill Dance has had a fishing show for 40 years so we are all real proud of Jeff.

Its a damn good episode, I went to the advance screening party and watched it, the reaction was awesome. Captain Jeff introduces Bill Dance to Hogleg fishing, and things work out ok in the end. Set your Tivo, call your cable operator and tell them you wanna see Captain Jeff on the Outdoor Channel.

At Least He Got This Jack, right?

2009-01-28T00:33:00.002-05:00

Fort Lauderdale - Our friend Felix came here from Argentina to catch a big tarpon, and we put him on one. Well over a hundred pounds and Felix was fighting the fish on 20lb. The fish jumped alot at first and then it became a tug of war. Sadly for Felix there was structure that this old tarpon new about and the fish went right for it. Helpless with the 20lb tackle we tried to gain angle on this fish, but she beat us today. She beat us fair and square, and Felix lost a huge fish after a long a welll fought fight. Felix took it in stride, and he does have this pretty decent Jack to enjoy. Yeah, right!

Too Cold To Fish? Hit up your local tackle shop.

2009-01-26T12:50:00.003-05:00

Pompano - Its 40 degrees and way too cold for us to chase Sailfish around, although we did manage to get a couple this week, this cold front is too much for us. What can we say, we are Floridians. We made our way up to Pompano to Atlantic Bait and Tackle to see Steve and the boys. We picked a good too, all the usual suspects were there, and our unannounced arrival actually created some bait shop drama. And oh yeah, stop stealing spots.

COLD FRONT + BLOWED OUT = PLUG DISCUSSION

2009-01-21T10:14:00.005-05:00

FORT LAUDERDALE - Its cold here. Its friggen 40! I know we arent gonna get much sympathy from the rest of y'all out there that have been freezing for weeks now, but this is about as bad it can get here. Worst off all these cold fronts are hell on the inshore fishing, and its killing the manatees. About the only thing to do is head offshore to play with macks and sailfish, and since I don't really feel like getting under 4 layers of clothes, its looks like that is not about to happen.

Thankfully last week was one of the best small tarpon bites we have had in quite some time. We went about 12 for 20 during a two day stretch and then it tailed off a bit as these fronts started slowing these fish down. It was alot of fun, and we should really use the time to inspect the gear and change the line on all our light tackle gear. This crap gear these companies sell now don't last but for a few tarpon catches until you have to replace drags or washers. Here is a little highlight film showing Dave having a blast playing with some little tarpon, and finally getting a decent sized tarpon to the boat. Also Jeff is begging for Facebook friends. Jeff promisses me that he will be far more forthcoming with info as far as bait and locations on Facebook than he is on the blog or in the forum reports. Roll tape!

SIDEBAR NOTE!!!
We were sitting around yesterday talking about plug casting. I know there are alot of you out there that throw plugs, lures, and jerk baits for tarpon during the winter. I've never done it. Thats why I have put up the new poll over on the sidebar. What are you guys throwing, or better yet what plugs have you been using to get tarpon strikes? If you are hella ambitious go ahead and leave comments on your favorite plugs and whatever tales of success you can share.

Lunker Report | Small Tarpon Everywhere I tell ya

2009-01-11T23:15:00.003-05:00

Fort Lauderdale FL - Bowl season is over. Congrats to the Gators. The tourists are still here so we decided to go way off the beaten path and fish a place we don't really get to fish that often. There was far less boat traffic and we actually saw a few manatees. There were small tarpon everywhere. We had fun catching (6) of these little tarpon, and a couple of a hungry jacks that beat the tarpon to out baits. 12lb test is always a fun setup to go out fishing with live bait.

VIDEO - FISHING REPORT | BILL DANCE SALTWATER NEWS

2009-01-10T12:30:00.006-05:00

Fort Lauderdale - Captain Jeff launches 2009 with a fresh video report. Jeff talks about his new television episode with the legend himself Bill Dance. BILL DANCE SALTWATER is a new series on the Outdoor Channel and the show tapped Captain Jeff to go fishing with Bill Dance. The episode is for sure gonna be a classic so set your DVR's cause you are gonna have this one on file for further research. Jeff spent a week fishing on the Gina Lee, a 52ft Viking convertible and they had a tough time with the Sailfish just like everybody else that tried to fish through the holidays. Run that dog now!

500,000 Views - A Celebration

2008-11-22T23:49:00.002-05:00

FORT LAUDERDALE - Sadly there must have been a mistake that we weren't invited to YouTube Live but we aint letting that hold us back. Captain Jeff wanted to thank everybody that watches the Captain Jeff Show videos which recently went over the 500,000 view benchmark. But as a special Lunkerblog bonus, we got Jeff to reluctantly cough up a Tarpon tip.

CAPTAIN JEFF

If you aren't getting strikes
when you know Tarpon are around
try a smaller leader, with the very
small knot. Knots are are critical
when fishing with live bait.

Whats With The Hook Thing?

2008-11-21T00:57:00.003-05:00

I've been getting alot of emails asking what hooks I use for tarpon, and its seems nobody likes the answer I give. I'm real simple, I use 5/0 live bait hooks. The cheapest ones I can find. Buy em bulk, and hand sharpen them in small bathces for trips. I have broken a few live bait hooks. Maybe half a dozen times on 10,000 fish. I got nothing againt circle hooks, I just prefer my hook set manually instead of relying on the physics and geometry of the hook. Thats not hating-on circle hooks, its just the way I fish. Ive used circle hooks and had success. And there are instances when I will use circle hooks. Like when the tarpon are short striking trolled bait, it which case I will rod holder it and allow the circle hook to work when and if the tarpon takes the whole bait. And thats the thing about hooks, I dont select hooks for the fish I want to catch, I select a hook for the bait I'm gonna lose. And by rule if you think a hook is too small to catch a big fish, go down yet another size. I've straightened circle hooks, and broken live bait hooks, but its so rare that it isnt even a primary concern when Im fishing for big tarpon. I'm much more worried about the age of my line and how well my knots are tied. Cause those are the two critical points that are gonna cause failure on your end when you are fighting a big fish on light tackle more often then the hook being too small. I dont know what to say about those guys that insist on using Owner Silver dollar sized hooks other than, those things are for giant squid man! And Gamakatsu are too expensive for my lunker budget.

Fishing 2.0 Keeping Up With Tech

2008-11-20T13:06:00.003-05:00

Lets face it, most fisherman aren't drifting the cutting edge of technology when it comes to web 2.0 or social networks. Just looking at the captains websites will tell you that alot of fisherman are lucky to have a simple site to attract charters and trips. This is gonna change, and the captains that adopt the newest technology will have an extreme advantage over the captains that simply hang a shingle on a dock.

Probably the single easiest too to use to keep in contact with clients is TWITTER. Maybe you have heard of it. Its all the rage and all the kids are twittering or tweeting to each other to stay in contact. I'm gonna show you how Twitter is actually an excellent tool for fisherman both commercial and recreational to get the word out when the fish are biting. For example when you sign up for Oranse Twitter you receive updates on how the fish are biting, and what we caught, along with other stuff like when we are shooting new episodes or when the new videos are up. As more and more fisherman follow my twitter feed, and I follow theirs, the information shared will grow ten fold.

A great example of this communication was during the September Mullet migration when we twittered about when the fishing was the best off the beach. Since most of the people following my twitter feed work in the Tech World or are involved in the Social Networks they dismissed my tweets as nonsense; however, if you were a fisherman and had been following the tweets you would have known the moment the mullet showed up, what beach, where the Snook and Tarpon were best and alot of time sensitive information that takes too long to cut a video or post to a traditional blog.

Commercial sport fishing captains ideally would use Twitter to keep their clients informed of weather changes and conditions, and could tweet announcements in real time to customers on available windows of opportunity when fishing is the best. Alot of clients would rather keep a window open to catch a real trophy fish then just book a trip when the fish could be biting or not. Wouldn't it be helpful to be able to send a simple message to all your clients like: SAILFISHING IS HOT. AFTERNOON TRIP OPEN.

ORANSE TWITTER

BIG TARPON ARE IN TOWN

2008-11-17T23:29:00.004-05:00

SOUTH FLORIDA - Finally the big tarpon have shown up in the ICW. Whats it been 2 years since the monsters have shown up? Bill caught this fish with Captain Jeff. They won't talk but I hear the bait used was crab who knows. All that really matters is these big fish are back. At least they were.

Lunker Snook Hialeah Style

2008-10-22T00:03:00.003-04:00

Hialeah - Joey Fishboy was Running that Dog off the exit ramp and stopped all traffic when he lifted this gorgeous snook up. He's probably giving away the spot, but thats how they roll in Hialeah

VIDEO - BLOWED OUT

2008-10-21T12:06:00.002-04:00

Fort Lauderdale - Its too windy to fish, in fact its totally Blowed Out.

UPDATE - It appears to also be Blowed Out in Virginia

VIDEO REPORT - BIG TUNA

2008-10-20T00:43:00.001-04:00

Mass - Captain Jeff and his cousin Eric went big Tuna fishing with Captain Fran of the Ocean Drive. They lost one tuna and landed a monster, we are all real proud.

TECH NOTES - Keeping up with the bait.

2008-10-14T22:54:00.003-04:00

Did you miss happy bait this year? Don't let that happen again. Subscribe to our Twitter and get the latest up to date news on whats going on down at the boatramp.

Trash Fishing Pays Off Sometimes

2008-10-13T00:09:00.002-04:00

Fort Lauderdale Dade county Boatramp legend - Farin aka Website Mike was slumming for Kingfish when he hooked up with this Sail. In other words the Sails are in shallow, take that.

VIDEO HAPPY BAIT 2008

2008-10-10T00:59:00.001-04:00

HAPPY BAIT EVERYBODY!

CAUGHT - TARPON

2008-10-07T23:50:00.002-04:00

SOUTH FLORIDA - Delayed reports. Happy Baiters have been owning the tarpon. Word on the streets is they are thick. We are all super proud of Website Mike and his brother for keeping it bling.

HAPPY BAIT 2008

2008-09-11T22:41:00.002-04:00

FORT LAUDERDALE BEACH - Happy bait everybody. Mullet run is on, and this is the time to get your lunker. Quit stealing 5 gallon buckets, get out your Salty Dog Castnet, and go ahead and get some bait. If you can't get bait, ask somebody for some. Now is not the time for Arties.

CAUGHT - 5 for 20 TARPON/MULLET RUN REPORT

2008-09-10T23:49:00.003-04:00

NBB - Website Mike is on fire. He in the thick of the fall mullet run and he's producing some serious results. He's generous with the Tarpon photos which leads me to believe he's holding back on the lunker snook photos for a few week. Sadly in this economy, most middle class families can't afford a quality tarpon set-up, that doesn't seem to be a problem for Website Mike.

CAUGHT - LUNKER SNOOK

2008-08-31T01:01:00.002-04:00

PARTS UNKNOWN - Now this is a solid snook. A big fish obviously caught on live bait.

CAUGHT - LUNKER SNOOK

2008-08-24T00:21:00.003-04:00

PARTS UNKNOWN - Brandt landed this lunker from a spillway, hes generous with that spot.

CAUGHT - SNOOK

2008-08-14T00:44:00.004-04:00

PARTS UNKNOWN - Mike and Conner caught more lunker snook. These guys pretty much dominated this entire summer. Gotta love that live-bait hook. You beginners can learn alot from checking out a hook set like that.

VIDEO Mola Mola

2008-08-08T16:38:00.001-04:00

Parts Unknown - I dont even know what the hell a Mola Mola fish is but this guy got it on video. Well done

SHARK LIE WEEK IS OVER

2008-08-03T23:22:00.003-04:00

DISCOVERY CHANNEL - The Week of lies is over. The Discovery Channel has now convinced more millions of people that sharks don't eat humans. Well then I guess the Indianapolis never happened huh? According to the Shark Week, sharks dont like the taste of human flesh, and therefore those guys on the Indianapolis are all liars, and the ones that didn't make it all died from single bite wounds? I don't think so.

There is no telling how many Haitian and Cuban refugees are eaten by sharks, cause the media doesn't report it. Sure reported attacks on divers and surfers indicate that most shark attacks arent fatal, thats because logistics exist to rescue and save the victim. This is not so when there is a ship wreck. Those victims get eaten by sharks. Period.

I recently watched the acclaimed documentary SHARKWATER. Its also filled with lies. I will be posting a full review of the documentary soon.

CAUGHT - TARPON

2008-08-03T22:42:00.003-04:00

HAULOVER - Brad has been on fire, last week he tore up the lunker snooks, this week he's whoopin' 100lb tarpon. No mention of the spot or the bait, and thats a good thing.

MINI SUCK SUCKS!

2008-08-02T00:38:00.003-04:00

FORT LAUDERDALE - Before I get too crazy about lobster mini-season, let me first congratulate Ernge on this undersized yellowtail. Cause thats all we caught, other than a Lane Snapper that I neglected to photo. We went out for 100lb tarpon and ended up with this.

Mini season was a complete zero. Lucky us we were FWC's first bust, as the divers I was with left their dive-flag on the dock, so we had no excuse. One of the officers got in full Tarzan mode and stripped down and dove in with no light and just fins and a mask. I was 11:47 and he tried to ninja up on my boys and get em with bugs but they were clean, and ended up with a single $65.00 ticket.

I wont participate or observe another mini season opening night in my life. Diving is a fat peoples sport. Its the only break they can get from gravity. Plus there is lobster and melted butter involved. I admit it, I'm fat but I'm not that fat...yet. So until they invent a mask that you can smoke cigarettes under water with. I wont be diving.

CAUGHT - LUNKERSNOOK

2008-08-01T00:56:00.004-04:00

JUNO PIER - Masterpeacock got into the big summer snook. He swears by the Juno Pier and from the looks of that Lunker Snook, I can't blame him. I used to catch em like that at the pier before I got banned for being to gangsta for the pier tender. Hes got me lifetime banned. Its 18 years later, and Im catching boatloads of Marlin, and he's still the pier tender. I aint gonna hate-on pier rats, I just wish they would cool it with the cut squid.

FORUM FIGHT

2008-07-30T23:48:00.003-04:00

FLORIDA SPORTSMAN FORUMS - 2 bellringer fight over on the South Fishing Reports forum. Blase called out Fishboy and his crew for swamping or spooking his spot over in mingo. Its a 2 pager with some pretty funny accusations and epithets being used as arguement. This forum fight is a good sample of who and what you may be dealing with when you fish out of flamingo, or any other place were mosquitos dominate the geography. Look at what you are gonna be dealing with. At the boatramp, on bait spots, and on fishing spots. One more reason to leave the mosquitos and the 2lb snooks alone and concentrate on other stuff. Like shitloads of Marlin and 800lb Makos.

Happy Bait is right around the corner. You see these Docker's wearing Discovery Channel captains skipping around the shoreline with their Salty Dog bucket nets. Remember its better to give bait to a malt liquor buzzed cast net All American that is fucking up the bait spot than it is to hate and watch him ruin everything for everybody. Thats why they call it Happy Bait. Guys that aint thrown nan net in 9 months are all of sudden gonna start whacking lunkers? I've never seen it. Well, we will see who is posting lunker snook and tarpon pics and videos and who aint.

MINI LOBSTER SEASON - LIVE BLOGGING

2008-07-30T02:00:00.005-04:00

NOTE - This is why I dont dive, or participate in mini lobster season, and I consider "Diving" to be a fat person sport.

2:00am Just got home. ate a salami sandwich

1:33am The boatramp is a mess

12:41am We just got pulled over again, this time inside the port. Brian waved his tickets around and they waved us off.

12:17am We are going home. Time for a beer.

12:11am Brian and John got back in our boat and they have $65 tickets for not having a dive flag.

11:47pm The FWC Officer just stripped down to swim trunks and dove into the ocean, to go get Brian and John.

11:45pm The FWC pulls up and asks if we have a dive flag, we dont. They ask us a bunch of questions.

11:37pm Brian and John have their scuba tanks on and decend to scout some delicious lobster.

11:30pm We just got to the spot, and some loud guy from Jersey on another boat just screamed at us for not being 300ft away. (you dont have to be 300ft away)

10:30pm Everybody is here at Darin's house, Brian and his Uncle John, me and Captain Jeff. Only Brian and John are gonna do any diving.

CAUGHT - LUNKERSNOOK

2008-07-30T01:45:00.004-04:00

SECRET SPOT - Brad got a real nice snook. And we are all proud of him. Seriously. Captain Jeff, Drew, Freshwater Rob, and even Website Mike. Everybody.

CAUGHT - SPINNER SHARK

2008-07-28T00:05:00.004-04:00

SOUTH FLORIDA - Check out that background. You know what the Sci Fi Channel says "We taste like chicken too" I feel a Jaws pool party is in the near future.

SHARK ATTACK - SNOOK KILLED BY BULL SHARK

2008-07-27T22:34:00.006-04:00

FORT LAUDERDALE - Brett and Blake got into the snooks pretty well a few nights ago. They released about a dozen springers and lunkers, but lost one to a bull shark. Nevermind that irreverent grin on the fisherman's face, the kid was still high off the other big snook he had safely released. The worst part about losing a big mama snook like that to a shark is you still have to chunk it back. The FL law states you may not posses any snook in July. It dont matter that it got eaten by a bull shark. Such a sad waste.

CAUGHT - NOTHING

2008-07-26T23:59:00.003-04:00

SOUTH FLORIDA - Everything totally sucks right now. We just went through probably the worst moon phase of the year. Check the forums, nobody is catching shit. Yeah there is a nice fish here and there, but for the most part it sucks right now. The way I figure it, this is the break before Happy Bait. Cause before we know it, and its only a few weeks away now, Happy Bait will be here, and you will see all the happy baiters fucking up the bait spots. You know its them cause you haven't seen them in 11 months. You know who I'm talking about. The guy that got a Happy Bait Alert on his Blackberry telling him the bait is here. This dude hasn't made eye contact with a pelican, but now all of a sudden he's a Happy Bait All American. You can recognize them easily. They are the ones tosses the net dozens of times, right on the spot. Thus spooking all the good bait.

Lunkerblog suggests that if you see this happening - A Happy Baiter throwing a net over, and over and over, that you simply offer the guy a bait. In the long run it will pay off as hopefully the Happy Baiter will quit putting so much pressure on the bait. So get out your Boing-Oing beach rods and get ready to fight for parking. The fishing totally sucks right now, but Happy Bait is near.

CAUGHT - LUNKER MANGROVE SNAPPER

2008-07-26T00:31:00.004-04:00

PARTS UNKNOWN - Sound the Lunker Alarms. Everything you need to know about how to catch lunker Mangrove snappers. I caught a lunker Grover like that one only it was half the size. Don't mean nothing though, now I know the secret - ballyhoo on the bottom. Big ups to the fisherman on keeping the spot secret.

CAUGHT - SWORDFISH

2008-07-25T00:22:00.004-04:00

SOUTH FLORIDA - The ANEJO is on fire. Max and his boys are tearing up the daytime swordfish and they arent doing it by puting rats in the boat. Thats a solid piece of meat and deserves the title of a lunker Swordfish. Nothing pisses me off more than seeing a rat sword being held up by 5 guys for a photo op. Jesus if you are gonna kill small sized slot fish, at least keep it on the down low. Kodak moments are meant for Lunkers. Now fish off.

CAUGHT - REDFISH

2008-07-21T22:30:00.002-04:00

WEST SIDE - Big Dub Diesel and his boys Matt and BCB got into the Reds in this week. These guys are hardcore boatramp playa's. They drink huge party sized beers, while flippin tarpon frowns up side down. Most of all they leave the rubber on the ramp, where it belongs. I got one slot red once and it kinda pissed me off, cause I thought I was casting at a Bonefish. The last thing I heard was some hippy chick poached the red and served it with Pita bread and Hummus.

Deezy has more pictures of reds, and they caught other stuff too, man...like sharks. Underground Arm Wrestling season opens up in 4 weeks. Bursman will be defending his Southern Inter-Continental belt.

ROADTRIP - BOCA RATON INLET

2008-07-21T01:31:00.002-04:00

BOCA INLET - Jeff called me up and wanted to take a limited road trip up to the Boca Inlet. Its one of the worst Sundays of the year, middle of July. Im not gonna sit home and watch the British Open Golf. I agree to the limited afternoon road trip. Jeff gets world famous Dade county legend Captain Dave McKenzie to join us.

The drive isnt bad, we get to the boat ramp after about 40 minutes of traveling and the sign reads: BOAT RAMP CLOSED SPECIAL EVENT. We were not to be denied, we went around the signs and launched anyway. This was my first time fishing the Boca Inlet and it will probably be my last. First off I dont like the dog-leg inlet with the spoils out front. I appreciate my inlets to be geometrically correct just like Port Everglades with its golden rectangles.

Bait ended up totally harshing our buzzes. We struggled to get bait for about 3 hours. Eventually we found a pod of piss-poor pilchards, fish those lil baits for about an hour and then drove home.

VIDEO - HOGLEGGIN PART 4

2008-07-19T23:50:00.002-04:00

YOUTUBE - Here it is, part 4 of Captain Jeffs Hogleggin Series. Big bait was really hard to get, we headed out with only 4 hoglegs and a well full of chard. We got spot stole all afternoon, and it was a typical full moon suck fest. Everything sucked. Getting Cuda'ed on all 4 hoglegs really sucked. Jeff ended up agro and took it out on the two strokers.

BUSTED - CAPTAIN JEFF

2008-07-19T01:00:00.004-04:00

FORT LAUDERDALE - Local fishing captain and youtube sensation was caught in a candid moment during the taping of one of his fishing videos. Jeff, who appeared to not know that his microphone was on whispered

"Rick Murphy is talking down to white people"

Murphy is the star of the Chevy Fishing Report. As of the time of this blog neither Captain Jeff nor his publicist could be reached for comment.

CAUGHT - PERMIT

2008-07-18T22:52:00.002-04:00

SOUTH FLORIDA - Gettin' Jiggy! caught this lunker Permit on a shrimp. He said the fish went crazy looking for the bait, the Permit has 4 nostrils and can smell a crab upto a thousand miles away, or something like that. Thats a sweet looking permit.

VIDEO - SPOT STEALIN' Part 2

2008-07-18T00:55:00.003-04:00

SOUTH FLORIDA The Rivertard has been selling bait spots and brokering big fish spots so Captain Jeff calls in Cousin Brian to get control of the fishing spots.

CAUGHT - SNOOK

2008-07-16T23:52:00.002-04:00

SOUTH FLORIDA - Captain Brian aka Action88 knows how to drop a fishing report. He waits a few weeks and then drops everything all at once that way he's not fighting with the tards for spots. Homeboy is reporting that Biscayne Bay is on fire with Bones, Permits, and Red

CAUGHT - BLUE MARLIN

2008-07-16T11:57:00.003-04:00

BERMUDA - Captain James Robinson of WOUND UP caught this Lunker blue marlin that ended up weighing 1049lbs. Check out the whole story on Sportfishermen.com

ITS NUTS OUT THERE

2008-07-14T03:13:00.003-04:00

YOUTUBE - Check this guy out, he compares bass with snook, and trust me Lunkertards, listen to everything this guys says, especially when he says to use bass lures, and to work them fast. Also fish in heavy current, because the snook likes it, however, bass like to hide around structures. So do exactly like this guy says and you should be catching Lunker snook in no time! He didnt actually catch a Lunker using his methods, but he was at Sosin Laboratories filming captive snook in the mini-sub. I'm going to Wal-Mart right now and Im buying every bass lure they got, and Im gonna work it fast!

CAUGHT - LUNKER STRIPER

2008-07-12T04:38:00.003-04:00

NEW JERSEY - Tunaman81 is to be congratulated on catching himself a certified lunker Striper.

CAUGHT - SPRINGER SNOOK

2008-07-11T00:25:00.003-04:00

CAPE CORAL - CC Joe knows how to correctly report a decent snook catch, he waited a few weeks to post the picture of this springer snook which he caught on handpicked shrimp, one luxury we dont have here in south Florida.. Spot Stealing is already a huge problem on the west coast of Florida and it is becoming a concern in Dade and Broward counties. Lunkerblog say's wait a few weeks even a month to preserve your fishing spots. The internet is great and all but it as created a subculture of stealing spots from photos. Flickr and the forums are also culpable.

SHORT FILM - NOZZLERAGE

2008-07-10T18:24:00.002-04:00

YOUTUBE - Funny video, but it would have been funnier if the guy was at the Marina gas dock filling-up a 52' Viking Sport fish. Oh well, think about it this way, the higher gas prices go up, the less people that will be able to steal my secret snook spots.

CAUGHT - LUNKER SNOOK

2008-07-09T21:40:00.003-04:00

SECRET SPOT - These kids are up and coming and they are already whacking big Fresh water snook. Seeing kids learning how to hold a big snook correctly is what its all about, kind of make you proud to be a Lunkertard.

Babes with Hogsnappers

2008-07-09T01:00:00.002-04:00

BIMINI - Redneckfishin was all over the Hogsnapper and groupers this 4th of July. I won't pretend to know anything about spearfishing, but I was always told, dont hate on a lunker. The hot chicks in bikini doesnt hurt.

WTF? - FISHING VIDEO

2008-07-09T00:50:00.002-04:00

PARTS UNKNOWN - I never really made it passed 10th grade geography so I dont even know what country this is, but this is one hell of a boatless tournament. These guys are hardcore with their boing-boing-boing beach rods and they are certainly catching some lunkers with scores in the thousands. If anybody knows what this is all about please let me know.

CLASSIC LUNKER VIDEO - 100lb TARPON

2008-07-06T23:15:00.002-04:00

VIDEO - Classic Big Tarpon on light tackle. Captain Jeff whooped this hundred pound tarpon on 12lb test. This fish was made for the camera.

CAUGHT - BLUEFIN TUNA

2008-07-04T12:24:00.002-04:00

BOSTON - Captain Jeff and his cousin Eric went out and caught this gorgeous Bluefin Tuna. Read More and More Pics.