Captain Griffin Deans is a true fishing enthusiast, averaging more than 300 charters annually since obtaining his captain’s license. While many of these trips blend together over time, some stand out as unforgettable, and he recently experienced one such extraordinary adventure. “Why will no one answer the phone? Just had the best four-hour trip of my life and need to talk about it,” Deans excitedly posted on Facebook after his remarkable fishing excursion on Tuesday.
The exceptional trip commenced early, with Deans assembling his four anglers well before the 7:14 a.m. sunrise. “I like to start early to get a jump on things. Lately, we’ve seen lots of tarpon activity before sunrise, so we decided to target them before daylight,” explained Deans, the Palmetto-based captain renowned for fishing southern Tampa Bay. “We hooked two massive ones, likely exceeding one hundred pounds, and battled one for about 20 minutes. Unfortunately, it managed to spit the hook just as it neared the boat.”
Following the encounter with the large tarpon, Deans decided to head back to shallower waters for a sunrise redfish bite. During the journey, he couldn’t help but overhear another angler lamenting their missed tarpon opportunity. “He mentioned feeling like we’d missed out on a tarpon, and that stayed with me. We had a fantastic redfish rally, catching around 20 during an hour of nonstop action. I thought it best to leave them alone for a while, so we shifted our focus to catching a few snook, all the while, the tarpon idea was still on my mind,” Deans recounted. “We could have caught more snook, but the idea of pursuing tarpon again was too tempting. We headed to where I had success with them late last year, tossed some chum, and the action was instantaneous as we started hooking small tarpon!”
With limited time remaining in the trip, the tarpon action persisted until the very end. In just 30 minutes, they managed to land several tarpon, successfully hooking ten in total. These smaller tarpon, roughly 20 pounds each, provided quite a spectacle with their acrobatic jumps and spirited runs, all while challenging the light inshore tackle.
Deans couldn’t contain his excitement and took to social media to share the experience with friends and followers. After posting about friends who mysteriously wouldn’t answer their phones, he followed up by sharing images of the redfish and tarpon, accompanied by a brief summary of his unforgettable adventure. “Today was truly epic. Double-digit tarpon and double-digit redfish made for a four-hour trip I’ll never forget!”
Image/Source: BradentonHerald
