Grouper fishing near shore and off has been out standing for the last month. Gags and Red Grouper in the 24 inch and up range have been no problem with the cool weather bringing them in closer to shore. Pulling gear for these keeper size fish it a great way to get you limit if you know how to do it.
First tie on 100 ft of 65lb power pro to 50lb test with a Bimini twist to your 4/0. Power pro will let your lures or jigs go deeper than mono and gives a better hook up as it does not stretch. Next hook up a number four plainer and then 35ft of PINK Andy 50 lb mono line. I use large jigs most of the time so tie it on. Now you want to watch your gps and troll at 2 1/2 to 3 mph no more no less. In 40 ft of water let your line out until the knots from the power pro to your line on the real hits the water. Lock it down and get ready for action. The power pro does two things as I said first it goes deeper than mono and second your letting your line out the same distance every time. See your rod bumping the bottom real in a few cranks and count how many turns. Next time you reset just let the knot hit the water and then crank in that many turns. Good Luck and Tight lines Capt Jay Masters at www.fatcatfishingcharters.com. Watch for great Tarpon tips I will be giving in a few months. Visit our picture page and video pages.

 Two young anglers booked a Tarpon,Grouper charter with Fat Cat fishing Charters in St.Petersburg Fl and Tampa Bay area. The morning was nice as the sun came up over the white sands of St.Pete Beach. We left the ramp and headed for a spot I know twenty five miles off shore. Soon after we dropped the anchor we had two keeper Gag Grouper and ten under size we released. One Lane Snapper and ten Key West Grunts was landed when we saw the weather moving in on us so we headed for shore. The two angler's said it was there dream to catch a Florida TARPON so I went inside the pass and set up the Tarpon rods. I had cast netted about thirty live ten inch mullet that morning on the way out to the Gulf of Mexico and was going to use them for Grouper and Tarpon bait alive. I set up and dropped the anchor and set the rods out. We was fishing for Tarpon on the edge of a pass in eleven foot of water the perfect depth for Tarpon. One angler said can you really catch fish that big in this shallow of water? I replied yes you can and about that time one of the four rods put out started singing a song. A one hundred twenty five pound Tarpon cleared the water by six foot with a large jump and the fight was on. After thirty minutes of line ripping,Tarpon jumping and a lot of excitement we brought the Silver King boat side took pictures and released it alive. The angler said it made his dream come true and couldn't thank me enough. Ten minutes later another rod bent over and another Tarpon was on the line and the fight was on with the second angler. He also landed his Tarpon and said the same thing that his dream had come true. Ten minutes later again Tarpon on and the first angler caught his second Tarpon and released it. Then the second angler caught another Tarpon and released it. We also jumped three other large fish that day.. All these Tarpon was over one hundred twenty pounds and released alive. FatCatFishingCharter.com helping dreams come true. Capt.Jay Masters

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Cap Jay's Fight with a 175 lb Silver King. This Tarpon was around 50 to 60 years old and released alive! This Silver King took two and a half hours to bring boat side on a penn 750 with 60# Power Pro. It was caught at Eg mont Key on a Hill Tide out going with a Pass Crab and a 6/0 hook. This "TARPON" took us to the ship's channel that's about fifty foot deep. If you fish for the Silver King you know what that meant. Yes deep water Tarpon go down and it's hard to pull up a 175 pound Tarpon up from that deep with 65 pound test. Then we saw a ship coming and figured we would have to add a six ounce sinker on the line with a slide and when the ship came we would open the bail and free spool the line. By doing this the sinker would take the line down to the bottom while the ship ran over it and maybe get lucky and not get cut off. Our luck the the Tarpon took us out of the channel before the ship got to us. When we released the Tarpon it had pulled the 22 ft boat close to two miles. Hooked up the Tarpon at Eg mont Key and released the fish in front of the mouth of  Fort De Soto  Park!  This Great Silver King Tarpon is still swimming free today! My thanks to Wayne for driving the boat and helping!