[benjamin]

i have been to boca grande the last 2 summers in a row in my little whaler. when the tarpon are there, there is always a crowd. there were no tourneys going on during the times i was there and the area was still crowded. How close you have to be to the crowd depends on what the fish are doing also. the first time i was there, the schools of tarpon were spread out all over the place and you could be patient and a school would come to you or you could slowly motor over to a school as long as it wasnt too packed with people. we had a MONSTER on for about 30 minutes until it wore through the leader. It was so big it never actually breached the water when it was jumping. probably in the 7' range. the next year(last year) the tarpon were holding the bottom in one spot which made the fishing pretty hectic. we were litterally in the crowd drifting over the school then motoring back over and drifting again. someone has to be on the wheel at all times and pay attention as youre packed-in like sardines with all the other boats. hooked tarpon were jumping in and bouncing off other peoples boats which is usually more funny than anything. its a whole different style of fishing than what im used to so i made sure that i gave everyone the right of way until i figured out the routine. also, i wasnt prepared last year and had no 10 fathom jigs which is the only thing they were eating at the time. they wouldnt touch my live bait. its fun but its not the only way to fish for huge tarpon. Cayo Costa state park is where i camped out and there is a pretty cool restaurant on a Caloosa Indian shell mound a couple miles south of there. Its on Cabbage Key. check it out if you can get down there... if i can ever figure out my photobucket password, ill post up some pics