We're going on vacation in mid June and want to go on a half day fishing charter.

Any recommendations for a good charter?

It will be myself, my 13 year old son, my GF and her dad. My son and I fish freshwater quite a bit, and her dad used to, my GF is kind of new at it but likes it.

Is tarpon fishing too much of a challenge for our first go-round?

I'm trying to decide on a half day of tarpon vs a half day of nearshore fishing for snapper, grouper, shark, etc.

You could try Whittanys bait and tackle on periwinkle they run charters.  Very nice people there. I use a great guide out of Pine Island he's always busy but he could put you on someone if he can't take you he's great with kids super nice . PM me if you want his contact info.

Snook should be on the beaches near the passes soon. Wade out about waist deep near any of the passes on a good tide and cast parallel to shore. 4" X-Rap in glass ghost or olive green do it for me.


The guide we've used for the last 20 years is booked up for the year.

Whitneys is pretty good, when I stopped by not too long ago they said the tarpon were hitting their charters like nuts and could set them almost as fast as they could cast. 

I don't think Tarpon would be too big a problem. I myself would prefer Redfish and Snook any day but I've lived here locally my whole life so it's different to some. 

I ended up going with Flat Hounds Fishing Charters in Bonita Springs. I talked to him at length and it seemed like he's been doing pretty well on the fish.

We'll likely be fishing the flats, my son really wants to catch a shark (he doesn't care how big or how small). He hooked into one in South Carolina that the captain estimated at 6+ feet long and fought it for 45 minutes before it cut through the line, so he really wants to land one.

It's a 6 hour charter, so we should have some time to try some different things. We won't specifically target tarpon, but the captain is prepared for them and if we see any, we'll go after them.

Have fun and post some pics when you're done!

When are you in town?

Our quarterly get together/shoot/dinner is 6/17......

My Son and I have used Catch m Up Charters out of Fort Myers Beach a few times, we usually go for shark.

No advice on charters, I'm new to Florida myself but Snook were hitting pretty good last week according to some guys we were talking to on the beach in Sanibel.

Good luck!