This is the first time we've caught a Red Snapper trolling for Tarpon with my cousin Mike Strohmeyer in over 20 years fishing together. We were off of Southwest Pass seeing a few schools of Tarpon when the depth finder lit up with a school of Redfish. We quickly attempted to clear lines while the Redfish started hitting and missing baits when the ten second line bent over with a hooked fish. Imagine our surprise when we reeled in a 22' Red Snapper with a Coon Pop in it's mouth caught in open water.

The water temperature has dropped with the last cool front and although we saw some Tarpon they were few and not cooperating. Since Tarpon have all but disappeared we headed south to find a well formed blue water line 7.5 miles south of Block 93. With plenty of flying fish and other baitfish on the line it wasn't long before caught a double of nice Dolphin. We also picked up a couple of Yellowfin and a decent sized Wahoo. We didn't fish long but had plenty of strikes and ended up with a nice box of fish.

Mike says there are some vacancies at the Lighthouse Lodge and the fishing out of Venice is incredible right now. The Red Snapper are everywhere, plenty boats caught Tuna, Trout, Redfish, Flounder were caught, and Bass fishermen we spoke to had great catches. It's time to enjoy some great fall fishing, see you there.