Scott, Scotty and Seth Childs went shark fishing with me Sunday. The target was blacktip sharks and they did not disappoint. At times we had up to six sharks circling the boat at one time. It’s always an incredible sight to see these fish cruising in six to eight feet of water, daring you to cast them a live bait. Scotty boated a stud blacktip at around six foot long. His dad Scott, had it’s twin hooked up for a few furious seconds until it broke off. We later headed offshore and caught several nice Gag grouper to finish the day off. What an incredible day with great guys!

Alan Kan and friends hooked up with me on April 23rd for some awesome speckled trout fishing! The guys caught around 20 trout, 6 of which made the mark. Double and triple hook-ups made it even more fun. They also added two sheepshead to the mix. Great guys! Great fisherman!

Another incredible day of inshore fishing on St. Andrews Bay! Jeffery Register and Cory Krivanec of Gulfport, Mississippi absolutely whacked the bull redfish and spanish mackerel this morning. We were blessed with awesome weather as the winds finally laid down and the sky cleared. Cory caught his biggest redfish to date, a 33″ bull, on light spinning tackle. His fish was one of four bull reds caught today. Spanish mackerel began feeding heavy when the tide moved inshore. Their limit of 30 fish were caught in short time by casting plugs in the frenzy!

Three generations of Wormfley men were onboard with me yesterday and what a day we had. Sheepshead were on the hitlist and were feeding heavy. John and his son Blake landed five over-slot bull redfish between them! I heard “Man, my arms are tired!” several times as John and his son fought one redfish after another. The largest hit the 30 inch mark!

It was all smiles when father and son, John Sr & John Jr hooked up with the heavyweight bull redfish of Panama City Beach. We were greeted with blue skies and warm temps for the afternoon. They both caught their “largest ever” redfish with me on Thursday afternoon. I’m sure if you asked litle John, he would swear that his trip was way more exciting that any video game he played and one he’ll never forget. As we left for the ramp, he asked his dad “Do you thing I could get a mount (replica) of that fish Dad?” That’s what it’s all about!

Tammy & Kelly made the trip from Michigan to visit the Worlds Most Beautiful Beaches for some spring fun in the sun. I was honored to be their host on their very first saltwater experience. Sheepshead and Spanish Mackerel fell one after another to this formidable duo. There is no doubt, these ladies are great fisherman and left me impressed! There is nothing better than making new friends while sharing great memories on the water.

Hopefully mother nature will be more kind to us this go around. She sent high westerly winds and seas against the beach for most of the summer, keeping us Tarpon hunters at bay most days. Although, we managed to boat two of the largest Tarpon brought to my boat in 2012.

Since I have silver on the brain, I thought I would share video of one of those pigs. She was 70″ to the fork, having her weight at around 175 lbs. She kicked my butt for the longest 45 minutes of my life and was then released with plenty of energy to go on her way.

Here’s to 2013 and more silver!

Capt. John Vann

REDFISH! Kevin Brunworth fished with me on July 24th and what a day it was. He wanted to tarpon fish but mother nature had other plans which forced us back inshore.  The move paid off big time. Bait was everywhere and was being busted by everything from bonita to bull redfish. Kevin was having a blast whacking bonita on top water plugs, one after another, when the big bulls showed up. The bite was epic. By mid morning, Kevin had boated six huge redfish on live bait. It seemed each fish was bigger than the last. “This is my biggest redfish ever!”. Minutes later- “Wait! Now this is my biggest redfish ever!”

If your brave enough to dodge the daily lightening storms on the Gulf we’ve been having lately, you may just get rewarded for an incredible King bite! I did some “scouting” today and fished with Kenny Zediker in his new Triton 22. We were greeted with nasty 3-4 ft swells at sunrise on the run offshore. The pounding we took was well worth it. Every flat-lined cast was instantly hammered. We caught our two man limit in 10 cast! Now that is a hot bite.

The “Silver King”. High risk fishing with the highest of rewards! It’s never been described as easy. But how many can lay claim to winning the battle with the ultimate inshore bruiser? Book a tarpon charter with Last Local Guide Service and you may just have the chance to accomplish something very few anglers have.