~ STORY BEHIND THE DAY ~ EPISODE EIGHT “SURPRISE MONSTER SAWFISH WHILE TARPON FISHING”
April 11, 2021 Islamorada, FL
Captain Vinnie Biondoletti - Got the invite from my son Nicholas (Producer of G&T) to take out his friend and co-worker Jason Stemple on a morning half Tarpon trip to film this episode of Guides and Tides. We got up early and dropped in the Yellowfin Bay Boat and ran straight to Channel 5. When we got there we put out one live Mullet and one Dead Mullet on the bottom. Before we knew it we had a school of Jack Crevalle exploding on our baits and Jason and I were hooked up to a double. Catching the Jacks on spin is awesome but we figured since Jason is an avid fly fisherman lets try and get him one on the fly rod. We threw and threw but they weren’t interested in the fly as much as they were the top water plug with out the hooks we were using to tease them into eating the fly. After that we made a move west and caught a Black Nose Shark and then a Red Grouper on the bottom rod. A nice Red Grouper too and a first for Jason. Its always fun to put anglers on their first ever fish no matter what the species. But what came next was the fish of a lifetime for anyone who fishes. As we were waiting on the Tarpon bite we had our bottom rod tick and then saw the line swimming right past the boat. I knew right away it was going to be a BIG SAWFISH! The Sawfish is an amazing fish, a prehistoric beat. Scientists and fish studies say they are an endangered species, but being a guide for the past 40 years and fishing almost every day I have seen a ton of them and they seem to be around more and more over the last 8 to 10 years. A lot of the guys at Bud n Marys Marina have been catching them and even the tourists who come down and rent boats to fish are catching them. I feel it is just a hard fish to get a grasp on and there are ALOT more than people think. So Jason is into the fight of his life. An avid fly fisherman who targets Bonefish, Tarpon, Redfish, and Permit. But for any angler these fish put up a fight. They hug the bottom and thrash their long sharp bills around. After 30 minutes we finally got the Monster to pull us onto the flat where we could see him and boy was Jason in shock at the size of the massive beast. We got some footage and photos as I held the leader and then released the fish and watched him swim away back to the deep! Couldn’t have asked for a better day and to be able to spend it with an awesome angler and guy like Jason along with my son was all I could ask for..
