One of the cool things about Bud n’ Mary’s Marina is that it is home to hundreds of resident tarpon! Over the years, the tarpon have taken refuge in the marina as we’ve stopped allowing fishing in the marina basin and customers walk around and feed them daily as do the captains who are cleaning fish there regularly. You can feed tarpon from 10 lbs up to 200 lbs and have them eating almost right out of your hand! Don’t worry – they don’t have teeth. We also get a variety of sharks (mostly nurse sharks) though on occasion we have big lemon sharks and bull sharks come into the basin as well (so no swimming!) We also have some resident goliath groupers which the staff or local captains are happy to point out if they’re around. You can buy a bucket of tarpon food from the tackle shop in the office. We’re also offering a free bucket of food if you eat lunch at the cafe.
We have chartered fishing trips out of here two times. No complaints, great to be able to get some food and drinks before heading out, and staff has been friendly both times.
Bud and Mary were able to fit us in for a fishing trip. what a wonderful time. Tim had a lot of patience as I am a real beginner in fishing. We saw a ton of different Fish. we had perfect weather. A great time all around. I cannot wait to come back and do it again.
Great Trip with Max Gaspeny Max took our 3 sons (24, 14, and 12) out today while my wife and I went with another guide. It was the younger two’s first time with a guide and first time on salt water. Max asked them what they wanted to do and the boys answered you do this for a living so you make the call. The first spot they went they caught 50 plus fish of 11 different species and the boys had a blast. Then Max asked if they wanted to try for some Tarpon he spotted the night before. They said sure. They hooked 8, boated three a couple smaller and one Max thought was around 50 pounds. Needless to say they came back to the dock on cloud 9. Today wasn’t a great fishing day either as my wife and I landed one Jack-our only other bite was a hammerhead. On top of that Max was just so good with the boys. They all came back telling me about the stories they heard and what a great time they had. He was super patient with the little guys and shared some very kind words about them when the got back in. I really can’t speak highly enough about the experience he gave my kids today. Thank you Max.
