canals, etc. “They were concerned a few years ago about the tarpon, not seeing the small tarpon in the bays and all. But when you think about it, all the mangroves have been cut down and replaced by sea walls. That's about all there is to tarpon fishing. You go out in the pass and you will see them there." "When tarpon fishing would start," said Captain Freddy Futch, “we'd leave the dock sometimes 4:30 or 5 a.m., depending on the tide. Fish for three to four hours and come in and have breakfast. We’d come in, have dinner, go to bed, and start the same routine again tomorrow. “If we were fishing any other fish, you know, SOMETIMES YOU GET A FISH AND SOMETIMES YOU DON’T. THAT’S WHY IT’S CALLED “FISHING”, NOT “CATCHING” - Merritt "Babe" Darna, kingfish, mackerel, we'd leave the dock 9 a.m., carry our stove with us and frying pan, and bacon so we could fry the bacon and then fry the fish in the bacon. We'd make chowder on the beach. We'd go fishing in the morning and catch mackerel and kingfish, bluefish and maybe stop at the pass and fish on the bottom and get a grouper. “We'd go over to the shoals on the south side of the pass (by Cayo Costa). In those days there were two nice white sand shoals out there and we'd go out there and put the bow of the boat on the beach and they would go ashore, swim and we'd cook. Cook their lunch for them. “Sometimes we'd boil shrimp and fry shrimp, too. And then back at the dock around three o'clock or four o'clock. It's changed now; there's so many people doing it. When I first started fishing if we went fishing early in the morning in the pass, we'd always let somebody know the night before that we were going fishing the next day because we probably would be the only boat out there, and if we broke down, we wanted somebody to know we were out there fishing and what time to expect us back. Now you got millions of boats in the pass." One of the most famous guides was Phalo Padilla, whose family came from Cayo Costa. Phalo's nephew, the late Perry Padilla, describes him as a thoroughly likable, good humored, caring man Freddy Futch
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