February 2014

Well gave ’em a break yesterday but we tarpon fished again today.  We loaded up on mullet and fished in the backcountry.  First couple baits in the water after 10 minutes we had a nice 90 lb fish hooked up which we fought and brought to the boat though he jumped off on the leader.  The fish lately are not cooperating well for boatside pictures!!  After that the blacktip sharks were horrendous again we caught over a dozen plus many more cut us off.  Tried a couple other areas and no luck, lots of grass/weed with the south wind.  Came back around town near channel 2 in islamorada and the current was ripping and lots of sargasm weed being blowin in with the south wind.  We fished for a bit, caught a big nurse shark, but no signs of tarpon so we came in early on a 3/4 day.  But still lots of fun, good action with sharks, and a big tarpon – beats where these guys came from where it was -13 degrees!!!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Well did a bit more tarpon fishing today around islamorada.  We fished down near channel 2 bridge tarpon fishing.  In the morning we fished the patches out front for dinner.  Then near mid day we looked for mullet muds which were plentiful just a few miles back in the bay.  We drifted in and in a few throws had a couple dozen mullet.  Perfect bait for tarpon.  We set up with the trolling motor near where we were seeing rolling fish.  Never had a strike on the live baits, but jumped one off on the dead bottom bait.  We were patient and the tide nearly quit, we moved a little bit further over where we had seen a fish roll last.  All of a sudden a 130 lb tarpon goes airborne and we have her on!  Tough fish we fought for over an hour, took us through the bridge and in between multiple pilings.  Almost cut us off and did frey the wind on leader pretty bad on barnacles.  But we got the technical release and the fish boatside for just a few seconds before the leader finally broke.  A true battle with the silver king!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Well I had my first official tarpon trip of the year – success!  We caught a couple nice size tarpons in the backcountry this morning.  I caught plenty of mullet yesterday and we had to hit a few spots but find a few hungry ones.  We did see tarpon in most the channels we fished, but they were not really active or feeding well.  The water temp was still in the low 70s, a little on the chilly side but fish are definitely starting to show up.  Plenty were spotted in the middle of the bay as well which means our local channels and bridges should load up with fish too.  We did some scouting last night right nearby the marina and we did not have any luck, and did not see much for fish rolling either.  I’ve heard there have been some further down by the bigger bridges.  If the weather stays nice and warm like it is, you can expect to have shots at catching tarpon this time of year.  If your looking to do some tarpon fishing, give me a call or shoot me an email.  Early season fishing can be very good!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk