4/2/14 April Florida Keys Tarpon Fishing heats up!

Well more fish continuing to show up locally around local islamorada.  We had some fresh live mullets from yesterday afternoon and I bought a few more while out on the water.  We had the last of the falling tide this morning in the channels.  Action was pretty instantaneous out there and was heavy for the 1st hour.  We caught one tarpon right away of 40 lbs or so.  We had a couple other bites one fish we had one for a few seconds and anglers did not bow in time and he threw the hook.  Another bite we missed entirely.  A few more ‘cheap shots’ and nervous baits.  After that action slowed down a bit we hooked another fish at the beginning of the incoming tide that screamed out some line.  We slowly chased after and had another fish trying to eat the other bait so I tried to wait for the double hookup.  Unfortunately with the hard southeast wind and in tide the weed was very thick in the channel and we got a lot of weed on the line and the hook just pulled on the other fish without even a jump, which is unusual but oh well.  After that I purchased a few more live mullets and we tried another channel but the weed was too bad, we went back to where we first were and anchored in a different area.  It was much more fishable for the most part with a few patches of weed to worry about here and there.  We caught a fish on dead bait, nice fish of 80 lbs or so.  Then we went back and after another 30 minutes or so before it was time to come in we hooked a nice 100 lber.  Chased him to the bridge and got the leader on him a couple times but he got in the hard bridge current and we broke him off which was just as well as he would of been a long time to get a good picture of!  Anyways 3 technical releases of 6 real bites plus other ‘cheap shots’ and great action on live mullets!  Great half day morning tarpon trip.  Tomorrow I have my anglers from yesterday we are going in the backcountry, maybe see if the tarpon are getting happier there too!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk