It got chillier again last night down in the mid 60s and the water temps did dip to the mid 70s. Not terrible but when it goes from being in the low 80s to 76 the tarpon usually don’t like that too much. We were able to get one right off the bat and a possible other bite near home, a nice 50 lb fish to start the day. After that not much more action we ran further southwest by the bridges and caught a few decent size groupers, and a couple nurse sharks, but no tarpon action on the end of the falling tide. We ran back to fish the local channels and just more sharks and rays. We then ran back to the bridges to try to snapper fish and wait for the tide to start running in good. We caught a few snappers and saw some tarpon rolling so we put a bait out and eventually hooked a nice 35 lber that we caught. Saw a few more busting and rolling nearby so we set up over there and had a few other bites and couple cheap shots on the live baits, and finally hooked a nice 85 lber that we fought a while and landed. After that one other bite and that was about it a bunch of other boats came in and the tarpon seemed to settle down after being happy for a good hour or so anyways. Not a bad day with the conditions, north wind and chilly, 3 for 6!
April 2014
4/20/14 Post Cold Front April Tarpon Fishing Islamorada
Well the temperature dipped again last night down in the 60s but the water is still warm and tarpon are still here. We did not have ideal conditions this morning with a westerly stiff breeze that swung more northwest/north later in the morning. A chill was in the air. We were able to catch a couple tarpon though and make for a nice morning. After the first couple fish in the first 2 hours though things slowed down we did not have much other action. But 2 tarpon on a half day trip is always a good thing! I heard the fish bit a little later in the afternoon it got really pretty and sunny out and the wind laid down a little bit. Bait was difficult in the morning but this afternoon we went and found some big balls of them and loaded up for a few days. Looks like tonight it is going to dip down to the mid 60s again, so we will see what happens tomorrow. North winds they are calling for. Overall it should be a good thing it may slow the fish down a little which may mean a little better fishing later in the season. Happy easter everyone!
4/19/14 Late April cold front tarpon fishing report
Well we had a minor front come in this morning. Winds were a breeze out of the west this morning then this afternoon it was honking pretty good northwest. We caught a couple tarpon in the first 2 hours on our morning trip. After that it seemed to slow down and we moved down to try some live bait spots. The live mullet were tough this morning, the commercial guys brought some down from key largo so we got a few from them. We saw plenty of fish at the bridges but they were not interested in the mullets. This evening we went back to the bridges, the tide was falling and it was ripping! Unfortunately the mullets were small and not strong enough to keep up with the current. We were able to fish a handful of stronger larger ones for a couple hours, but only had a couple of cheap shots on them. Saw a few boats hook fish, but only maybe 3 out of about a dozen boats in 2 hours. So we ran back up the road and tried my morning spot. Several boats in there… I hate seeing so many boats in some of our holes where we try to only go when we need to catch one… especially the weekend warriors! Anyways we fished it hard and had a few pickup and drops, then finally got tight on a nice 80 lb fish. We chased him through the crab trap buoys and got leader on him, but unfortunately he came unbuttoned before we could get a good picture. But a release! So 3 for the day not bad for the conditions! Looks to be northwest tomorrow and north monday though the wind speed is coming down a bit. I really hope this is the last of the cold fronts!!!
