Tarpon are still biting. Yesterday we had a full day trip. We went 1 for 3 in the morning around town here. Several other boats in ‘the area.’ It’s that time of year anybody gets a whiff of where fish are biting and next thing you know there are a dozen boats there. We went in the backcountry after that as fishing slowed down and too many boats around. We caught another 1 out of 3 tarpon back there making 2 for 6 for the day. We also caught a variety of sharks including lemon, blacktip, blacknose, and nurse. Today fishing was tough we had a morning half day. We only had 1 for sure tarpon bite that we caught thankfully and 1 other fish boil on a boat but not eat. I talked to several other guides and reports were similar from at least half a dozen other boats – a bite or two if you were lucky. Not sure what happened the fish just didn’t seem happy I only saw a handful roll and fished 5 different spots. The one fish we caught a couple boats saw us fighting him and ran and fished right where I was anchored previously meaning I had to leave the spot after… this time of year gets ridiculous with the out of town guides/weekend warriors. Please if your fishing and boating down here show some respect to those that live and work here full time trying to make a living! We also got ran over while fishing later in the day by another boat and a jet ski tour, idiots will drive right over your lines. Oh well thats my venting for the morning at least we caught a nice fish and I got some great pictures. More tarpon fishing the next couple mornings stay tuned for the report.
April 2014
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!
4/1/14 April Tarpon Fishing in Islamorada is here!
Well got back on the tarpon horse after taking a bit of time off from it. We had a couple different late cold fronts last week which slowed down the tarpon fishing. A little over a week ago for 2 nights it got down in the mid 60s and the water temps dropped to 67 or so around town here. That made fishing for tarpon very slow for a few days. It did pick back up for a couple days when the water temps got back in the mid 70s, but then another minor front dropped it down to low 70s again. The last couple of days people have been getting a few bites here and there but the the water temp was 72 this morning still on the chilly side. The water hasn’t had a chance to really warm up as its been blowing a good 10-15 knots every day just about. Anyways I was doing lots of patch reef fishing which was great action and good eating, a good bet for my half day trips that were not dead set on catching tarpon anyways. Today though we did a full day and I had a load of bait from yesterday ready to go. We had to look around a bit, caught a few sharks and had one cheap shot early from a tarpon on a live bait. Then finally we found some on the ocean side that were happy with the hard incoming tide with the wind behind it. We had 4 solid bites, missing a couple, losing a big fish on a lobster trap buoy, and then finally stuck 1 and caught him! Nice fish of 75 lbs. We also had another probably half dozen cheap shots that did not eat the baits but were busting and flashing them which was entertaining. That was all in about 1.5 hours. After that the tide slowed and the bite slowed with it and we did some other stuff. But a great day overall, I have a half day tarpon trip tomorrow so we will be giving it a shot again. No cold weather in the forecast so things should warm up a bit and get better.
