10/19/14 October Tarpon Fishing in Flamingo

Had Frank and his father out this morning for a 3/4 day.  We were planning on departing early to catch bait, however they were a little late driving from Key Largo.  We got back into the backcountry and checked a couple mullet spots, but with the low falling water and already high sun they were pretty tough.  I was starting to think oh boy it’s going to be a tough day… but went to plan B.  I found a nice mud where we caught a dozen ladyfish really quick – a boat ran through and shut them down right after too.  We ran along the shoreline and I saw a busting tarpon.  Set up near there but no bites, the tide was coming in nicely now.  So ran back to a channel where we had luck last week.  Lots of shark action with big blacktips.  Then finally hooked up to a nice 40 lb tarpon.  Landed him and a few more sharks including a big lemon and black tip double header!  Then last bait in the water we hook a nice 80 lb tarpon!  He put on a fabulous display, grey hounding and jumping wildly…  Unbelievable for my 2 anglers from Sweden!  After that we headed home, another great day of october fishing in the florida keys!  Frank and his dad said it was the best day of fishing they ever had and could not wait to come back.  The moral of the story is don’t despair when fishing in islamorada, there is always a plan B.  (But try to show up early it sometimes can make or break your day!)  There should still be shots at tarpon through the rest of the month and even into November if we don’t have any drastic cold.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk