4/13/15 April Tarpon Fishing in Islamorada

The mullets finally showed back up in numbers this morning.  Several places were loaded with lots of bait.  We were able to catch plenty before daybreak and headed out around 7:15 to tarpon fish the bridges.  We had the last of the incoming tide and we hooked a fish on a live mullet right after missing another bite first thing.  A big 150 lb fish he gave a good run but did not fight all that hard.  He ended up being foul hooked in the side of the mouth which may of been part of it.  Anyways nice fish to start.  The tide started to fall eventually but we had a very weak tide.  The tarpon were there but not too happy we had a couple fish come up and bust the mullets probably 15 times but did not eat it.  We finally hooked another on a dead bait and caught him.  This fish took us through the bridge a few times and we got him to the boat before breaking him off, nice 100 lb fish.  Then that was about it for tarpon action we moved around and found some fish rolling and busting, but they were not very interested in feeding.  We went back up close to home and tried dead baiting the last hour, we caught a nice blacktip shark and then decided to call it a day as the weak tide was going to continue and eventually slack out so didn’t think it was worthwhile to stay the last couple hours.  Anyways couple tarpon and a couple sharks, fun morning!  I must say too it is fantastic having my trolling motor working again it has already helped me get a few bites that otherwise we may not have had.  2 for 3

Capt. Rick Stanczyk