5/22/16 Islamorada Tarpon Fishing Report late may

Got out early after them today.  We tried some of the local channels first and got out at 5 AM in the dark.  Though it was plenty bright with the full moon out.  Winds were light northwest – can’t beleive it northwest breeze and it is almost June!  A mild chill in the air felt good though obviously not a fan of it for the fishing.  Anyways we heard a few fish rolling and made a few good drifts though never had a bite, tried another channel out back where the tide was running longer, and didn’t hear much there eventually saw one roll but still no luck.  Around 6:30 we ran into the backcountry and caught a few mullet on the way.  Tried a channel back there the sharks were very active, saw a couple tarpon roll eventually though no bite from them.  We ran to a different channel and saw a ton of tarpon rolling – yay!  We got in front of some, put baits out and soon after had a shark bite which I swore was a tarpon as a tarpon jumped right when/where it bit!  I don’t know how a shark got it, but it did.  Then we hooked a big lemon shark which was cool something different, and while fighting that Rob hooked a nice 40 lb tarpon we landed.  After that we had one more possible tarpon bite though we missed it never saw what it was, and then the tarpon just seemed to disappear.  We had been seeing them roll everywhere and now nothing.  Anyways we eventually left and tried another area where we found a lot of little tarpon though no bites out of them.  Then tried around town the last hour of the day with the live baits and we did have several tarpon give us some cheap shots, chasing the baits around, and finally another solid bite though we missed him – it was slack tide so tough to get tight on the fish and set the hook.  All in all a fun day was glad to have gotten one again.  1 for 2

Capt. Rick Stanczyk