Had a half day today and again tomorrow too. Fishing was very tough, bait wasn’t too easy though we managed to catch about a dozen mullet this morning. Most of the live bait guys didn’t have any either, a couple weren’t working today due to various reasons, and the third just hadn’t had much luck finding them. Anyways we looked in a few spots and didn’t see much for tarpon. It was fairly calm and light winds so figured we’d see them if they were around. Finally we found some around one of the bridges. The weed was very bad after the front a few days ago, and where the fish were it was almost unfishable as we had to clear weed off of our baits every minute or two! We moved around 3 or 4 times, eventually the weeds subsided in other parts of the bridge. However the tarpon seemed to be moving around as we quit seeing them soon after we’d get set up. We checked another area and then moved to the far side of the bridge on the way back and did have a ‘cheap shot’ – a nice tarpon came up and exploded on the bait but missed it. Alas we realized there was weed again on the bait so maybe this made him change his mind… Anyways plenty of fish around us for the last hour and we had the tide until we quit fishing, but no more activity. The tarpon definitely weren’t very happy, could be acting weird due to the incoming full moon in a couple days. I spent a couple hours rounding up some more bait this afternoon in tough, slick calm conditions. Hopefully it will pay off for tomorrow though I’m not sure if we’ll be tarpon fishing or not. I may run into the backcountry even though we’ll only have a couple hours to fish, may be a better shot at catching one regardless. I definitely wish we had a full day scheduled for tomorrow but we’ll do the best we can! 0 for 0
May 2017
5/7/17 Everglades Florida Keys Tarpon Fishing in May
Got out with Justin and Rick today. They are down with another big corporate group that also fished last night and is doing some fishing tomorrow too. We went out into the backcountry, it was a little chilly with the late cold front that hit us yesterday. Winds were not too bad but out of the north still. Water temperatures dropped into the mid 70s, down from the low 80s, so a significant cool down. We saw a few tarpon in the first stop but no bites, did get a bull shark and a blacktip though. We ran out further where the tarpon had been good several days ago before the cold front came. Hoped to see a load of them out there, but never saw a scale! It was pretty muddy too from all the pre-frontal west wind the last couple days. We did get a big blacktip though. We rode around for a bit looking for tarpon, didn ‘t see much, so we worked our way back to where we started this AM. The tide had changed and I saw a few signs of fish. Rick ended up catching two tarpon in the 40 lb range, good fighters for their size! After an hour or so though, they kind of dried up. We tried further in the channel but didn’t see much. We ended the day catching some nice trout, ladyfish, and got a tripletail that was floating down the channel as well! All in all a great day. Have a couple half day tarpon trips coming up, hopefully can find a few fish around town. 2 for 2
5/5/17 May Tarpon Fishing Florida Keys
Got out for the last day with the Stepan Polymers group. Today the winds kicked up good out of the southwest, with a weak late cold front hitting us. There was a good bit of rain coming in from the gulf too but was a ways off. We made it into the backcountry and fished the channels where I hadn’t been in a while. We ended up getting a couple tarpon and a few sharks so it was a good move! The rain chased us back near town and we spent the rest of the day there. Had to stay pretty close due to weather and lightning. Never really saw any tarpon, we caught a couple jacks and sharks, and that finished up our day. Glad to have gotten a couple on a nasty day! Off tomorrow for oil change, then Sunday back at it… looks like the weather will be nicer by then. May make for some good conditions again! 2 for 2
