Got out with John and his son Mike for a full day today. The guys fished on the party boats the last couple days and had fun. We ran into the backcountry and got an early start. I had the day off yesterday so I loaded up on bait. Didn’t find much in the first stop, saw one tarpon roll and we set up but didn’t get a bite. But did get a few blacktip sharks. Tide was dying so we kept moving on. Saw a few more tarpon at the next stop and had a bite with the first bait in the water. John had him on for a few seconds but unfortunately he threw the hook on a jump. Saw a couple more fish and looked like it might be good fishing but unfortunately no more tarpon bites there. We did catch a nice triple tail that floated by. We did catch a few more black tips and a big nurse shark 3 or 4 different times! We made a few moves but no more luck with tarpon. We tried to switch gears and catch a few trout and ladyfish, which we did get a few but that was it. Was hoping we may see some tarpon in that area but did not. We ran back and tried another area, and had a few more big sharks where we got a big bull and hooked several big lemon sharks too. We did get one more tarpon bite here but unfortunately it threw the hook and bait very quickly. After that we got a few more sharks, and then tried some muds on the way home for more trout and such, got a couple more ladyfish and a few catfish. So overall a decent day with good action, would’ve been great if we could’ve landed a tarpon or two but that’s why they call it fishing not catching. Back at it tomorrow going to try and leave at 6 AM so we can get an hour of local fishing in and hopefully knock tarpon off the list right off the bat. 0 for 2
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
