Got out just showing one of my young captains (Trent) a little more about tarpon fishing in Islamorada. We did a bit of recon and were going over some strategies and such. Found a good amount of bait nearby locally so that was good to see. Mullet will likely start becoming the bait of choice as we get into March, April, and May. We found a few rolling tarpon in a nearby channel and sure enough set up and hooked one within about 15 minutes! Nice medium size fish around 40-50 lbs. So that was good to see! After that we just kind of did some looking around and didn’t end up putting the rods out again. Didn’t see much for tarpon life around the bridges though we did find one other little channel further south that had a good load of tarpon laying on the bottom. So there are definitely fish starting to show up and assuming we dont get too much more cold weather, you can have a good shot at catching some early season fish. My young guys are hungry so doing an afternoon/early evening trip is a possibility and the nice thing then you really get the fishing grounds to yourself as not many guys are doing evening trips until late March/April. So just a possibility and that is often available somewhat short notice so you can cherry pick conditions. Anyways hopefully much more to come soon.
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina
