Got out for a couple days on 3/13/24 and 3/14/24… tarpon fishing again in the everglades backcountry. The winds swung back around to easterly/southeasterly, which is what we like this time of year in the spring. The weekend before as mentioned we had a late mild cold front, so the winds had done a big loop from south to west to north… though it did not actually get very cold at all. We had fished in that north wind the day before and still caught some tarpon. So on Tuesday we had good fishing we ended up catching 4 tarpon… one very large one in the 130 lb class, and others of various sizes. Bob, bobby, and Joe all got to land one and almost all got good pictures with there fish boatside! Sharks weren’t bothering us so we were able to do this – often times we can’t anymore these days because of them. And we did have to break one fish off boatside to avoid letting it get eaten. I will say the bite wasn’t necessarily ‘red hot’ as those were the 4 bites we had all day. But that is still great fishing to land 4 tarpon in a day I’ll always take that!
On 3/14/24 the fishing was honestly very similar we caught one bigger tarpon first thing. We then jumped around for an hour or two without getting bit again, though the tarpon were all over the place flopping and jumping! I did notice it seemed not many people were hooking up it was a big fleet out there. But eventually we did get another one and Bob got his chance to get a facegrab on one. After that it went kind of quiet again but then all of a sudden we jumped one more fish, and a few minutes later hooked another and caught it. Then we finished up with one more a little later. So we went 4 for 5 on the tarpon… another good day indeed! I had heard the incoming tide in the late afternoon the fish were a little happier, but that can all change day to day and even hour to hour sometimes.
Anyways the forecast looks pretty decent for a while. We do have a little north wind again Tuesday but I don’t think it’s getting cold, and no heavy wind until possibly next weekend but that could definitely change as it’s a week away.
I’ll also mention Capt. Trent had some great fishing yesterday (3/14/24) they caught several tarpon fishing around the Bay islands, along with some snook, snappers, and groupers! He is available for evening trips starting now. So anyone wanting to get out last minute for a 4PM to 8PM trip, he can do it. The evenings are a great time to fish as the bite often gets better as you get closer to sunset. And those trips don’t book up as much way ahead of time, so if you are down here for several days and the weather is good and you get the itch, we can often set it up with a few days notice and sometimes even a few hours!
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina
