Well we are about a week out from the coldest stretch of weather we’ve seen here in the Keys in about 15 years! Last week temperatures got into the 40s and we had 50 degree water temps in the backcountry. Truly unbelievable and not a great recipe for tarpon fishing or really any fishing for that matter! However since then we’ve had a nice week of calm warm weather, and over the last few days tarpon have started to move back into some of the usual early season haunts. Water temps are still in the mid 60s which I would typically say it a little chilly for tarpon, but I think because it was so cold last week and we’ve had slick calm weather, they’re treating it like it’s early spring and showing up and getting active! We caught a nice tarpon yesterday with Tucker while we were fishing out in the everglades. We weren’t really targetting tarpon per se… we were jigging shrimp looking for some big drum and other winter time critters. Though our last cast of the day, a tarpon sure enough slurped it up and we got a nice 50 lber to the hand! Then today I had my dad and our buddy Bruce out. I actually had a tarpon trip booked and I checked in with my customers last week and explained it may not be ideal conditions for tarpon, being it had been so cold and water temperatures would still likely be a little chilly. They opted to cancel so I ended up taking my dad. Again we wern’t even really trying for tarpon we were looking for those big drum or possibly a snook, redfish, or cobia. We put a pinfish out and marked a few tarpon drifting by us. Sure enough dad picked up and casted towards one and we hooked up! He fought a nice 100 lber on light tackle and got it rolled over within about 30 minutes, truly an impressive feet for an 80 year old! Later on we hooked another one on the old shrimp and jig again too though that one jumped off after about a 10 minute battle. So anyways there are tarpon definitely starting to show up and from the looks of it, conditions should be staying favorable over the coming weekend into next week. So we may start having some consistent tarpon fishing. It’s still early season and anything can happen especially some late cold fronts, so I recommend being flexible with your fishing plans if you book in the next month. But for those looking to come down and enjoy some early season fishing, it’s time!
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina
