Well my official ‘tarpon season’ is about officially at a close. Had my last trip today and next week we are leaving Friday for Tennessee for a month or so. I may take a trip or two during the week if something comes up but don’t have anything on the books and may end up taking it off anyways to get ready to be gone for a while. Now most of you who’ve fished with me or follow me that tarpon season never really ends here in the Keys, but it does change a bit as we get more into the summer/fall and ‘off season’ months. You won’t see the big numbers of migrating tarpon though we often get good fishing for resident fish in the 20 to 60 lb range. Some years it is very good and even better than then the prime months of March, April, and May. The fish are left alone and spawning is over so there is much less pressure and even though you may only see a 1/10th of the fish, the ones you see bite better. Anyways we’re starting to see that a bit here now as this last week the numbers of tarpon really seemed to dwindle compared to what it was a couple of weeks ago. I mostly fished the bridges but on Friday we ventured into the backcountry where I typically fish a lot more in the summer and fall for them. It was a very up and down week, we literally had a great day Monday, tough day tuesday, great day wednesday, tough day thursday, and great day Friday – too funny but thats how it can go this time of year. Here’s the overall day by day breakdown.
Monday – surpsingly had a red hot bite. Bait was hard we struck out trying to get mullet but we caught some backup bait. Got to the bridge we had nice falling tide and the tarpon were very responsive. We caught 3 and hooked 4 or 5 more. A few bites we got as soon as we threw a bait back there it was cool to see.
Tuesday – tried the same program but today the tarpon were not nearly as into it! We tried catching the same baits we used the day before but they were harder to get too and the seaweed was a bit annoying a few areas were unfishable. But we stuck to it and at the end of the day we finally got the boys on a nice 30 lb tarpon. Had to grind it out and so funny how good it can be one day and tough the next with very similar conditions.
Wednesday – got lucky and crushed the mullet today but we had to run 20 miles to find them. Sometimes that is part of your day and right now it has to be without the bait guys going. Ran back to the bridge and they were happier we ended up hooking 4 or 5 and caught 3 so super day for Lars.
Thursday – we caught bait running way out back again pretty easily. Looked around in a nearby channel for tarpon back there but did not see much. Headed back to the bridges but today the tarpon were not very happy. Seemed to be less than the day before, and very skittish every time we set up and sat or look after we sat for a bit and the fish were gone. Tried the other bridges and there were some fish but super weedy and almost unfishable.
Friday – we fished the backcountry for tarpon and I’m officially done with bridge fishing for the season I think. Did not see a ton of fish back there but enough to keep it interesting and everything we got in front of seemed to bite. We ended up landing 4 tarpon and jumped off a couple others so a fantastic day overall! Summer tarpon should get better and better July is often a good month for resident Backcountry tarpon. I’m done for a while now and headed to Tennessee for a month but Capt Steve will be running the boat and is available. Capt Luke is also available and if you wanna do an evening trip for local tarpon he’ll be ready with mahi carcasses for that fishing.
So there you have it again funny how up and down it was. But again the backcountry fishing for the day time trips should get more and more consistent as we get deeper into June and July plus the bait usually is easier to catch back there. And as mentioned for local trips an evening half day can be a good option through the summer and we often fish with mahi carcasses which are readily available from the offshore boats. So anyways I won’t be updating too much for a while but you can follow on Instagram I’ll be posting a few photos and updates for Capt. Steve and Capt. Luke while I’m gone. I’ll be back near the end of July and probably taking trips again around the 27th or so. August and September can still be good tarpon months too for those resident backcountry fish and we can usually set something up short notice so don’t think you’ve missed out for the year. You can usually get a good deal on a room and all that then too being off season. Alright thanks for following along I’ll be posting again near the end of July!
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina
