Got out with Roy and Tye today for a full day tarpon fishing charter. Tarpon was what they wanted and we headed out in search of them. We found a big ball of bait which was nice and loaded up the livewells. We tried locally around one of the bridges first thing, but didn’t see much and with the full moon, the tide was just ripping and there was a lot of grass and didn’t look good. So we bailed and ran into the backcountry. I tried one of the channels back there, but didn’t see much and all we had was a little bonnet head eat a bait after about 40 minutes. We then tried to catch some trout while waiting on the tide change, and caught a few, though even that seemed tough! I asked the guys if they wanted to try for other things to do some action, but they wanted to hold fast and keep after the tarpon. It proved to be the right choice, we ran another 30 minutes into the backcountry taking a gamble. Didn’t see much for tarpon showing, though the sharks started to bite and kept us busy. Eventually Roy hooked a nice tarpon we landed, and then had some more sharks and ended up catching two more tarpon as well! It was a great finish after a slow start. Roy had all the tarpon bites, while Tye was on the sharks… he did get a big lemon shark which he loved. Anyways sometimes you have to put all your eggs into one basket and just go for broke when trying to catch tarpon in islamorada. Today it paid off! Tomorrow I have a half day with the same guys I fished a few days ago, I think we’re gonna try for tarpon but may end up running into the backcountry where we’ll have a shot at getting some sharks too since the tarpon bite was reportedly very slow around town today. 3 for 3
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
4/9/17 April Islamorada Tarpon Fishing in the Everglades
Got out with Chester and Reuben today again. We gave it a shot in the backcountry today after having spent all yesterday around town. It was nice and calm in the morning, light breeze out of the north, but kicked up pretty good mid day out of the east on the way home. The water was still pretty chilly, in the low 70s, so I figured it may not be great fishing but we gave it a solid effort. We caught some snappers in the morning for dinner and that was good, then tried for tarpon. We didn’t see much way off the mainland areas… I looked in several spots and finally just happened to mark something, wasn’t sure if it was a tarpon or not, on my bottom machine. After 20 minutes or so Chester hooked and landed a nice 40-50 lb tarpon, so maybe it was what we saw! We never had another bite, not even a shark there. We tried a couple other areas, but not much else was going on, we caught a couple blacktip sharks and a stingray. Anyways all in all it wasn’t too bad, always a good day when you get a tarpon, and some other stuff too. I had heard the fishing around town today was pretty slow, so glad we made the run. Hopefully things get better it should slowly be warming up though the wind is going to be howling so it might take a little while. 1 for 1
4/8/17 April Tarpon Fishing Islamorada Full Day Trip
Got out with return client Chester and his nephew Reuben. Tarpon were the target though we had tough conditions with the cold front hitting last night and it was blowing 20-25 out of the north this morning, though winds subsided mid day and got fairly nice in the afternoon. Water temperatures however did dip and got down to 73 degrees in some areas we fished. We ended up catching a nice tarpon early at the bridge, we had another bite on a live bait too as well as some ‘cheap shots’. We also caught a nice mutton snapper on the bottom. After we landed the fish though it was more or less over with, we had a couple other cheap shots fishing under the bridge, but then the tide quit. We went and caught some more mullet and then fished a different area. We didn’t see much though did see one bust that looked like a tarpon crashing on something. We sat for a bit and eventually hooked into another tarpon! We landed him and then ended up fishing the rest of the day trying a few other areas, but not much luck. Was glad to get a couple fish though on a day that could’ve been tough for a lot of people I imagine with the weather change. Tomorrow I have the same crew, I think we are doing some meat fishing though may give the tarpon a try for an hour or two. 2 for 3
