Got out today with Jim and his son James. Weather looked a little nasty we had some lightning and rain pass over when I got to the dock. We were able to get out though just took our time waiting for it to move through ahead of us. Mullet were easy to catch and we set up in the channels where we had seen fish yesterday. The tarpon were there though again were very finicky. We moved around several times and had only shark bites, even with tarpon rolling almost on top of our baits! Eventually the tide changed and we were able to hook into a nice 90 lb tarpon that James landed. We didn’t get him up for good pictures as another patch of rain was coming towards us so we got the leader release and he popped off. Anyways we fished some different channels for a while but made our way back there in the last part of the day. However no more tarpon bites but the sharks kept us busy. Was glad to get one today! 1 for 1
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
8/23/16 August Islamorada Tarpon Fishing Report
Got out today for some tarpon at first we were going to try for snook, but the bait wasn’t very cooperative so we bailed on that plan. We were able to still catch some mullet a little later in the morning after that. Fished the last of the incoming tide around flamingo and had a few fish around but they didn’t bite. When the tide quit we ran to some other channels and the fish were in their pretty good. We saw several roll and bust as we stopped and set up. Eventually we hooked a nice 75 lber that we landed. After that the fish seemed to have moved on we caught a couple little sharks. Moved the the channel and saw a few more rolling but no bites just a few more little sharks. Kept moving down and caught a few more sharks and eventually saw some more fish rolling. We moved a couple more times and eventually got another bite catching a nice 90 lb fish. After that we went off the beaches and caught some big lemon sharks and a couple other things. Good to see a decent amount of fish though they weren’t super happy as I would’ve guessed we would of had at least a couple more bites, but glad we made both count! 2 for 2
8/20/16 Late august islamorada tarpon fishing report
Well I went from hero to zero today things were very tough. Had the same crew from yesterday. We caught bait early not super easy but was able to put enough together. We ran out to the beaches where the fish were yesterday though this morning they were not to be seen… We searched all up and down and didn’t see much. Did finally see one roll as we were leaving the area and another free jump, so we set up. Though after 40 minutes we never had a sniff of anything and didn’t see much else. It stinks when you go all that way and then don’t find ’em, kind of like the kiss of death as you have to backtrack to other spots to fish. Anyways we then were going to try to snook fish but the bait wasn’t really catchable for what we needed plus that had been tough too and the water didn’t look nice in the creeks, so we kept on after tarpon. Tried the channels we did see a few in the first spot, but only for a minute and no bite just a few sharks. Worked our way towards flamingo and hit a few other channels, though not much of anything except a sting ray. Then ran back to some other areas to catch the start of the incoming tide and caught a few more sharks, and finally saw a couple tarpon roll on a spot but alas no bite out of them. Not sure where they all went but it looked like a nice calm day that they should’ve loved… Anyways glad we had such a good day on the previous trip. Seems to be the story of this year though as I can think of several times where we had a banner day and thought we were dialed in and then had very tough fishing the next day. Hopefully tomorrow will be better! 0 for 0
