I was out with Gary over from the UK this morning we had a full day for some tarpon fishing. I was able to buy a bit of bait to get started with yesterday afternoon though of course it was much more catchable in the morning too. Winds were east again still a little breezy but not crazy. Anyways we did the same loop we did the previous day but today the fish were much more cooperative. We jumped a tarpon within the first 5 minutes of fishing, then a few minutes later hooked one that we landed a nice 80 lber or so. After that we fished a bit longer as the tide quit but not much other action. We ran further out west to catch the start of the falling tide and tried another channel. Not much there but we only gave it 20 minutes or so. We ran to a different channel and set up and we had jumped another tarpon soon after that. We eventually landed another tarpon, jumped another one, and got a technical release on another as we got leader to the tip but then he jumped and spit the hook. We also caught plenty of blacktip sharks, a cobia, and a ‘mud marlin’. It was a great day on the water hopefully fishing stays like this! 3 for 6
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
5/26/16 May Backcountry Tarpon Fishing in Islamorada
Got out again today with Steve and Mark. Fishing was a little tougher today, the wind was blowing though had laid down a little from what it was yesterday afternoon. Though today it was hard north wind in the backcountry once we got there, not exactly what you want in May! The wind had pushed a lot of the water out of the bay and we couldn’t quite get up to where I wanted to catch bait this morning. We picked a few drifting in the channel but had a hard time of it. After a little while we checked a couple other areas though didn’t see much else for catchable bait. Luckily we had some leftovers from the previous day anyways so we got to fishing. Didn’t have much early on though once the tide got moving we saw a few tarpon roll. They didn’t wanna play though we did catch a couple big sharks. After that we ran to another channel and looked for more bait on the way though no luck with that. We fished a bit and there were tarpon here too, though again no love from them but we caught a few small sharks and big sting rays. After that we were about out of bait and tried to catch some ladyfish in some channel runoffs, though even they didn’t want to cooperate. We did see a few mullet as the tide fell out on the edge of the flats in the second area we looked for ladyfish. I threw the net a half dozen more times to scrounge up a half dozen mullet – enough to fish with for a bit longer! We found some more tarpon and Mark did get a bite out of them, unfortunately he just didn’t stay on the hook. We did land a few more sharks and Steve got a ‘mud marlin’ sawfish which was cool. Tough day overall though we worked hard at it things just didn’t pan out, I was glad the guys had such a good day previously with the tarpon. Tomorrow i’m out again I went out this afternoon looking for bait in the bay figuring with the high winds they’d be easy to catch in the muds, only there were no good looking muds! I was able to scrounge up a few mullets from the bait guys and hopefully can catch some more in the morning, hopefully they are more cooperative tomorrow! 0 for 1
5/25/16 May Tarpon Fishing in Islamorada
Got out today for a full day after having a much needed day off yesterday. The winds kicked up quite a bit, blowing a good 15 mph and probably 20 mph by the time the day ended. Anyways I had Mark and Steve out from Kentucky and they are also fishing with me tomorrow. We left out early and caught a bit of bait in the backcountry. Some mullet have been showing up in the usual summer time spots hopefully they stay there! After a half hour we had enough to fish for the day with. We jumped in some channels and had the start of the falling tide. We soon hooked a nice 90 lb fish Mark landed pretty quickly. Nice to get a bite straight away for sure! After that we had a little shark action and after an hour or so we hooked another tarpon of about the same size. He ran around a little bit more and we chased him down and got some good pictures by the boat. After that it was Steves turn he hooked a nice lemon shark about 100 lbs or so. Then he got his shot at a tarpon not quite as big but a nice fish none the less, a 40 lber. After that we caught a few more blacktip sharks, a lemon, and a couple nurse sharks were mixed in there. Action packed and didn’t have to move much all day. We will be at it again tomorrow hopefully the fish stay put! 3 for 3
