Well couldn’t talk my folks into going early today they wanted to do the standard hours. Anyways we did try a variety of things today though nothing much was really happening across the board. Several people I talked to were struggling with the water temps dropping into the mid 70s in the middle of May. We tried for tarpon a little while in town for the first hour but didn’t have much activity. After that we ran into the backcountry to try more for sharks and tarpon, though didn’t have a sniff after an hour of hard chumming and fishing. We then tried to bend the light rods a little and caught a trout and a spanish mackerel, gave up on that after a little while longer with not much happening. Then we did at least get on to some ferocious lemon sharks and caught several of them before just calling it quits around noon on a 3/4 day. Anyways the guys were happy they were just winding down after a couple long days of offshore fishing, but as I’ve been saying getting out early has been the ticket for catching tarpon consistently right now. I am part of a large corporate group the next several days so we will be doing a mix of things. I do have Wednesday evening available and am willing to go later hours (6 to 10) I think it will be very good fishing near sunset and after dark with the falling tide, so if anyone wants to go drop me a line! 0 for 0
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
5/8/16 Early morning May Tarpon Fishing in the Florida Keys
Winds laid down nicely last night and it was just a breath of breeze out of the northeast this morning. The temperature didn’t drop too much again it was a little chilly but nothing like the previous morning. Anyways the tarpon bit well for return customer Zeb and his family. We left very early and fished in the dark but we hooked up right away and ended up landing 3 out of 5 fish. It was great to be there when they were chewing after some long trips with only a shot or two a trip! Around 7:00 however though it was all over with we fished until 8 and had a few fish rolling right near our baits but they didn’t show interest any longer but as they say the early bird gets the worm! I did hear that at least one boat was having a good day today as well which is nice to hear, the day time fishing has been very off this year which is why I’ve been doing earlier mornings/later evenings. I always suggest if you are serious about catching tarpon, it’s important to be flexible in that regard. 3 for 5
Almost forget I also fished last night it was a little breezy out of the northwest still though it flattened out around 6:00. We didn’t see much around the big bridges as far as fish went. We came back up around town and the tide was falling until 8:00 or so which was good. We fished a couple spots didn’t see much in the first area, one fish rolled we tried to get in front of though no response. Though we went in one of the other channels and tarpon everywhere! No response though right at sunset around 7:50 one finally bit a crab. We landed him by 8:05, glad to have gotten one. The report was the same for most the fleet, a few guys caught them but not until near the end of the night. Though many reported seeing fish on the local channels which is good to hear – why I made my early morning move the way I did! 1 for 1
5/7/16 May morning and evening tarpon fishing report
Got out for an early morning and an evening trip today. The wind was howling this morning 20 out of the northwest and it was cold for May… in the high 60s I’d say. Very chilly on the water! Anyways we had a ripping falling tide with the wind behind it so our drifts were very short. We tried the local channels first and not much happening there. So I ran down to the bigger bridges and we drifted. Not much either on the first 3 drifts and I was a little worried. But we finally hooked a fish at about 6:15 and landed him in 20 minutes or so. A nice 90 lber for Jason. After that we didn’t get much more action the tide changed quickly and we saw a few fish roll at sunrise but no more bites. I heard it was very tough fishing during the day. 1 for 1
Winds laid down this evening it was maybe 10 mph out of the northwest and slicked off flat calm by 6:30. Early we drifted where we were this morning saw a handful of fish but no bites. We anchored a while and fished our mullets and had a fish roll nearby but still no love. We fished the channels near home to end it and saw a bunch of fish rolling and waited it out. Sometimes when it slicks off they can be tough to get to bite. Finally around sunset a tarpon ate our crab and we caught him. Another fish close to 90 lbs for Don. Great way to end the night, this year especially it’s always good to catch one. Going early again tomorrow I think conditions will be a little better if it stays calm, there were a lot of fish in the local channels from what I heard from the rest of the fleet, so will try that first. 1 for 1
