Got out today with John and his buds after tarpon and other things. We found a big ball of bait early this morning and loaded up that helped tremendously. Though I had a tough day yesterday seeing this first thing made me change my mind about tarpon fishing today so we got right at it. We found some fish locally in the channels and set up though we had the change of the tide and a storm rolled in. So we docked into the dock for 30 minutes to wait it out. Things were fine soon after and the tide was rolling out so we ventured out again. We found the tarpon in the same area and set up we had some cheap shots and soon hooked a nice 90 lb fish John landed. Then we had a few more cheap shots and caught a big jack, then we hooked another tarpon that we lost on a crab trap line unfortunately. We also had a big shark come out and chase the tarpon I think a hammerhead just saw him for a moment. After that we went patch fishing and then for the last couple hours we tried for tarpon again. No luck in the first stop, though the 2nd stop we started wailing on them. We hooked several and landed two more with plenty of other cheap shots. It was incredible action on the last of the outgoing tide. Looking forward to tomorrow have a morning and an evening trip. 3 for 7
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
4/2/16 Spring time tarpon fishing in Islamorada
Had another tough day today unfortunately never had a tarpon bite. It was super busy on the water being the weekend and early spring. I decided to run into the backcountry where I’d had luck the last few days. We had the wind switch on us again as another mild cold front is hitting us tonight. It won’t drop very much but the wind change doesn’t help the fishing for sure! It was blowing 15 southwest. Anyways we caught some sharks and a few other various things including a nice 10 lb mutton snapper. Saw a few fish in the 2nd area we stopped in the backcountry however they didn’t respond. Then we ran back around town and sat in the crazy boat traffic unfortunately the spot I caught one yesterday was loaded with about 8 boats fishing there and lots of jet skis etc… I did catch about a dozen more mullet on the way over. We tried around some of the bigger bridges where I heard the fish had bit in the morning a little but didn’t see much there. Then we tried the local channels nearby the marina and saw a few fish but they didn’t bite, did catch some nurse sharks, bonnet heads, and that mutton snapper I mentioned. Anyways tomorrows a new day I don’t think i’m tarpon fishing though who knows what will happen. A hard north wind and 50% chance of rain so i’ll probably be glad to be trying something else anyways. 0 for 0
4/1/16 April Tarpon Fishing Report in Islamorada
Got out after ’em today with Mark and his son Adam. They fished offshore yesterday with my brother and adam got a couple sails, big amberjacks, and other things. Today they wanted tarpon. We started off around town and I had some leftover live baits. We had the last trickle of incoming tide. We had a tarpon up busting the baits but didn’t eat, and after the the tide quit so we ran into the backcountry. Caught a few more mullet on the way. In the channels back there we had some shark action and soon hooked and landed a nice 50 lb tarpon. After that a few more sharks. I then made a move and tried another channel. We saw a good group of fish rolling around and I thought for sure we’d get eaten up. We had one fish flash a live mullet and grab and spit it out real quick. After that they disappeared. We tried another area nearby that and hooked a big blacktip shark that we broke off eventually after he chewed through the leader. At the end of the day we ran back towards home in Islamorada and tried the local channels. We caught the start of the incoming tide and after 30 minutes we hooked a big 100 lb fish! What a battle he greyhounded and ran hard to start the fight I thought we were gonna lose him in another boats anchor line but he avoided it. Then he almost got ran over by a big boat in the channel. Have to love spring break! Anyways Adam did well and eventually subdued the fish and we got some good boatside pictures. A great way to end the day with a big 100 lb tarpon on a beautiful spring afternoon in the Florida Keys. At it again tomorrow. 2 for 2
