Well being December I have not been doing much tarpon fishing. The snook, redfish, and black drum have been keeping me busy in the everglades. And very good spanish mackerel and cobia fishing in the gulf, along with plenty of action on the patch reefs. Though I did catch have a client catch a 50 lb tarpon last week on light tackle while we were pitching shrimp for snook in a canal. Today we actually tried tarpon fishing as we’ve had a warm streak and water temperatures are in the mid 70s. We happened into a big school of mullet and filled the cooler with one throw. Set up off the mainland and within 5 minutes we had 2 tarpon in the air, though both spit the hooks. Tough break as for the next hour we had plenty of action with sharks, but alas no more tarpon. Just goes to show it is possible in the winter time when it is warm, just can’t count on it being productive all the time. Anyways may try it again here before the end of the year as things look to be staying fairly warm.
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11/12/14 Some November tarpon fishing in Islamorada
Well we were after sharks today in the backcountry of Islamorada. A gorgeous november day light winds and cool weather. We caught some mullet on the way to the backcountry and set up in some channels. We were able to bend the light rods while waiting, and stock up on a few more ladyfish. We caught a nice black tip while sitting there, and then hooked a nice 50 lb tarpon. Several jumps later and a few good runs, we landed the fish. Later on we moved to a different area. Tide still falling hard. Some big muds kicked up and we had some more shark activity, this time big lemon shark and some other blacktips. We saw a tarpon bust and moved over in that area, though did not get a bite out of them. Last part of the day we tried another skinny channel and had a big blacktip at first, then right after hooked a smaller 20 lb fish. We jumped him off near the boat though, and almost immediately after the other rod went off and a tarpon spit the bait right away. We finished the day with some nice size trout. Not bad as I said in my previous post, not doing tarpon fishing by default anymore, but when the conditions are right there are still shots at catching them. That usually means calm, warm weather!
End of ‘tarpon season’
Figured I would announce the unofficial end of my ‘tarpon season.’ Tarpon of course can be caught all year long here in Islamorada, Florida. However November through January is the least likely time due to the colder water temperatures and lack of numbers of fish. Basically I don’t book tarpon trips in advance during this time but I am fishing for plenty of other things such as snook, redfish, drum, mackerel, cobia, porgies, hogfish, snapper, grouper, sharks, and more! Now as I said it is still possible to catch them, and if we get a string of 85 degree days and the water temperatures get in the high 70s, some of the local resident tarpon can get happy and you can have shots at catching them. However with the likelihood of cold fronts and inconsistency of the fishing, I really only target tarpon when the opportunities seem to present themselves, or I hear through my network of fishing buddies that they’ve seen or caught them. So I won’t be doing a lot of fishing for tarpon or updating the site much for the next few months. You can keep up with my other fishing by reading my other fishing report blog, fishingislamorada.com. I don’t update it as often as this, but I try to a couple times a month. Of course I am still available for charter for plenty of other things, fall and winter is a fabulous time to fish here and we have lots of other great fishing going on aside from tarpon. Drop me a line if your interested, and of course contact me if your looking to book a tarpon trip in 2015. We usually start fishing for them again in February, though the best time is April thru August.
