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We got off the dock at 6:45 today.  The wind was still northeast in the morning though died down to very light and variable later in the morning.  The water is still a little chilly but should warm up today as the wind is light now.  We caught a nice 120 lb tarpon in the first hour, a non jumper and did not get pictures myself.  But a good hard fighter!  We got some live mullet after that and ran down the road to the big bridges further south.  Lots of tarpon down there, the channel was loaded up!  They were not real happy though.  We took a little while and finally had a couple cheap shots and then a solid bite.  Caught a nice 85 lb fish.  Out of the dozen or so boats there I only saw one other boat jump a fish.  But there were hundreds of tarpon there.  After that it was time to come in, maybe they will turn on this afternoon as they have the last few days.  Oh well somebody else will find out!  Not a bad morning two nice size tarpon.  The florida keys tarpon fishing should get more consistent hopefully the winds will get back more to the east/southeast and it should be game on!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

It got chillier again last night down in the mid 60s and the water temps did dip to the mid 70s.  Not terrible but when it goes from being in the low 80s to 76 the tarpon usually don’t like that too much.  We were able to get one right off the bat and a possible other bite near home, a nice 50 lb fish to start the day.  After that not much more action we ran further southwest by the bridges and caught a few decent size groupers, and a couple nurse sharks, but no tarpon action on the end of the falling tide.  We ran back to fish the local channels and just more sharks and rays.  We then ran back to the bridges to try to snapper fish and wait for the tide to start running in good.  We caught a few snappers and saw some tarpon rolling so we put a bait out and eventually hooked a nice 35 lber that we caught.  Saw a few more busting and rolling nearby so we set up over there and had a few other bites and couple cheap shots on the live baits, and finally hooked a nice 85 lber that we fought a while and landed.  After that one other bite and that was about it a bunch of other boats came in and the tarpon seemed to settle down after being happy for a good hour or so anyways.  Not a bad day with the conditions, north wind and chilly, 3 for 6!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Well the temperature dipped again last night down in the 60s but the water is still warm and tarpon are still here.  We did not have ideal conditions this morning with a westerly stiff breeze that swung more northwest/north later in the morning.  A chill was in the air.  We were able to catch a couple tarpon though and make for a nice morning.  After the first couple fish in the first 2 hours though things slowed down we did not have much other action.  But 2 tarpon on a half day trip is always a good thing!  I heard the fish bit a little later in the afternoon it got really pretty and sunny out and the wind laid down a little bit.  Bait was difficult in the morning but this afternoon we went and found some big balls of them and loaded up for a few days.  Looks like tonight it is going to dip down to the mid 60s again, so we will see what happens tomorrow.  North winds they are calling for.  Overall it should be a good thing it may slow the fish down a little which may mean a little better fishing later in the season.  Happy easter everyone!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk