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Well the winds howled today 20 knots out of the southwest.  It made for a little uncomfortable ride though nothing too bad just a little spray.  I ran into the backcountry hoping that at least a few of the tarpon that were back there the last few days would still remain.  Unfortunately the wind had swung around west enough where it had made the channels complete mud holes.  I had caught tarpon in worse, but not today.  We did catch plenty of sharks though.  Anyways I tried a couple spots in the channels then ran and tried another more protected backcountry channel, and nothing but sharks.  So we ran back near islamorada in hopes of finding an afternoon local fish.  We got lucky and caught a nice 85 lber which made the day and also kept my April streak alive!  Unfortunately we are getting a cold front tonight and tomorrow night and the temps are going to get into the 60s, likely slowing down the tarpon fishing for a few days.  Hopefully tomorrow the water stays in the mid 70s as I have a tarpon trip on the books!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Fished a full day today and got to run back into the florida keys everglades to tarpon fish.  We had some mullet left over from the other day and a few freshies as well.  The winds were hard out of the southeast making for a little bumpy ride but nothing my seacraft couldn’t handle.  We set up in the channels and soon enough we had our first fish on.  We landed him and then set back up.  After 45 minutes or so we hooked a double header!  One we didn’t think was a tarpon and we raced up near it, grabbed the leader, and then up jumps a tarpon!  Popped him off and went after the other one.  What fun!  We then had another one we had on and got near the boat but pulled the hook on though had the leader to the tip so a technical release.  Jumped another 4 fish at least making us 4 for 8 for the day – great tarpon fishing in islamorada!  We also had some bonuses including a variety of sharks, a big 250 lb tiger shark, and a cobia!  You can’t beat a day fishing like that in the florida keys in april.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Well the april islamorada tarpon fishing picked up a little bit today.  Winds were light out of the southeast and picked up a little bit later in the morning.  Good falling tide pretty much most of the trip until almost 11 AM.  We had good fishing early on, a couple quick bites and we hooked a nice fish of 85 lbs we battled for 45 minutes and landed.  Then we had a couple other fish pick the baits up and zip them… never saw what they were but they gave a hard steady zip of the line which seemed like a tarpon bite.  Plus the baits were just scaled not tore up like a shark would.  Anyways that slowed down and we moved around a bit.  Tried some live mullet tarpon fishing and had a couple nervous baits at times but none were bit.  Did get a big nurse shark on the bottom.  Also we did see a few fish rolling in other areas.  Just not very happy and not firing up on the live baits right now. Finally we went back to dead baiting and we jumped a nice fish of 50 lbs or so right before it was time to head in.  I did hear the everglades tarpon fishing in the backcountry of the florida keys was much better today.  I have a full day tomorrow so will head back there, looking forward to an action packed day!  The islamorada night tarpon fishing trips are getting better too and I have nights available so drop me a line.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk