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We fished a half day this morning.  Mullets were thick right in the marina basin, we caught plenty in a few throws, big balls of mullet that we like to see in the spring with tarpon even busting them.  I tried some of the local channels for the first 45 minutes, end of the falling tide.  Tough to fish as tide was into the wind hard.  Saw several fish rolling, but not active or happy.  We went and caught snappers for dinner then gave it a try again once the tide turned.  Now the wind and current were together, much easier to fish.  We put live and dead baits out, within a few minutes we had a nervous mullet and a hungry tarpon after him.  He finally hammered him and we caught him – a nice 40 lb fish.  We went back and more of the same, missed several on the live baits, lost one around a lobster bouy, but ended up catching a couple more.  The mullets were very large so tough to eat for resident size 40-60 lb fish.  But fun as heck to watch them blow the mullets up!  We ended up catching 3 out of 10 or so, epic fishing in only about 2 hours.  Things will likely change though, incoming cold front will slow it down again for a little bit, but will likely be a good thing overall as if it is too nice early in the season may and june can be tougher fishing for tarpon.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

We gave it a go today again.  Caught some bait early and tried the local islamorada tarpon fishing channels.  Not much activity on the last of the falling tide.  We left when the tide quit and caught some more mullet in some big muds.  Ran into the backcountry to give it a whirl.  Had falling tide back there for a while and fish were rolling a bit, but not very active.  Half a dozen boats were out there but I did not see any of them fighting tarpon, I think they are still being picky.  The wind had swung around southeast and was fairly light, plus overcast, seemed it would of been a good condition.  We caught several sharks and a couple big ‘mud marlin’.  Later in the day we tried around town, and when the tide switched again we finally hooked up.  Nice 50 lb tarpon to end the day.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Well back in town and got back out on the water today finally.  While I was gone I heard we had a mild cold front which had made the tarpon not quite as happy as they were when I left.  The water is still plenty warm enough for them to be around and catch ’em, but you had to be patient waiting for your bites etc…  We loaded up on bait early this morning and ran into the backcountry to fish for them.  The sharks were thick we caught lots of blacktips, some nice size ones and plenty of little ones.  I moved around a bit and finally saw some rolling fish which I set up on with my trolling motor.  We had a couple bites real quick, jumped one fish off right away and then hooked another we fought for a few minutes but unfortunately lost him.  Wind was out of the north though it was warm, that north wind can really be trouble when fishing for tarpon.  We caught plenty of small stuff on the light rods for a while and then gave it another hour for the tarpon before heading in at another channel.  Sharks were even worse here, we did see a few free jumping tarpon but they weren’t eating at least not before the sharks could get ahold of the bait.  Anyways fishing should improve the next few days but we are getting another front it looks like Friday.  That is always a possibility early in the tarpon season – they really don’t like the cold weather or northerly winds.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk