Got out with Pat today down from Ohio and we had a good cold front come in last night. The water temperatures however didn’t drop too much, though I think tonight they will. They were still in the high 60s. I didn’t expect much tarpon but we saw a few rolling around in a spot where we were catching some snook and drum. We kept pitching towards rollers, hoping for a bite. Eventually Pat fooled one and we got a nice little 20 lb fish on our light gear! We were pitching large shrimp on 1/4 oz jigheads. He put up a great fight and was cooperative for netting and pictures. We normally do not bring tarpon in the boat but if they are under 40 inches like this one, it is allowed quickly for a picture. We gave him a healthy release and said goodbye. I haven’t been doing much tarpon fishing the last month, even though honestly we have had the weather for it. This is the first cold snap we’ve had since the only other one we had in late October. Otherwise it’s been warm with water temperatures in the high 70s. Just haven’t had many people wanting to go for tarpon, and haven’t been fishing too much as November was slower than normal due to the hurricane. Luckily December though has picked up a little more than expected, I have a busy week this week and xmas week is always very busy so hopefully I’ll make up for it. Don’t expect to be fishing for tarpon much this week as the water temperatuers will be dipping down in the low 60s the next several days and probably stay in the high 60s through until the weekend. Once it drops down like that they usually shut down or get pushed out, we just got lucky last night it didn’t get too cold for us today. Anyways if you are wanting to do other fishing I’m readily available, and the snook fishing has been very good in both the warmer and cooler weather this winter. But if we get another warm streak, the tarpon could show up big time, don’t be afraid to ask! 1 for 1
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
