Got out early after them today. We tried some of the local channels first and got out at 5 AM in the dark. Though it was plenty bright with the full moon out. Winds were light northwest – can’t beleive it northwest breeze and it is almost June! A mild chill in the air felt good though obviously not a fan of it for the fishing. Anyways we heard a few fish rolling and made a few good drifts though never had a bite, tried another channel out back where the tide was running longer, and didn’t hear much there eventually saw one roll but still no luck. Around 6:30 we ran into the backcountry and caught a few mullet on the way. Tried a channel back there the sharks were very active, saw a couple tarpon roll eventually though no bite from them. We ran to a different channel and saw a ton of tarpon rolling – yay! We got in front of some, put baits out and soon after had a shark bite which I swore was a tarpon as a tarpon jumped right when/where it bit! I don’t know how a shark got it, but it did. Then we hooked a big lemon shark which was cool something different, and while fighting that Rob hooked a nice 40 lb tarpon we landed. After that we had one more possible tarpon bite though we missed it never saw what it was, and then the tarpon just seemed to disappear. We had been seeing them roll everywhere and now nothing. Anyways we eventually left and tried another area where we found a lot of little tarpon though no bites out of them. Then tried around town the last hour of the day with the live baits and we did have several tarpon give us some cheap shots, chasing the baits around, and finally another solid bite though we missed him – it was slack tide so tough to get tight on the fish and set the hook. All in all a fun day was glad to have gotten one again. 1 for 2
5/21/16 May tarpon fishing report
Got out this morning for a half day and we caught a nice little tarpon in the backcountry. They weren’t where they were the day before, we caught a few little sharks there. But we found some around flamingo and got one to bite at least and landed him. Didn’t see much else though only a couple rolling in the channel where we got the 1. 1 for 1
This evening I had the same crew again. Unfortunately it was slow fishing again. We had a few cheap shots on our mullet early and I thought we would get one, but didn’t happen. We moved around and tried some different areas. No dice. We did find some fish rolling off the edge of a bank and set up there to fish for a bit, finally had one bait get a little nervous and jumpy though nothing ever pounded him. We put our crabs out and we had a couple mystery bites on those, got the crabs back with a few legs missing though I dont think they were tarpon bites. Anyways slow night our sister boat didn’t catch one either they jumped one off. Going early tomorrow we will try to catch the falling tide first thing then run into the backcountry to try back there. 0 for 0
5/20/16 Islamorada Tarpon Fishing in May
5/19/16 We tried to get out in the morning it was nasty weather a lot of rain and lightning. Anyways we were able to sneak out for almost a couple hours in the morning before the sun came up and the weather got real bad. We did have plenty of tarpon around the boat and I would of swore we should’ve gotten a bite, but no dice. We decided to call it quits after the weather got bad a bit later. Got out in the evening and we had slow fishing. Ran down to the big bridges and saw a few fish being caught though we couldn’t get a bite! We ran back up near home and fished the local channels and did finally get a couple bites on our live mullet, though we missed them. The guys wanted to be in at 8:00 promptly, otherwise I definitely would’ve stayed the extra little bit as I’m pretty sure we’d of gotten one hooked within a few more minutes, but no dice! 0 for 2
5/20/16 Today we were really after sharks and more action as the guys had fished the previous night for tarpon with another guide and didn’t have much luck. We tried an area but even the sharks weren’t cooperating so I ran to a different spot. There were tarpon rolling everywhere and we jumped a fish fairly quickly. A little later we finally hooked and landed a nice smaller 40 lber. Then we caught a few sharks and a big sting ray. Then we moved a little bit as the grass got real bad drifting in the channel. We hooked and landed another smaller tarpon of 50 lbs or so. And a couple more small blacktip sharks. Anyways a nice surprise. 2 for 3
5/20/16 Went out this evening and we had a slow night. We worked very hard I went and caught plenty of fresh bait this afternoon. Had a few cheap shots and one bite we missed fishing the big bridges. The sister boat who was fishing the same group as us was in the right spot and we watched them catch 3 which was a little frustrating but oh well. They seemed to be the only boat getting bit. Anyways I gave it an extra half hour with the guys and we fished the local channels near home until 8:30 but not dice. A couple tough nights for me lately hopefully tomorrow is better! I won’t really be taking any more night trips unless on short notice for the rest of the season, when I know the fishing is good! 0 for 1
