Ran back into the everglades this morning. Early start and found the mullet in one of my usual areas. Nice to see the summer time bait showing up with consistency. We made a couple throws and were able to get 3 or 4 dozen. We ran back off the mainland to some areas where the tarpon had been recently. Last trickle of incoming tide I was hoping it was going to be falling already so we had to wait for it to turn around. It took a while almost an hour before it really started moving. We were able to catch a few sharks while waiting at least. Finally saw a few tarpon roll and we tried to set up on them, however the little sharks were horrendous! You could hardly keep a bait out. I moved several times in front of rolling fish, only to have the sharks eat us alive before the tarpon could get to the bait. Finally I moved back to an area where the sharks weren’t so bad and hoped a tarpon would find us. Luckily one did, young Cody was able to hook and land his first tarpon a nice little 35 lber, perfect size for him. After that more sharks! We checked another area and did not see much. So I ran to some channels where there had been a few tarpon recently. We didn’t see much for life, but I set up and we put our baits out. After about 25 minutes we hooked a nice 65 lb fish that Russ got to land on his own rod, he was happy about that. The fish gave up pretty easily for the lighter rod we were using, and was hooked right in the top of the lip where they usually give you a much harder fight. Maybe he was over heated? Anyways after that not much other action we tried another 30 minutes, and then decided to make our way home! 2 for 2
6/6/15 June Tarpon Fishing Half Day Islamorada
Had a half day this morning. Right now it is usually better to book a 3/4 or full day as the everglades fishery has been a little hotter, plus the bait is catchable back there. Bait has been very tough to come by locally. Luckily I caught some back there the other day and still had some leftover. We took off early in the dark so we would have a couple hours of falling tide at least. It paid off. We hooked a nice ‘mud marlin’ early on and got him to the boat for some pictures. After that we eventually hooked a nice 75 lb tarpon. A good fight we chased him around and he only jumped once and then was fighting us down and dirty. Eventually we got him up for some good pictures. After that the tide was really slowing and it was tough to keep our baits out away from the boat. A tarpon picked up a bait and did a big loop around the boat and jumped on the other side, taking the line completely around the engine and other line that was out. Luckily I was able to get around everything and we got the other lines in and chased after the fish! We got him to the boatside on the leader though pulled the hooks on him before we could get good pictures, though a technical catch anyways! After the the tide slacked for a while and eventually started in, but the bite was over with. We were glad to have gotten out early! I have full days coming up the next several days. With the weather staying nice and calm, the tarpon fishing in the everglades should stay hot! 2 for 2
6/5/15 June Tarpon Fishing in the Everglades
Fishing continues to be hot. We ran back into the everglades this morning. A bit of an ominous looking start with the weather but things cleared up and it stayed nice and overcast. Winds were south to start but laid out flat for most of the day. We were able to catch some mullet around some backcountry areas pretty good which was nice. They’d been hard to come by. We found some fish off the beaches and they were very happy. Not rolling to much but you’d see one every once in a while. We got lined up on them and the action was hot and heavy. We caught 5 out of 5 which was very good especially for smaller sized fish in the 30 to 60 lb range! Several sharks as well. By mid day the tide slacked and things slowed down, a few more sharks. Then we jumped 1 more tarpon when the tide turned and started coming in. The tarpon started showing very good then, but did not want to feed really well. Anyways another fantastic day. Half day tomorrow going to try and leave early and stay fairly close. 5 for 6
