Well sharks were the request for today. We had caught some good live bait early in the morning. So I decided to run in the backcountry to the channels where sharks would be just as likely as tarpon. We hooked a nice blacktip spinner shark right off the bat that jumped off. After that the tarpon took over, which was a good problem to have as I explained to my angler Steve. He agreed. Steve proceeded to land 6 out of 6 tarpon bites we had. All on wire with larger than normal hooks and tighter drags I would use for sharks. Amazing they all stayed buttoned and all but 1 we had all the way to the boat for pictures even. The nice incoming tide provided a good bite all morning. By noon we were done with that and did a little bit of stuff with the light rods then headed home. We did catch a handful of blacktip and nurse sharks too, so the target species was also acquired! 6 for 6
4/13/15 April Tarpon Fishing in Islamorada
The mullets finally showed back up in numbers this morning. Several places were loaded with lots of bait. We were able to catch plenty before daybreak and headed out around 7:15 to tarpon fish the bridges. We had the last of the incoming tide and we hooked a fish on a live mullet right after missing another bite first thing. A big 150 lb fish he gave a good run but did not fight all that hard. He ended up being foul hooked in the side of the mouth which may of been part of it. Anyways nice fish to start. The tide started to fall eventually but we had a very weak tide. The tarpon were there but not too happy we had a couple fish come up and bust the mullets probably 15 times but did not eat it. We finally hooked another on a dead bait and caught him. This fish took us through the bridge a few times and we got him to the boat before breaking him off, nice 100 lb fish. Then that was about it for tarpon action we moved around and found some fish rolling and busting, but they were not very interested in feeding. We went back up close to home and tried dead baiting the last hour, we caught a nice blacktip shark and then decided to call it a day as the weak tide was going to continue and eventually slack out so didn’t think it was worthwhile to stay the last couple hours. Anyways couple tarpon and a couple sharks, fun morning! I must say too it is fantastic having my trolling motor working again it has already helped me get a few bites that otherwise we may not have had. 2 for 3
4/11/15 + 4/12/15 Islamorada Tarpon Fishing Report
Tarpon fishing has been good the last couple of days. Bait has still been tough there has not really been any significant schools of mullet around. I had two morning and two evening trips the last couple days. Unfortunately after yesterday morning I realized I had a leak in my boat, some problem when they were installing some new equipment. Anyways I extended my night trip last night with the guys who also had me this morning and we just cancelled this morning so I could get the boat fixed. Anyways we fished mostly crabs yesterday and we caught 1 nice tarpon in the morning around the bridges along with a few sharks and a big red grouper. One other possible tarpon bite not sure what it was though. Last night we fished from 4 to 10 and we went 3 for 3 on tarpon. All decent size fish of 80-90 lbs. They were all hard fighters though we spent about 45 minutes on each fish. I was glad the action was good and the guys were OK doing that and canning this morning. Tonight I got the boat back in working order and fished the usual 4 to 8 night trip. We went 1 for 3 on tarpon. Had some action on mullet early on the last of the incoming tide, and had one eat a crab drifting near sunset on the falling water. Anyways good overall fishing using traditional techniques. 1 for 1, 3 for 3, 1 for 3.
