More good fishing today. We were able to get a few good fresh baits early this morning. Ran into the backcountry again. Caught the start of the incoming tide. Wasn’t as red hot of a bite as yesterday but we got it done. Caught a couple in the first spot then the ‘red weed’ which often plagues us set in and we had to move. Luckily we were able to jump channels and it wasn’t too bad in the other channel. We jumped another tarpon and then caught a smaller fish of about 40 lbs. Also a couple big bull sharks which was cool. Then we ran back towards home tried looking for bait. Not much for big muds though we found a bunch of bait close to lower matecumbe, though it was spread thin on the surface. So when you would throw the net they would all dart away. We were able to get about 20 baits in an hour though and several throws. Anyways it paid off we caught a nice fish in the afternoon on a live bait to finish the day. 4 for 4
4/14/15 Great April Everglades Tarpon Fishing in the Florida Keys
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
