Good news tarpon fishing in the florida keys sounded good all around today. I talked to several guides who fished different areas, and there were fish reported in many of them. We fished locally where I’d been having success as of late. This morning bait fishing was a little tough but we manged a few mullet before leaving the dock with my charter. Action this morning was all on live bait we set up and soon after had a tarpon ‘cheap shotting’ our mullets – playing with them, smacking them, etc… We ended up getting 4 or so solid bites, however were not able to really stick any of them. Large mullet and not super large tarpon, which sometimes the baits are so big it is tough for them to find the hook. Anyways the action was worth it and we had plenty of ‘cheap shots’ too for close to 2 hours. Mid day we looked for more bait but it was very tough, some big muds and did see some mullet showering, though there were not happy flipping where they would be catchable. Anyways we went and caught some snapper for dinner, and set back up in the afternoon to try to hook another tarpon. We had a few baits left and after 20 minutes we were into a big slob of a tarpon. We fought him for an hour and probably close to 150 lb fish. Great way to end the day! 1 for 5.
3/1/15 March Islamorada Tarpon Fishing Report
High winds out of the east today blowing 20 knots most of the day. We are still in a very weird tidal phase. Weak current in the backcountry but finally started moving in slowly. We only had shark bites and some big jacks attack us fishing the channels back there. Landed a few sharks and a big jack at least. Mid day we decided to catch some dinner which we were able to do. Finished the day up tarpon fishing around town again. The tide was slack when I got there, very strange because it turned around 10 AM yesterday so it should of been falling until 5 PM or so. But anyways we waited it out and finally around 2:30 the tide was moving in again. In a couple more days things will hopefully be back to a normal schedule with tides. We got our tarpon bite a nice 60 lb fish that almost jumped in the boat. We landed him and went home, good way to end the day! 1 for 1
2/28/15 Morning half day tarpon trip in Islamorada
Well today was first official ‘tarpon trip’ for the year. While we’ve already caught a few we’ve mostly been focusing on other things and just giving the tarpon shot a little bit of time. Anyways we caught mullet early this morning a few starting to gather in the local areas. It was tough had to throw 15 times to catch 2 dozen baits, but we got ’em. Anyways I fished locally around Islamorada where I’d been seeing fish, not much first thing this morning though. Very weak tide and took a while to turn. Anyways I ran all over checking the bridges, bays, and other channels. Did not see much of anything as far as tarpon went. Finally for the last bit of the morning we went back to where we were first thing, tide was falling better now. Saw quite a few fish rolling and we set up and eventually hooked a nice 40 lber. Landed him and that was that, glad we got one. Anyways I would say it is still a bit early to really put all your eggs in the ‘tarpon’ basket – likely best to do other things and just try for tarpon for part of the day. Though as we continue into March it should get better especially once the water gets closer in the 80 degree range. And a nice calm sunny day will likely start bringing some bigger schools of fish in. 1 for 1
