May Islamorada Fishing Report

May is in full swing and it is feeling like summer time.  The fishing has been up and down to be quite honest.  I’ve been mostly tarpon fishing though mixing it up a little bit more too since the bite hasn’t been predictable.  We’ve been getting good fish though but often it’s a bite or two a trip and you need to make the most of it.  I’ve fished several evenings and had luck on just about all of them.  I’ve been fishing a little later though, usually staying until a little after dark to catch the sunset/after dark bite.  Crabs have worked well for this and the falling tide usually gives you the best opportunity at catching a tarpon in the evening.  The last few days we’ve found fish in the everglades backcountry and we did catch a few tarpon back there.  Snook fishing was phenomenal last week we had probably 60 snook in 4 days of fishing.  It was nice to mix it up and do that.  Live bait is plentiful in the backcountry, chumming live pilchards and pinfish off the flats.  This should be a good option for something different for the next couple months.  I often like to tarpon fish the first couple hours of the day, then hang the chum bag and catch some livies for throwing at snook on my full day trips.  While doing that we were also able to catch some decent trout and mangrove snappers for dinner, so you can have some fun while we catch bait too.  We also have had some decent triple tails still around.  Many of them are just free floating as most of the crab traps have been pulled.  Anyways summer time is my favorite time of year to fish and so far it’s been good.  I think our tarpon fishing will be the best of the year June – August.  I can do some short notice evening trips if I have bait so don’t hesitate to ask.  We also have another captain running a boat for us so he will be available for night trips as well.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk