3/26/17 End of March Islamorada Fishing Report

March is almost over and it’s started to really feel like tarpon season here in Islamorada.  I just got back on the water about a week ago after celebrating the birth of my son, Felix!  Mom and baby are healthy so we are thrilled about that.  Fishing has been pretty good, we had a hard cold snap while I was away that really chilled the water down, and it stayed chilly until just a few days ago really.  I know the tarpon fishing was tough while I was away, but now that it got warm again they’ve shown back up.  In the backcountry a few days ago it was flat calm for a couple days.  A horde of fish showed up from out in the gulf, and I’d guess numbers in the thousands – as far as you could see tarpon were rolling and busting.  We found them one afternoon, and quickly hooked and caught a 100 lber, but by the time we got done fighting him the tide had quit and it was time to go home.  The following day though we hammered them, and went 6 for 12 in about 3 1/2 hours!  The best day I’ve had in a while, and certainly for this year so far.  It was fun to see.  Though the next day after that the wind kicked up to 25 mph, and had to take a day off.  But yesterday and today it dropped down to 15-20 mph (and is going to continue to drop and be nice later this week!)  We caught two tarpon both yesterday and today, yesterday way out there in the backcountry and today locally around the channels and bridges in Islamorada.  We did see quite a few fish in the local areas, which I hadn’t seen until now, so that is a good sign too.  Other than tarpon, there were some nice sharks to be had.  We also got a cobia one day.  Plenty of trout still in the bays too along with ladyfish and a few snappers.  All in all it’s good fishing and hopefully this week will continue to be good – I have a feeling it will be with the weather and signs we are seeing.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk