June has rolled by quickly and summer time tarpon fishing is in full swing. That is still my focus this time of year and really all through the summer into September and even October. This last month the fishing hasn’t been quite as consistent as it was in years past… really that’s been the case the last two years. While this June was much better than last June by the catch numbers, it’s often been very ‘hit or miss.’ Meaning we’ve had days where we’ve done very well and caught multiple fish in a spot, then gone their the next day and not found a thing. Most days we end up fishing hard and hitting multiple spots and usually end up finding a tarpon or two, but a handful of days we’ve been skunked though we’ve caught plenty of sharks while doing so to keep us busy. Anyways fishing gets much more tough when things aren’t consistently reliable – instead of going to 1 spot to hook 3 or 4 tarpon, we are going to 3 or 4 spots to hook 1 tarpon. This last week for instance we’ve had 3 separate days where we’ve landed 3 or more tarpon when we’ve gotten into the right spot, and in between those days we’ve had one day where we caught none, and a couple days where we only caught 1 each day. The fish just seem to be moving around a lot though I’m hoping as we get into July the bite will get more consistent and fish will stay put in the channels for periods of time, rather than moving in and out by the day. I haven’t been doing much else other than tarpon/shark fishing, though we did have a good day with snook about a week or so ago. We landed 30 or so snook, 3 redfish, and on that day caught 4 tarpon… it was the last nice calm day we had – as it’s been blowing 15-20 or more all week since then, even getting up to 30 one day. Unfortunately that’s had the bay all churned up the last week, so another reason why I think the tarpon have been a little more hit and miss. Usually we have calm weather through the summer which means the water gets nice, clean, and pretty and the fish are usually much happier. Hopefully as we get into July and August that will be the case. Right now I have about half of July available for trips if anyone is looking to go. It’s one of my favorite months for tarpon as the crowds die down and the everglades fishery usually turns on! You often don’t see another boat out there as you battle the silver kings. We also have good trout and snapper fishing in the bay if you are into that, sometimes you can mix and match fishing options if things cooperate well during the trip. Anyways drop me a line if you are wanting to get out this summer!
P.S. For daily updated tarpon fishing reports, read my islamorada tarpon fishing blog.
