Had a group trip the last two days with the Kurt Butcher group down at Bud n’ Mary’s. We had good fishing both days. Yesterday was fairly calm light winds, today it kicked up a bit out of the southeast but not too crazy 15 mph or so. Yesterday we tarpon fished all day. Caught bait to start the day which went well. We caught a big tarpon 15 seconds after our first bait hit the water! A nice 100 lber for Cody. After that we got a bull shark about a 50 lber. The tarpon bite slowed down we didn’t have another bite for a couple hours. We decided to check some other areas I hadn’t fished yet this year. Didn’t see much at first but caught a big lemon shark and a sting ray. We took a harder look and did manage to find a few tarpon floating through the area. One ate a live pilchard we missed, but then we caught two more later on and a couple more sharks. Great day 3 day time tarpon in February! Today we tried the same thing but the weather had other plans. Lots of rain in the AM so we stayed close and fished our light rods for jacks and big ladyfish for an hour. We did catch mullet too and then when the rain cleared we headed out back. Similar as yesterday the tarpon didn’t want to bite too well on the early morning falling tide. We got another bull shark and several black tips. Then when the tide turned we moved around, got a nice 20 lb cobia and then hooked a double header tarpon! One fish didn’t stay buttoned though but we caught the other. Then later on we got another one so both my anglers Jay and Dustin caught their first tarpon. So 5 tarpon in 2 days and all 4 anglers got to catch their first tarpon… not too shabby for february tarpon fishing in the Florida Keys! Looks like the winds will be kicking up tomorrow so may have a little tougher fishing but hopefully something will be productive.
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
