Well we had some good fishing this past week again here in Islamorada… The tarpon bite is on! We had a late cold front last weekend but it was a weak one so the temperatures didn’t really drop. The water stayed in the mid 70 degree range so the fish didn’t really get too bothered thankfully. Sometimes those late fronts can really mess up the early season tarpon thing, but I’ve often found in recent years if the tarpon are here and happy and settled, it can still be decent as long as it doesn’t get super cold. That was the case for us we ended up fishing Monday and had the north winds and ‘cold front’ winter feel to the day, but the tarpon were out and about. We had to work for it but we did get 3 bites and landed 3 fish, so a good day for sure! That was with my good repeat client Irv. The next two days I had Bob, Bobby, and Joe and the conditions were back to what we like in the spring. Moderate/light winds out of the east/southeast. The tarpon were definitely showing a lot more doing there thing… jumping, splashing, and putting on a show in general. We often see these ‘free jumpers’ this time of year – as far as you look sometimes you’ll see tarpon jumping around! It’s quite a sight to behold. The bite itself really wasn’t super red hot we had to still work at it a little bit. But we managed 4 bites on the first day Tuesday with them, and 5 bites on Wednesdays. We landed 8 of those fish so very good landing ratio and the boys all got a good picture boatside with a fish, including two fish over 100 lbs so that was awesome! These days it’s not very easy getting boatside pictures and I often don’t allow it as the sharks can be very bad eating the fish and not to mention your arm if it’s in the water holding it. But we had sharks only go after a couple of those fish which we broke off once they started freaking out to allow them the chance to escape. Luckily in the muddy water there odds of getting away if released in time seem to be better.
Capt. Trent also had some really good fishing lately with some juvenile tarpon, snook, snappers, and groupers all in a day! He’s been having a great season so far and he’s wanting to fish fish fish. I’m on spring break myself here now so won’t be fishing again much until end of March. But the conditions look pretty good still, no majorly windy days until possibly next weekend. It’s really nice having such nice march weather after a tougher February with wind, cold, and rain. We’re starting to offer evening trips now so if you want to catch a tarpon that is a great time to go. You can often book it more short notice as that time slot doesn’t book up in advance as much as the mornings or full days. That means you can somewhat cherry pick your conditions sometimes too. Capt. Trent is often available short notice and doesn’t mind going for an evening trip after a full day. So if you get the itch give me a shout and I’ll try and get it put together for your.
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina
