tarpon

4/19/13 Tarpon, tarpon, and more tarpon.

The great islamorada april tarpon fishing continues. We caught 3 out of 4 big fish today all on fresh mullet in the backcountry. Last night we caught 1 big fish early near the bridges on live mullet, 1st cast WHAM he ate it and we chased him between pilings. Then last bait of the night out, dead mullet on the bottom, caught another 100 lber before heading in. That day we also landed 2 out of 4 tarpon, one each for my young UK anglers. Father John missed his shot as we jumped off the other 2 fish, though he got to play with some other big creatures including mud marlin and a 250 lb goliath grouper, and a big bull shark. They also caught plenty of trout and ladyfish. Let’s see now the day before that we caught 1 out of 2 tarpon plus a few sharks, we lost one tarpon due to an angler error of free-spooling the reel which caused a birds nest and broken line… oh well. That evening we caught 2 out of 4 tarpon fishing islamorada near by bud n marys marina. It’s a great time to come fishing here, I have a handful of evening fishing slots available though I may be tough to get ahold of so you can always try to book through Islamorada Fishing at Bud n Marys at 305-664-2461.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@fishingislamorada.com

April 20, 2013 by Capt. Rick Stanczyk Backcountry Fishing Reports Fishing Reports

4/9/13 Tarpon fishing very good this morning!

Well the april islamorada tarpon fishing was much better today than yesterday, what a difference a day makes sometimes. We ran all over and fished about 8 different spots, and did an extended day, only to get 1 tarpon bite and 1 shark bite… Unfortunately both fish we lost. Today was a different story we landed 2 big tarpon right off the bat, jumped a couple others after, and also caught several sharks. Great news for the islamorada tarpon fishing report. Later today we caught some ladyfish and a handful of trout and mangrove snappers for dinner. Tried a few spots at the end of the day for redfish, but nobody was home. The tarpon today were all caught on dead mullet from the day before. Hopefully tomorrow will be similar, will have an hour more tide and a cooler full of good bait so will try it again! The islamorada night tarpon fishing will be getting better and better as more spawning migrators begin to arrive in our local basins and channels – look out!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903

islamorada tarpon jumping

April 9, 2013 by Capt. Rick Stanczyk Backcountry Fishing Reports Fishing Reports

3/24/13 Good fishing despite high/nasty winds march islamorada!

Today the winds howled out of the southwest 25 mph, not a favorable march florida keys fishing condition! We didn’t let it get the best of us though as we made our way into the islamorada backcountry fishing. We took a little longer running but were able to stay on the edges of the banks and in my comfortable 20′ seacraft the ride was not an issue, just a little minor spray here and there. We fished the edge of the gulf which you could not do in a little skiff and the fishing was good! Lots of big trout, ladyfish, and some mangrove snappers. We got our limit of trout and kept the ladyfish for bait. After a couple long drifts we decided to go try for bigger stuff so we ran to some deeper channels close by. Unfortunately the water did not look very pretty, but we found an area deep inside that had some bluish color and looked a better than the mouths of the channels where we normally fish. So i anchored us up for some shark fishing in islamorada in march. We had action fairly quick, mostly black noses and blacktips. After a few of those, all of a sudden we had a rod slam down and a big 100 lb tarpon went flying! We chased him down and kept him on, getting the fish boatside in about 25 minutes. Fantastic catch! Eventually the weed and grass got too bad to fish after this, so we went to another channel to fish. The action wasn’t quite as hot and heavy, had a few more shark bites and caught a couple, then called it a day and went home! Also pictured here is a 400+ lb islamorada goliath grouper caught by young 10 year old Sam and his brother last week with me! Big beasts like these are often caught in the spring and early summer here in Islamorada, so be sure to ask about it if you want to catch big fish!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@fishingislamorada.com

: march florida keys tarpon

: florida keys goliath grouper

March 25, 2013 by Capt. Rick Stanczyk Backcountry Fishing Reports Fishing Reports

3/22/13 March Florida Keys Tarpon Fishing

Had Sam out today luckily after a last-minute cancellation. He wanted to try to catch a tarpon in islamorada and I told him I thought we had a decent shot at getting one today. The fish have been around though not biting great yet, however we had the wind switch around today to southeast from north yesterday which is a good thing – nice and warm weather! We started the morning early out at 7 AM, found some birds bombing and looked for mullet for a bit but they were very finicky so just continued our run in the back. We stopped in the bays near the edge of the gulf and got into the trout and ladyfish pretty good which we saved the ladyfish for bait. Islamorada trout fishing should be pretty good through the spring with lots of fish in the bays moving out from their winter holes, and these were nice size keeper fish too. Around 9:30 we had our fill of bait and such, so we went in search of tarpon. Set up in a channel with the start of the incoming tide, and within 10 minutes we hooked a nice 100 lber! Plenty of jumps and leaps, chased him down and leadered him up after a 25 minute battle. Good job Sam! The march tarpon fishing in islamorada i think will continue to get better and hopefully we will have a strong show of fish through season with the later start this year. We caught several black tip sharks after this, and had one myestery fish likely a big ‘mud marlin’ that we pulled the hook on. Anyways after the tide quit we went into the gulf for the last hour and caught about a dozen triple tail which was fun. The triple tail have been pretty thick in the gulf and even with it being a bit choppy it was a good bet for something different. If you want to catch islamorada triple tail then make sure to ask they are an option!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@fishingislamorada.com

: march florida keys tarpon

: florida keys triple tail

March 22, 2013 by Capt. Rick Stanczyk Backcountry Fishing Reports Fishing Reports

3/20/13 Spring islamorada fishing report!

Well spring is officially here today the wind died out and left a beautiful flat calm day for march backcountry fishing islamorada. We started out the morning a little late but that was ok, we searched for some mullets and found a few on the flats nearby. Made a few throws only to get a couple of them which was what we needed! We ran back into the islamorada backcountry and fished some channels for trout, ladyfish, etc… We had lots of action and saved the ladyfish for bait too which we turned out not to need but saved for another day! Plenty of tarpon seen at this point in the main channel, so after we had enough fun with that we set up there for the big stuff. Within 10 minutes we hooked a gorgeous 80 lb fish that went airborne and nuts, he ate a mullet with the tail cut off on the bottom. Got the fish boatside after 15 minutes, but before we could get a picture we broke him off unfortunately, oh well still a technical catch with the leader in the rod tip! I’ve included a picture of a similar sized fish caught the day before. Everglades tarpon fishing is going to be getting better and better from this point on I think. After this we caught a smaller blacktip shark, and then decided to run to the gulf. Hit some structure in hopes of a cobia, which one did pop up and we cast a pinfish too him… He sunk down after it but did not eat it, and we did not see him again. Ran further out and got into a mess of tripletail, they were a little spooky but we caught about a dozen or so, including our limit of nice ones for dinner! Inshore fishing islamorada in march offers many different opportunities especially on this flat calm gorgeous days. After this we headed home, tomorrow heading out for a day of fun fishing with my dad so going to run deep in the backcountry to try some new things – hopefully have a good march islamorada fishing report!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@fishingislamorada.com