March 2014

3/25/14 Prefrontal florida keys tarpon fishing in march

Another front is heading in.  Lots of rain and storms around this morning.  We ventured out for a half day tarpon fishing.  Got a little wet and the lightning scared us.  We were fighting a fish and it started pouring with thunder and lightning nearby as other boats were all leaving.  But after 10 minutes it was just a drizzle.  So we stayed out and ended up catching 2 out of 4 tarpon plus a big blacktip shark.  Not bad – beats sitting in the hotel room!  Though tonight and tomorrow night it’s suppose to get down in the mid 60s so the tarpon bite may slow down for a few days though it will still be possible.  Just likely not as good as it has been.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

3/24/14 More great tarpon fishing the florida keys in march

Northwest light breeze this morning.  Ran into the backcountry again.  Caught a little bit of bait but it was tough and had 2 day leftovers which were still in good shape.  In the backcountry we caught 3 out of 4 tarpon including a nice 100 lber.  All on the incoming tide between 8:15 and 11:15.  Did some other stuff after that and came home, another fantastic day tarpon fishing in islamorada.  We saw some big balls of bait mullet on the way home near the docks so afterwards I went back out with a fellow captain and we loaded up on fresh mullet for the next few days.  It’s nice this time of year when the big schools of mullet show up and it’s easy to load up for a few days!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

3/23/14 Tarpon Fishing Islamorada in March

Another banner day today fishing was very good for our march islamorada tarpon fishing.  Conditions were similar to yesterday, flat calm in the morning though a little sunnier.  We used our bait from yesterday that was well iced and got right to the fishing hole.  Last of the incoming tide and the action was pretty quick.  We caught 3 fish in about 1.5 hours.  The slack tide things slowed down and then started falling again around 10:00.  Caught 2 out of 3 more for a total of 5 tarpon.  The last one being a nice 100+ lber!  Great fishing lots of fish in the backcountry though I think this mild front that is coming will slow things down for a few days though not blow them out entirely.  We fished a 3/4 day and back in at 1:00.  Time to catch bait for my night trip.  Mullet were difficult especially being a busy weekend day.  We found some in the creeks and had to throw about 20 times but got about 20 baits for myself and my bait catching partner.  We fished the local downtown islamorada channels and bridges and fishing was better than I expected.  By this evening the wind was out of the west blowing 10 knots or so, not a great tarpon condition.  We had about an hour of incoming tide and jumped two fish in that time period.  A good sign for florida keys tarpon fishing!  When the tide started falling we moved a bit further up the channel and we caught 2 tarpon of 50 and 65 lbs.  Plus a few nurse sharks and a big ray.  Home by dark.  Great day 7 tarpon to the boat in total hope for some more days like this soon!!!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk