4/21/14 Tarpon fishing after the cold front still chilly but fishable!

It got chillier again last night down in the mid 60s and the water temps did dip to the mid 70s.  Not terrible but when it goes from being in the low 80s to 76 the tarpon usually don’t like that too much.  We were able to get one right off the bat and a possible other bite near home, a nice 50 lb fish to start the day.  After that not much more action we ran further southwest by the bridges and caught a few decent size groupers, and a couple nurse sharks, but no tarpon action on the end of the falling tide.  We ran back to fish the local channels and just more sharks and rays.  We then ran back to the bridges to try to snapper fish and wait for the tide to start running in good.  We caught a few snappers and saw some tarpon rolling so we put a bait out and eventually hooked a nice 35 lber that we caught.  Saw a few more busting and rolling nearby so we set up over there and had a few other bites and couple cheap shots on the live baits, and finally hooked a nice 85 lber that we fought a while and landed.  After that one other bite and that was about it a bunch of other boats came in and the tarpon seemed to settle down after being happy for a good hour or so anyways.  Not a bad day with the conditions, north wind and chilly, 3 for 6!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk