8/24/15 + 8/25/15 August Flamingo Tarpon Fishing in the Backcountry

Forgot to do my report yesterday but here it is for the 24th.  Fishing was very good we caught bait in the morning it took a few throws but managed 3 dozen or so.  We go to the channels and tide was rolling in pretty good.  Nice clean water and a light north easterly breeze.  Fish were happy we hooked a big ray off the bat and caught him, then a nice tarpon.  We ended up catching four tarpon in all, with three of them being 75 to 100 lbs!  Very big fish for this time of year and nice to see.  After that we ran and tride some shoreline areas and saw a few small tarpon rolling but no bites, but we did get some big bull and lemon sharks, and a nice snook.  Great day back there on this day!  4 for 5

On the 25th I was hoping for more of the same… we left out early and ran towards flamingo in the everglades to tarpon fish.  Wind had swung around more southeast today, it had been north/northeast the last few days which was pleasant.  Bait was very tough we have the last of the falling tide in the mornings and that has been very poor for bait fishing the last few weeks.  Luckily I had a couple dozen baits stashed away from the other day.  But I did check a couple areas and did not see much for mullet, made a few throws and came up empty.  Anyways we ran to the channels after that and the tide was slack getting ready to start coming in.  I saw a few tarpon rolling around and we set up.  We started fishing harder once the tide got moving 20 minutes later.  Tarpon were very finicky today they did not want to bite, had rollers near us and moved around 3 times before finally getting a bite after an hour and a half.  We landed a nice 65 lb fish and then set back up.  The grass got really bad in the channel and I had to move around again near one of the edges, we fished a little while longer but we were no longer seeing fish so I moved to another nearby channel.  We only had a half dozen baits left but we fished conservatively and after 45 minutes or so I saw a fish roll down the way.  A few minutes later with our last bait out we hooked one and landed another smaller tarpon about 40 lbs.  That was right about time to go was glad to get a couple on a day where somebody had flipped the switch off.  Even the sharks were tough we had a couple shark bites but both cut us off.  Anyways taking tomorrow off and then I have thursday and friday booked, then nothing for a little while.  Getting to the end of season and I feel like I need a little break!  2 for 2

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

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