3/29/16 + 3/30/16 Islamorada Tarpon Report

3/29/16 – Tarpon fished today we ran into the backcountry to start and had a load of bait already from the afternoon before.  We saw plenty of fish back there however they were not cooperating. We moved around a few times with fish rolling all over but they just wouldn’t bite.  The red grass got very bad too and made it tough to fish by the end of it.  We did catch a few sharks and a cobia.  Mid day we came back around town to finish up and we did have some tarpon action we did hook a fish however he jumped off right away.  Then we had some cheap shots of tarpon busting the mullet or flashing them but not eating.  We found another group at the end of the day though same thing they were just flashing or busting and wouldn’t eat.  0 for 1

3/30/16 – Today we tarpon fished and did some rod bending mid day.  In the morning fishing was good we found some fish in the bay channels and we had good activity in the morning for the 1st hour.  We had 3 solid eats though unfortunately the fish didn’t stay on.  One bite we had the fish on for a good 30 seconds but he jumped off.  Unfortunately my angler who missed two fish had been leaving the rod in the rod holder not following direction and unfortunately paid the price.  A tarpon bite comes very fast and the couple seconds it takes you to pick a rod up out of the holder and get situated sometimes is too long before the fish is gone.  Different types of baits call for different approaches but for live mullet fishing you always want to hold the rod, yes sometimes it can get boring and frustrating but the nature of fishing as soon as you put the rod down that bite is going to come!  We caught some trout, ladyfish, and other assorted fish mid day, and then tried the tarpon again in the afternoon and had one cheap shot around the bridge, but that was all she wrote.  Hopefully my luck turns around it’s been a very tough March – I’m ready for April!  0 for 3

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

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