Well I went from hero to zero today things were very tough. Had the same crew from yesterday. We caught bait early not super easy but was able to put enough together. We ran out to the beaches where the fish were yesterday though this morning they were not to be seen… We searched all up and down and didn’t see much. Did finally see one roll as we were leaving the area and another free jump, so we set up. Though after 40 minutes we never had a sniff of anything and didn’t see much else. It stinks when you go all that way and then don’t find ’em, kind of like the kiss of death as you have to backtrack to other spots to fish. Anyways we then were going to try to snook fish but the bait wasn’t really catchable for what we needed plus that had been tough too and the water didn’t look nice in the creeks, so we kept on after tarpon. Tried the channels we did see a few in the first spot, but only for a minute and no bite just a few sharks. Worked our way towards flamingo and hit a few other channels, though not much of anything except a sting ray. Then ran back to some other areas to catch the start of the incoming tide and caught a few more sharks, and finally saw a couple tarpon roll on a spot but alas no bite out of them. Not sure where they all went but it looked like a nice calm day that they should’ve loved… Anyways glad we had such a good day on the previous trip. Seems to be the story of this year though as I can think of several times where we had a banner day and thought we were dialed in and then had very tough fishing the next day. Hopefully tomorrow will be better! 0 for 0
August 2016
8/19/16 August Tarpon Fishing in Islamorada
Got out today for some tarpon we caught the last trickle of incoming tide this morning and were able to load up on mullet. We looked around hard for fish and didn’t find any in the first 3 stops… was looking like it might be one of those days! But eventually we stumbled into a pack deep in one of the channels in the everglades. We jumped around several times and finally got one to eat that we caught. We also caught several sharks. After that we ran off the beaches to take a look as it was nice and calm until that point, though the wind did start blowing once we got there. We found some tarpon free jumping and busting and were able to get in on them with the tide already starting back in. However they didn’t make it easy we moved around again several times and caught some big blacktip sharks, then finally we saw a couple roll and got in front of them and caught 1 soon after a nice 75 lb fish. After that it was almost the end of the day but we managed to get one more fish of 50 lbs or so to the boat before he jumped off for a technical release. Anyways like I said we had to work for it but had a great day! Back at it tomorrow. 3 for 3
8/17/16 Islamorada Half Day Tarpon Report
Well got out today I’ve had quite a few days off and a few days of just random rod bending. Fishing had been a little tough overall the last couple weeks with the water getting very hot, still hard south breezes, and a few algae blooms in the backcountry to worry about. Today we were suppose to fish all day but we cut it to a half due to weather, had to wait until 7:30 or so until we could get out. I went under the bridge and found quite a few mullet getting blown up so I grabbed the net and we caught 15 or so. Then we saw some tarpon rolling close by in a local channel so we gave it a shot. Ended up getting a couple bites and getting one fish to the boat for a technical release before he threw the hook. Anyways a nice easy ‘give me’ on a nasty weather day. We finished the morning on the patches catching a few snapper, porgy, and a nice hogfish. I’m fishing the next several days and a couple more before going out of town around the 26th for a week or so. 1 for 2
