5/11/17 May Tarpon Fishing in Islamorada Florida Keys

Got out with Will and his father today we left early to try and get the sunrise bite.  Today the tarpon had moved around on us though, where I had found some early yesterday morning there was nothing much at all.  We fished a bit and caught a shark, never saw a fish roll.  I looked in some other channels close by, did see one tarpon roll, but that was about it.  After a little bit we ran and tried another area.  We found a few more fish here… not a ton but maybe a couple dozen, rolling very spread out.  We caught a bunch of sharks in the first area, then moved a bit further down and fished some more.  Not quite as many sharks, but no tarpon bites.  We even had a couple tarpon roll right in between our lines… frustrating!  After that I ran out and tried another area which had been a little slower as of late, but didn’t have much else to look at as I talked to a few other guides and nobody had seen much.  We hoped the tide would change once there and that fish would get happier.  We got there on slack tide, and saw a good handful of fish busting and jumping, so that was a good sign.  We waited out the tide and once it got running, the tarpon started to bite!  We caught a couple fish, not huge ones but nice 40 lbers.  Will hooked a couple after that but unfortunately missed both bites, the second one of course was right when he was getting a drink and put the rod in the rod holder… that’s when they always get ya!  Not that you can’t hook a fish from the rod holder, but it definitely cuts down on the hookup percentages.  Anyways it was a fun day and glad we got on the tarpon eventually.  I’m out of town for the weekend for a wedding, will be back fishing on Monday.  I have the same client for all 5 days next week, tarpon is on the menu so hopefully they’ll be cooperative!  2 for 4

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

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