4/15/14 Mid April Afternoon tarpon fishing report

Well had a 3/4 day trip today with regulars Dave and Roseann.   We ran into the backcountry to look for some tarpon.  It was horrible conditions which were unforeseeable unfortunately.  The dreaded ‘red weed’, this nasty mangy type of grass that comes in from time to time was horrendous.  It just gets all over your baits and lines and makes it pretty much unfishable as you have to clear your baits every 30 seconds when it is bad as it was.  So we abandoned that plan and decided to try to catch some mangrove snappers.  That worked out well and then we ran back near islamorada to try to tarpon fish for the last bit.  We saw a few rollers in an area that I frequent so we set up.  It took a little while but after 45 minutes we hooked a nice 85 lb fish that ran a good bit and put on quite a show.  We landed him and got some nice boatside pictures.  Caught a couple nurse sharks after that and no other tarpon bites as the tide had slacked and it was time to go in.  Looks like a mild front coming in later tonight, not a real temperature drop but west/north winds this afternoon and tomorrow.  That won’t help the tarpon fishing but shouldn’t push fish out.  Hopefully after it gets nice again we will get some big schools showing up, they have to be close!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

41514tarpon

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