8/6/15 August Florida Keys Tarpon Fishing

Had a 3/4 day today we were trying to get John his first tarpon.  After yesterday I had high expectations.  We ran into the backcountry and caught a little bit of bait on the way, though I had leftovers from yesterday.  We got out off the beach and had the last of the incoming tide.  Tide ran good for about 45 minutes than slowed down, we caught a few sharks including a hammerhead and some blacktips.  I was hoping we would get a crack at a tarpon early with as many fish as we saw yesterday, and realizing we would have a tide change to sit through likely without much action… but no such luck.  Anyways we moved around a bit, didn’t see a whole lot.  Eventually saw a couple tarpon roll/bust but it was right on the change of the tide and no bites out of them.  We kept moving around and sharks kept us busy, and did not see any other signs of tarpon.  We eventually did catch 3 goliath groupers which was cool.  Finally made a last couple moves and the last 20 minutes I tried the last set of numbers I had out there and hoped to get lucky.  It worked and we hooked a nice 60 lb tarpon that John landed fairly quick, though he put on a good show.  Amazing how the fishing can change like that from one day to the next, though any day you get a tarpon is a good one especially this time of year!  Hard work and persistence paid off.  1 for 1

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

8615tarpon

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