8/16/15 Mid August Backcountry Fishing Report

August is already half way over and it's been pretty warm down here in Islamorada.  Fishing in the backcountry has still been decent there are still quite a few tarpon around especially in the everglades areas.  Fishing hasn't been red hot for them every day though some captains have reported some big days back there.  The fishing and the bait catching has been best on the incoming tides as of late it seems, bringing in that little bit of cooler gulf water and making the fish a little happier.  Some days the rain has been chasing us around a good bit and that pattern seems to be continuing to hold.  We had several big days last week with the tarpon and sharks which was a lot of fun.  Steve and Michael enjoyed stellar tarpon fishing one day followed by a good day with tarpon, snook, and some nice mangrove snappers for dinner.  Though a couple days ago we had a very slow day, bait was near impossible to catch and I had a little bit of leftover bait, but the tarpon were few and far between in an area where a couple days before they had been swarming.  Today though we were able to get on them and had a few shots at tarpon and landed one nice fish plus a big snook and some big sharks for Zeb and his wife.  Capt. John Johansen has reported similar action with tarpon and sharks back in the flamingo/backcountry areas.  Capt. Bill Bassett has also had some action with sharks and a few taron, plus has had a few half days of snapper fishing.  He had some real nice gulf snappers the past few days.  Capt. Dave Morris has been doing a few lobster trips and has had some good success, plus some action on the patch reefs with hogfish and porgy still even in the heat of summer.  Capt. Gunner Gutherie had a nice tarpon the other day plus some fish for dinner.  Give us a call if you are looking to get out we are getting into our off season with business here though the fishing is anything but!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk