7/29/16 Late July backcountry fishing report

July is almost over though fishing has still been pretty good out in the backcountry.  Mini season has come and gone, so opening week of lobster season will have plenty of people around and then things will really start to slow down with business.  Luckily much of our fishing we do in the everglades national park so the lobster mobsters don't really bother you.  I myself have been tarpon fishing mostly as of late and it's still been pretty good.  Not quite as many fish around or as consistent as last summer, but we're usually getting at least a few bites a trip.  We had one very good day early this week fishing around flamingo and landed multiple tarpon, however the next day the fish just went into 'lock jaw' mode and wouldn't respond!  We ended up finding them in another area that day and getting 1 in the early afternoon.  Today we ran deep off the beaches and had to look long and hard but eventually found a pack of fish and we had good action for about 30 minutes, the fish didn't want to stay buckled on the hook but eventually we landed one.  Other than that there has been plenty of shark action we had several blacktips and a couple hammer heads today too.  Capt. Jeff Beeler, Capt. John Johansen, and Capt. Mike Walter also had some tarpon action the last few days.  Capt. Jim Willcox and Capt. Mike Bassett have still been getting into a few snook in the backcountry.  Capt. Vinnie Biondoletti reported good trout and snapper action in the bays on a half day trip as well.  August can still be very good fishing hopefully the wind will stay down as it is suppose too.  We still get plenty of tarpon in the next few weeks, plus the gulf and everglades can be good fishing as long as you can take the heat.  

Capt. Rick Stanczyk