3/19/13 March tarpon fishing in Islamorada

Water temperatures are back to a normal spring like level and there have been a handful of tarpon around.  Normally march tarpon fishing charters are the norm especially as we near April.  Today Capt. Ben Ekblom, one of Bud n' Mary's new guides who grew up fishing as a mate there and more recently ran one of the Tail Walker boats in Marathon the last several years, fished for tarpon for the day.  The action with big fish aka tarpon, sharks, etc.. has not been hot and heavy but picked up a bit today.  Capt. Ben did manage 1 out of 2 fish and with tarpon any day you catch one is a good day!  They also had some action with sharks.  Yesterday also Capt. Skip Nielsen reported catching 1 tarpon in the backcountry, along with some other sharks.  Capt. Rick Stanczyk had a large 400+ lb goliath grouper yesterday as well as a large bull shark.  Fishing Islamorada in March gives a variety of fish so just because tarpon are difficult there are always other options.  Today Capt. Bill Bassett found some nice trout close by as well as mangrove snappers as the rain was intimidating though in the Islamorada area never really bothered us after day break.  I like to tell people it is rare that we really lose a day to rain here in the florida keys, most often it passes through and you can fish your way around it 90% of the time.  The backcountry fishing in islamorada will continue to pick up as the water temperatures are stabilizing, this means the tarpon bite will get better and better.  Also options in the gulf will open up as well as the everglades.  We are getting a minor front over the weekend, but looks like it will not be very cold so the water temps should not drop drastically.

3/13/13 Islamorada night tarpon fishing report in march

Well had my first official march islamorada night tarpon fishing trip of the season.  Chris and Steph were down from Baltimore, and Chris reads the blog regularly and I promised to make him famous!  We did have a light blast of cool air last night with a predominant 15-20 knot north wind which generally the tarpon don't like.  You can't predict these things ahead of time, though the best time to tarpon fish islamorada is whenever you can make it down here.  However the water temperatures didn't plummet and were still in the low 70s which was a good thing, as well as falling tide till dark which I like.  The wind also laid out nicely around 6:00 or so.  Anyways I brought a loaded variety of bait included cigar minnows, pinfish, nice big live shrimp, and of course some crabs.  We made some drifts early starting around 4:15 pm in one of the channels where I had seen tarpon on previous days, though not much luck.  I anchored up near one of the bridges where we saw a tarpon roll as I pulled up and set up.  Tarpon fishing the bridges is often productive as most always there will be some tarpon around them.  We had one tarpon bite on a cigar minnow but unfortunately missed him.  We caught a nurse shark off a bait on the bottom, and while photographing him had another bite on a big shrimp - not sure if it was a tarpon or not but it zipped drag for a good 2 seconds so had to be something of decent size...  No more bites here, but we did catch a nice legal size gag grouper off the bottom which was cool, of course we released him as they are out of season now.  Nearer sunset we ran further back to catch the last of the falling tide, and on our first drift we did see a tarpon roll.  We made 2 more drifts and finally around 7:30 hooked up a nice 75 lb fish on a live crab.  Made a couple really good runs and spectacular jumps which my camera phone is not good at capturing, but we did land the fish and I snapped a quick picture.  After that it was time to head home.  Glad my first march islamorada tarpon fishing report at night was a good one!  This week there have been some other fish caught as well, I know Capt. Vic Gaspeny caught one early this morning and the past couple days Capt. Skip Nielsen had several nice fish, as well as Capt. Jim Willcox with one the other day in the backcountry.  Tommorrow night got downgraded to 15mph out of the north so may be fishable, not sure how the night fishing will be the rest of the week/weekend.  But if your interested give Bud n' Mary's or myself a call and we'll give you an honest opinion!  March can be a very good time to fish and if the cold weather stops, the fish are around and have not seen a ton of hooks yet so can feed really well with the right conditions!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@seethefloridakeys.net

3'10/13 Islamorada tarpon fishing in March

There have been a few march islamorada tarpon around though the cool waters have been keeping the backcountry fishing a little on the tough side.  Today we managed to find a handful of nice size trout and a few pompano in the morning.  After that we ran back towards the mainland to try for some bigger stuff... never had a bite on the bottom baits, but Alex did catch a nice 60 lb tarpon on fairly light spin gear on a live pinfish.  A great hour long battle with several spectacular jumps.  Later in the day we looked for some redfish but could not find much that was willing to bite, so we finished the day off catching a boatload of ladyfish, a few more trout, and a spanish mackerel.  Fishing the everglades for tarpon should be picking up, we are getting a little more cool weather unfortunately though it is not going to get very cold and the warming winds we have the next couple days should bring the water temperatures back to a favorable degree.  Capt. John Johansen also reported a couple tarpon bites and caught a nice fish closer to the flamingo area.  The shark fishing in flamingo should also pick up when the water gets back to the low 70s.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@seethefloridakeys.net 

2/22/13 Fishing east cape in february islamorada

Capt. Mike Bassett reported a great day on his islamorada fishing charter in february today.  His guys were looking to catch some snook and they had some good luck.  Capt. Mike fished around the east cape/mainland area which can hold some nice size snook at all times of the year.  They fished many of the creeks and runoffs that wind into the mainland.  They caught 6 nice snook, plus several nice drum mostly blacks.  They also got about 20 trout later in the day too.  Not a bad day fishing the florida keys in february.  Capt. Rick Stanczyk and Capt. Bill Bassett had a group trip half day fishing islamorada today.  They were after some stuff for the dinner plate, they both caught limit of mangrove snappers and also several nice trout and some rod bending ladyfish in some of the local muds near islamorada.  Bigger snappers are moving back in around the islands and cuts as the water temperatures are getting back to the low to mid 70s.  Capt. Vinnie Biondoletti and Capt. John Johansen have fished a few evening trips for tarpon the last couple nights and had some action too, not hot and heavy but a couple bites and some decent size fish... if your thinking of tarpon fishing in february as long as the weather stays warm it is a good possibility, ask about doing some evening fishing there are guys who are ready and willing!  Capt. Jim Willcox also has had a couple hammerhead sharks this week shark fishing in islamorada.

2/15/13 Pre february cold front backcountry fishing report

Well looks like we have (hopefully) our last cold front of the year coming over the weekend.  Today on 2/15/13 there was lots of moisture in the air and some scattered rain, you could also feel the cooler air pushing down with the north/northeast winds in the backcountry fishing islamorada february.  We fished a bit west of flamingo and out around the cape this morning.  Picked a handful of nice 22-24 inch redfish off a few spots.  Also got a nice juvenile tarpon which was cool as my anglers wanted to catch one.  We also lost a snook at the boat and caught plenty of snappers and jacks.  Later bugs got bad in the next spot, so we went in the gulf to check it out.  Hooked one cobia on the wreck which we pulled the hook on, and caught a big sting ray fishing the gulf in islamorada.  On the way back found the tripletails floating and caught probably 8 or those, only one nice keeper though but they were lots of fun!  We ended the day with a handful of trout in some runoffs again, not a bad way to spend the day fishing islamorada in february.  Capt. Dave Sisung fished closer to Islamorada, they had a mixed bag and got a couple nice sharks too, as well as this nice redfish to end the day.  Capt. Bill Bassett found caught a few redfish polingand said they saw many more, plus caught fish for dinner including trout and mangrove snappers.  Capt. Mike Bassett reported some redfish, black drum, trout, and a snook back around mainland florida as well.  Great news on this islamorada fishing report.  This cold front should only last a couple days and hopefully a few days after that things will warm right back up.  Tarpon have been around we saw several again on the way home near Bud n' Mary's, and Capt. Vic Gaspeny did report catching some in the early morning hours before daylight.  The islamorada fishing forecast will be calling for tarpon, tarpon, tarpon as we enter the spring!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@seethefloridakeys.net