3/24/13 Florida Keys Spring Fishing for Monsters!

Spring, especially march florida keys fishing, is known for big monster fish here in Islamorada.  While the cooler weather earlier this month had shut many of these brutes down, they've still been around and lately have been caught frequently.  Tarpon, sharks, goliath grouper, and 'mud marlin.'  Today Capt. Rick Stanczyk had guests out for a full day islamorada fishing charter.  The winds were howling from the southwest 25 knots, not an easy fishing condition.  However we made our way into the backcountry fairly comfortably without taking too much spray.  We fished for trout, ladyfish, and mangrove snappers in the bay early.  The fishing was surprisngly good with several nice keeper size trout to 20 inches, and lots of ladyfish for bait and a handful of snappers.  Later we went to the deeper channels, the water was not too pretty lots of grass and mud, though we ran up inside and found some areas that looked fishable with hints of blue in the water.  We put the big rods out with dead ladyfish on the bottom, and soon were hooking up sharks in the florida keys.  Mostly blacktips and black noses.  To our surprise after our 3rd or 4th shark, all of a sudden the rod bent over and a big tarpon came flying out of the water!  We kept a light drag to start as I had extra weight on to hold bottom with the weed, wind, and current, and often tarpon can throw hooks especially with a weighted line when they jump.   Luckily the hook was in the right place, he jumped several times and we eventually landed him - a nice 100 lb fish!  Soon the red weed flowed in which made the area unfishable, so we ran to some other channels to fish the last hour.  Had a few more shark bites including one big one we pulled off though caught a couple blacktips and called it a day.  Not bad given the conditions!  Capt. Ted Wilson had some good action with ladyfish and trout, and also reported catching 3 'mud marlin' close to Islamorada.  Capt. Bill Bassett had a half day and caught some nice mangrove snappers hiding around the mangrove islands.  Islamorada tarpon fishing in march is likely going to be stalling again a little bit - we are getting more cold weather the next few nights.  Though not freezing it is suppose to get in the 50s several nights which will likely bring the water temperatures down, I don't think the tarpon will leave though may be tough to get to feed until water temperatures get back to the low/mid 70s.  Also included here is a picture of a 400+ lb goliath grouper caught by young angler Sam last week fishing with Capt. Rick Stanczyk!

4/1/11 Backcountry tarpon fishing islamorada

Islamorada backcountry fishing guide Captain Ted Wilson reported no April 1st foolery going on when spring breaker Paul Marley successfully released two large tarpon (up to 90 lbs) on Friday night. The college freshman wasted no time reeling in two nice fish all within the early 5 pm hour. Paul was exceptionally pleased by his conquest that for him went far beyond the thrill of catching the fish. You see, he was able to one up, or actually two up, his brother Rhodes who had been in Islamorada to tarpon fish during his high school spring break just two weeks prior and had unfortunately gone home without a catch. Lucky for Paul, not only were the tides right for his big spring break bite, early April typically produces more tarpon action than March. Congrats Paul on a great night of fishing!

3/23/11 Florida Keys Tarpon

Capt. Ted Wilson reported... For the last few weeks on my Islamorada Fishing Charters,  I’ve been fishing off and on for tarpon. Success rates have been all over the board.  I had a “three large fish in a half-day outing” with one couple and a painful “no fish for three trips” with a father and son family stinker. Late February to mid-March can be that way. The tarpon fishing in Islamorada can be very good one day and then non-existent the next. The reason for the inconsistency is a function of water temperature.  Water temperature is a function of air temperature, and air temperatures in late February to mid march can be cool. Seventy-five degrees seems to be the magic water temperature reading. Above it your good, below it and all bets are off. 

This leads to the famous question that I get asked over and over again. “When is the best time to come to the Keys to fish for tarpon?” This question has been a hot topic for the Spring Break families that have been the lion’s share of my anglers the last few weeks. They have heard rumors of tarpon being around and for good reason entertain the idea of catching one. Everyone seems to have been briefed that it’s “still a little early” for tarpon, but that still doesn’t stop them from dreaming about catching one on this trip. When the reality of the fisheries inconsistency is experienced, that’s when they pop “the question”.

So, when is the best time to catch a tarpon in the Florida Keys? Let’s start by saying the best time to fish is when you can make time to go do it. The best time to fish for large migratory tarpon in the Florida Keys is when the water temperatures reach and stay above seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit.  That can be as early as mid-March, but usually equates to late March to as late as early April. May is all safe as well as most of June. By the end of June most of the migratory fish have moved on leaving resident stragglers for us to play with all summer. There you have it. April through June is the best time to come down to the Florida Keys to catch a tarpon.

Capt. Ted Wilson



Capt. Vic Gaspeny did report catching 4 tarpon last night fishing late in the evening, so the late and wee hours of the AM are starting to be productive, BIG fish starting to move in!

3/19/11 Florida Keys backcountry fishing half day!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished a half day today in the florida keys backcountry.  There was a big mud that's been around for a couple weeks and we caught half a dozen nice size trout in there plus a few smaller ones.  Plenty of ladyfish, some nice sized ones too, jacks, and a nice size bluefish.  Good action close to home about 20 minutes away!  We then set up to catch a shark nearby and put the big rods out.  Soon we hooked a nice size blacktip we drifted down on and caught.  After we reset, one rod started zinging out line - boom - big 80 lb tarpon on!  Unfortunately he jumped crazily and we actually straightened the hook on him, oh well!  We gave it another shot for the last few minutes of our morning and then another shark bite.  Line zinged all over the transom and didn't feel like a big fish, but soon he took off straight behind us and we followed.  A nice 80-90 lb hammerhead, 3rd one I'd caught this week!  We got him up for a picture and released him and headed home!

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

 Captain Ted Wilson also reported this week... Just when we were starting to get used to having tarpon back in the neighborhood again things were turned upside down last week by a late season cool front. But with this week's rising water temperatures the tarpon are starting to move back into their early-season locales. Stewart Sarnac from Jacksonville and wife Angie went two for three tarpon in the 90 to 100 lb range deep into the Islamorada backcountry. Strangely the only bites came on pin fish even though they had a variety of baits to choose from. Whatever their tastes, Islamorada fishing guides like myself are excited to see them back in town and ready to eat.