First Tarpon Of The Season

Well it is Great to again be fishing in Islamorada, Florida Keys. It is springtime but we are getting cold fronts on a weekly basis. The Tarpon showed up during a warm spell a couple weeks ago but now that the water has cooled down to the low 60's F it is a chore to get them to feed.

On Friday March 8 I had Dick Alt and Bob Leef aboard and we spent the morning light tackle fishing for Snapper for dinnner but caught quite a few other species as well. We used Bonefish Trek and Rage rods fitted with Diablo 350 spinning reels. The 2 days previous were so cold and windy that very few guides left the dock. On this day it was calm and the fish were really hungry. We limited out by 10:30 and made our way back towards Islamorada searching for Mullet on the way. We finally found a nice mullet "mud". These muds are formed by the mullet feeding and grubbing along the bottom. After more throws of the castnet than I intended we had a couple dozen frisky live mullet.

the wind was down but the temp was  64 degrees F.
The boys had fun catching Snapper for dinner

Two days before the cold front I had been out scouting  and had found a bunch of Tarpon in one of the local channels. So there we headed and within 15 minutes of fishing Dick hooked a 100lb Tarpon on a Sailfish Trek rod fitted with a Diablo 750 spinning reel. I was pretty surprised as the water temp was 61 degrees F.

Dick Alt really enjoyed catching this 100lb Tarpon

Fox sport fishing's Sailfish Trek rod and
Diablo 750 spinning reel was used on this Tarpon

Dick had a blast catching this fish. He loves using spinning tackle on big fish.(fixed spool). It was the first Tarpon of the season on my boat and I was really happy. After the big fight we gave it another hour and Bob Leef caught a big Blacktip Shark around 75lbs using the same outfit. We saw some Tarpon rolling but no interest.

Got out March 10th with Anna and Paul Timmerburg. A great father daughter bonding day on the water. We again fished the Bonefish Trek and Rage rods and Diablo 350 spinning reels most of the day. Fishing was excellent. A limit of Mangrove Snapper were caught for dinnner and many Spanish Mackerel,Ladyfish and Bluefish were released.

Anna used the Bonefish Trek Diablo 350 to catch fish all day long

Paul was Snapper King and loved using a
Rage Ultralight rod fitted with a Diablo 350 reel

Anna with a nice Spanish

We then spent 2 hours near Sandy Key trying for a Tarpon. No bites, cold water but Anna managed a nice Blacktip Shark. To finish we tried a small spot casting large shrimp on jigheads. 4 Snook and a Redfish to end the day.

We tried for Tarpon and got a Spinner Shark

Paul ended the day with this Snook on a
Rage rod and Diablo 350 spin reel

It is great to be back fishing in some of the most productive water anywhere.

Captain Skip Nielsen