Busy season has arrived finally and we are very thankful for that after dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Irma! The last few weeks I’ve been fishing a lot and haven’t been keeping up with my reports on here as much as I’d like to. But it’s been unseasonably warm for February after we had a cold January. No cold fronts at all and it’s been around 80 degrees just about every day. The wind has been howling on and off though which has sometimes made the fishing a little tougher but that is typical of the early spring. Good news is that the big tarpon in key largo have shown up in full force with the warmth! We’ve been seeing a lot of tarpon in the backcountry everglades areas and a few even showing up locally around the key largo bridge fishing areas. So far this February we’ve landed 12 tarpon and most of those have been big fish in the 100+ lb range! There has been some variety of sharks in the mix as well, plus the occasional random cobia. The windier days the tarpon haven’t been quite as cooperative especially when the winds get very hard southeasterly. But we’ve been able to still get out on those days and the mangrove snapper bite has been pretty good, plus plenty of spanish mackerel still around if you don’t mind being on the open water where it is a little bumpier. But in a larger boat like mine it’s usually not too bad once you get to fishing. That’s been my regular routine as of late we had still been picking off a few snook here and there, though haven’t been focused on them too much with the arrival of the big tarpon that is usually my focus in the spring and summer. Anyways I’m really busy the next few months, still have a few days open in March but April and May are already just about filled. But get in touch with me if you’d like to go key largo tarpon fishing, if I’m not available I can recommend several good guides and many who will do the later evening trips too.
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
